Audio

Microphone Test

Confirm your microphone is connected, picking up sound, and at a healthy level. The tool requests permission to your input device, displays a live meter with peak hold, and warns if the signal is clipping or silent. No audio is recorded or uploaded — everything stays in your browser.

Grant microphone access to see live input levels. Audio stays in your browser — nothing is recorded or uploaded.

What does this microphone test check?

This is a quick browser-based microphone test that confirms three things: your microphone is detected, audio is reaching the browser, and the level is in a healthy range. It draws a live meter from the input signal, calculates the RMS (average) and peak amplitudes in dBFS, and warns you if the signal is silent or clipping. It does not record audio, send anything to a server, or modify your settings — it simply listens and shows you what it hears. Useful before joining a video call, recording a podcast, livestreaming, or troubleshooting a microphone that suddenly stopped working.

How to test your microphone

1
Grant permission
Click "Start microphone" and approve the browser prompt that appears. The tool asks for your input device with no recording or extra processing — echo cancellation, noise suppression, and auto-gain are all disabled so you see the raw signal.
2
Pick a device (if needed)
If you have multiple microphones — built-in, USB, headset — they will appear in the device picker. Switch between them to find the one you want to test.
3
Speak normally
Talk at a comfortable distance, the way you would on a call. The level meter responds in real time. RMS sits well below the peak, which is normal — peaks are momentary, RMS is the long-term average.
4
Check the levels
Aim for peaks between roughly −12 and −6 dBFS. If the meter sits below −24, your microphone is too quiet — move closer or raise the input gain. If the clipping indicator turns red, you are too loud — back off, or lower input gain.
5
Watch for silence
If you see a silence warning while you are speaking, the device is muted somewhere — check the system mute key, the headset's hardware mute, or the OS input level.

How the meter is calculated

The browser's AnalyserNode delivers raw float samples in the range
[-1, +1]. Each animation frame we read N samples (N = 2048) and
compute two values:
 
  RMS  = sqrt( (1/N) · Σ x_i² )
  Peak = max( |x_i| )
 
Both are converted to dBFS (decibels relative to full scale):
 
  dBFS = 20 · log₁₀(amplitude)
 
0 dBFS is the digital ceiling — the loudest signal that fits.
Anything at or above that line is clipping (the waveform is
being truncated, which sounds like distortion).

RMS is a measure of the signal's energy and tracks closely with how loud something sounds. Peak is the single highest sample over the window. A well-recorded voice usually sits around −18 dBFS RMS with peaks in the −12 to −6 dBFS range — quiet enough to leave headroom, loud enough to capture detail. The peak-hold marker decays slowly so brief spikes stay visible long enough for you to see them.

Reference: MDN — AnalyserNode (Web Audio API)

What the meter is telling you

Reading	What it means
Peak around −6 dBFS	Healthy level with safe headroom. Ideal target for podcasting, video calls, and recording.
Peak above −3 dBFS, clipping flag on	Too loud — signal is being truncated. Reduce input gain, move further from the mic, or speak softer.
Peak below −24 dBFS	Too quiet — recordings will be noisy when boosted. Raise input gain or move the mic closer.
Peak < −60 dBFS for several seconds	Effectively silent — input is muted or wrong device. Check device selection and any hardware/OS mute switch.

Common use cases

Verify a microphone before joining a Zoom, Meet, or Teams call
Set input gain for podcasting or voice-over recording
Diagnose why a remote participant says they can't hear you
Confirm a USB or Bluetooth microphone is detected after plugging it in
Compare two microphones at the same distance to choose one
Test a headset's mic before livestreaming or gaming
Demonstrate signal levels and dBFS to students learning audio
Spot-check that browser permissions are correctly configured

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Frequently asked questions

Is my audio recorded or uploaded?

No. The tool only reads the live audio stream and computes levels for the meter. Nothing is stored, no audio leaves your browser, and as soon as you press stop or close the tab, the microphone is released. The browser also shows its own indicator (a red dot, a microphone icon) while access is active — that's a system-level signal you can rely on.

Why was my permission request denied?

Your browser remembers a previous denial for this site, your OS is blocking microphone access globally, or another app is already using the device exclusively. To reset: open the site settings (the icon next to the URL), allow microphone access, refresh the page, and try again. On some systems you also need to grant the browser itself permission in your OS privacy settings.

What's a healthy input level?

