Test your mic and headset

How this mic test works

The test runs in three steps, right in your browser. First, three seconds of silence to measure the room’s background noise. Then five seconds of speech: you read an opening line out loud, as on a call, and the tool measures your voice level, spots clipping and records those five seconds so you can play them back.

Finally, the tool plays a short sound through your headphones or speakers and checks whether it comes back into the microphone. That is exactly what creates echo for the person you are calling: what they say comes out of your headset, goes into your mic and returns to them with a slight delay.

By default, the microphone opens with the processing that browser calls use (echo cancellation, noise suppression, automatic gain). So you hear roughly what your prospect hears. You can also turn it off to judge the raw microphone.

How to read your results

Levels are shown in dBFS, decibels relative to the digital maximum: 0 dBFS is the ceiling, everything else is negative. The closer to zero, the louder the sound. The benchmarks below are the tool’s own, chosen to guide the advice.

• Voice level: between −32 and −12 dBFS, your voice comes through well. Below −42 dBFS it is too quiet; above −12 dBFS it is close to clipping.
• Clipping: peaks that hit the digital maximum. The sound crackles, and nothing on the listener’s side can repair it.
• Background noise: what the mic picks up when you are silent. Below −55 dBFS the room is quiet; above −42 dBFS your prospect will hear the noise between your sentences.
• Clarity (signal-to-noise ratio): the gap between your voice and the noise. From 25 dB your voice stands out clearly; below 15 dB it gets buried.
• Echo: if the test sound comes back into the mic with processing on, the person you call may hear themselves. If it only comes back on the raw mic, the browser removes it, but the source (speakers, open-back headset) is worth fixing.

Wired or Bluetooth headset for cold calling?

A Bluetooth headset sounds great for music, but as soon as its microphone turns on, it switches to another mode called hands-free (HFP). The audio band narrows sharply: your voice sounds muffled, and what you hear loses quality too. Recent Bluetooth versions improve this mode, but it depends on the headset and the computer.

For calling sessions that last hours, a wired USB headset with a boom mic is still the safest choice: stable sound, no battery to watch, no mode switching. If you prefer wireless, run this test with your headset and play yourself back in “phone line” mode: you will know right away whether your voice comes through.

Microphone or connection: where is the problem?

If your playback sounds clean but prospects hear you choppy, delayed or cutting out, the microphone is not the issue: the connection is. The VoIP speed test measures latency, jitter and speed in 30 seconds. Conversely, a perfect connection cannot rescue a voice that is too quiet, clipped or drowned in echo: that is what this test measures.

Common causes of bad call audio, and how to fix them

Most call audio problems come from the workstation, not the carrier. Here are the ones we see most often.

• The wrong microphone is selected

  The computer uses its built-in or webcam mic while you wear a headset. Pick the right mic in the browser (icon to the left of the address) and in your calling software.

• The mic is too far from your mouth

  A raised boom or a built-in mic gives a distant voice, which automatic gain boosts along with the room noise. Place the boom two fingers from the corner of your lips.

• Two noise suppressors are stacked

  Headset software, Krisp, NVIDIA Broadcast, system settings and the browser: stacked together, they make your voice metallic and clip word endings. Keep only one.

• Speaker sound comes back into the mic

  Without a headset, or with an open-back headset at high volume, the other person hears themselves echo. A closed-back headset and a sensible volume fix it.

• The input volume is too high

  Your voice clips and crackles as soon as you raise it. Lower the input volume in your system’s sound settings, or move the boom slightly away.

• The Bluetooth headset is in hands-free mode

  An active mic forces a narrowband mode: muffled voice on both ends. Go wired for long calling sessions.

• The open-plan office is noisy

  Nearby conversations, keyboards, air conditioning. A noise-cancelling boom mic close to your mouth picks up your voice far more than the rest.

Going further

Sound is half of a good call. The other half depends on your connection and your phone system.

• VoIP Speed Test Latency, jitter, speed and access to calling servers in 30 seconds: is your connection ready for calls?
• Business VoIP: costs and network requirements Real costs, network requirements, and a troubleshooting table for audio problems (echo, choppy voice, delay).
• VoIP vs traditional phone systems What changes for a sales team, hardware included: a laptop and a good USB headset are enough.
• All free tools Phone number validator, best calling times, VoIP speed test and more.