Aim for peaks between −12 and −6 dBFS, with RMS around −18 dBFS for speech. That gives you 6 to 12 dB of headroom for unexpected loud moments without clipping, and keeps the signal well above the noise floor of typical microphones. Avoid running peaks above −3 dBFS — the closer you get to 0 dBFS, the more likely a sudden spike will distort.

Why are echo cancellation and noise suppression turned off?

Those features modify the raw signal before you ever see it, which would defeat the point of a level meter — you want to see what the microphone is actually picking up. For real recording (video calls, podcasts) you may want to enable them in the application you use. This tool is intentionally raw.

The meter shows activity but my call participants can't hear me.

That means the microphone works at the OS level but the calling app is using a different device, or your browser doesn't have permission for that specific site. Check the calling app's audio settings and confirm it's pointing at the same input that the meter shows activity on.

Why does the meter still show -∞ dB at total silence?

−∞ dB is what 20·log₁₀(0) evaluates to: the silent sample. In practice the displayed value will be very negative but finite (e.g. −90 dBFS) because every microphone has a noise floor. A reading of −∞ specifically means the buffer was exactly zero — usually the device is muted at the hardware level.

Does this work with Bluetooth headsets?

Yes, with caveats. Bluetooth audio quality is OS- and codec-dependent — many headsets switch to a low-bandwidth profile (HFP/HSP) the moment they're used as a microphone, which significantly degrades fidelity. The meter still shows accurate levels, but the audio you'd actually capture would sound much narrower than a wired or USB microphone.

Will this tell me if my microphone has a hardware fault?

It can identify obvious problems: complete silence, severe distortion, intermittent dropouts, or a dramatically unbalanced response. For subtler issues — frequency response anomalies, slight self-noise — you need a calibrated reference signal and ideally a separate measurement microphone. For everyday troubleshooting, the level meter and silence detector cover most cases.

Last updated 2026-04-25

What does this microphone test check?

How to test your microphone

Grant permission

Click "Start microphone" and approve the browser prompt that appears. The tool asks for your input device with no recording or extra processing — echo cancellation, noise suppression, and auto-gain are all disabled so you see the raw signal.

Pick a device (if needed)

If you have multiple microphones — built-in, USB, headset — they will appear in the device picker. Switch between them to find the one you want to test.

Speak normally

Talk at a comfortable distance, the way you would on a call. The level meter responds in real time. RMS sits well below the peak, which is normal — peaks are momentary, RMS is the long-term average.

Check the levels

Aim for peaks between roughly −12 and −6 dBFS. If the meter sits below −24, your microphone is too quiet — move closer or raise the input gain. If the clipping indicator turns red, you are too loud — back off, or lower input gain.

Watch for silence

If you see a silence warning while you are speaking, the device is muted somewhere — check the system mute key, the headset's hardware mute, or the OS input level.

How the meter is calculated

The browser's AnalyserNode delivers raw float samples in the range
[-1, +1]. Each animation frame we read N samples (N = 2048) and
compute two values:
 
  RMS  = sqrt( (1/N) · Σ x_i² )
  Peak = max( |x_i| )
 
Both are converted to dBFS (decibels relative to full scale):
 
  dBFS = 20 · log₁₀(amplitude)
 
0 dBFS is the digital ceiling — the loudest signal that fits.
Anything at or above that line is clipping (the waveform is
being truncated, which sounds like distortion).

What the meter is telling you

Reading	What it means
Peak around −6 dBFS	Healthy level with safe headroom. Ideal target for podcasting, video calls, and recording.
Peak above −3 dBFS, clipping flag on	Too loud — signal is being truncated. Reduce input gain, move further from the mic, or speak softer.
Peak below −24 dBFS	Too quiet — recordings will be noisy when boosted. Raise input gain or move the mic closer.
Peak < −60 dBFS for several seconds	Effectively silent — input is muted or wrong device. Check device selection and any hardware/OS mute switch.

Common use cases

Verify a microphone before joining a Zoom, Meet, or Teams call

Set input gain for podcasting or voice-over recording

Diagnose why a remote participant says they can't hear you

Confirm a USB or Bluetooth microphone is detected after plugging it in

Compare two microphones at the same distance to choose one

Test a headset's mic before livestreaming or gaming

Demonstrate signal levels and dBFS to students learning audio

Spot-check that browser permissions are correctly configured