How to Configure Acoustic Echo Cancellation in Discord

Discord includes an echo cancellation option in its voice processing settings. It tries to remove sound from your speakers that your microphone picks up, so other people in the call do not hear their own voices repeated back. This guide shows how to find where the echo starts, configure the setting and related options, and check that the problem is gone.

Identify the symptom and environment

Echo in a voice call usually starts with one participant whose microphone picks up their own speakers. If you hear your own voice coming back a moment later, the source is most likely someone else's setup. If others tell you they hear themselves, the source is likely yours. Before changing anything, find out who hears the echo and whose voice is being repeated.

• Which version of Discord you use: desktop app, browser or mobile app
• Your operating system
• The exact names of your input device and output device
• Whether you listen through speakers or headphones
• When the echo occurs: in every call, in one server, only when a particular person talks, only at high volume, or since a recent update or device change

Distinguish echo from other audio problems. A delayed copy of a voice is echo. A constant hum, hiss or fan sound is background noise. A voice that cuts in and out is usually related to input sensitivity or the connection.

Isolate where the fault occurs

The quickest test is headphones. If the echo disappears when the person causing it switches from speakers to headphones, the cause is acoustic: sound from the speakers is reaching the microphone. If the echo continues even with headphones, look at software routing instead, such as a virtual audio device, an operating system option that plays the microphone back through the speakers, or output audio being sent into an input.

• Hardware: try a different microphone or headset if you have one. Laptops with a built-in microphone near the speakers are especially prone to echo.
• Connection: some Bluetooth headsets switch to a different audio profile when the microphone is active. Note whether the behavior changes with a wired connection.
• Operating system: confirm which input device is the system default and that Discord is allowed to use the microphone.
• Browser: if you use Discord in a browser, check the site's microphone permission and which device the browser has selected.
• Discord selection: in Discord's voice settings, confirm the selected input and output devices are the ones you expect, rather than a default that points to another device.

A second app can help separate causes. Record a short clip with your system's voice recorder while audio plays through your speakers. If the playback is clearly audible in the recording, the microphone is capturing the speakers regardless of Discord, and the fix lies in placement, volume or headphones.

Try reversible fixes in order

Change one thing at a time and test after each change so you know what helped. Setting names and their location can differ between Discord versions and platforms; if a label below does not match exactly, look for the closest equivalent in the voice settings.

Turn on echo cancellation

In the desktop app, open User Settings with the gear icon near your username and go to Voice & Video. In the voice processing section, find Echo Cancellation and turn it on. The processing works on the side that captures the sound, so the person whose microphone picks up their speakers is the one who needs it enabled. Turning it on at your end will not remove echo created by another participant's setup. In the next call, the people who heard echo should notice less of it.

Review related voice processing options

Noise suppression and automatic gain control are usually listed near echo cancellation. Automatic gain control can raise the microphone level when you are quiet, which may amplify speaker sound picked up while others talk; turn it off temporarily to compare. Noise suppression targets steady background noise and does not replace echo cancellation, so keep both choices in mind rather than relying on one.

Reduce how much speaker sound reaches the microphone

• Use headphones; this is the most reliable way to stop acoustic echo.
• Lower the speaker volume.
• Move the microphone away from the speakers or point it away from them.
• Lower the input level if the microphone is set very high.
• Use push-to-talk, or raise the input sensitivity threshold, so the microphone is not open while others are speaking.

Check operating system and driver processing

Some operating systems and device control apps apply their own microphone enhancements or echo processing. Several processors stacked on the same signal can cause artifacts. If your system offers such enhancements, try turning them off while keeping Discord's echo cancellation on, then try the reverse, and keep whichever works better. Use settings that are already available rather than installing unfamiliar driver packages.

If your system lets you view a default format for each audio device, note the current sample rate before changing anything. Mismatched or unusual settings between input and output can cause problems on some setups. Setting both devices to the same common rate, such as 48 kHz, is a reasonable test; revert it if nothing changes.

Some versions of the desktop app on Windows offer an audio subsystem choice in the advanced voice settings. Switching it may restart the app. If it makes no difference, switch it back.

Confirm the result

Discord's microphone test in Voice & Video lets you hear your own input, but it cannot fully reproduce echo, because echo depends on other people's voices coming out of your speakers. To confirm the fix, join a call with someone, recreate the conditions where the echo happened (same devices, same volume, speakers if that is what you normally use), and ask them to talk for a while. If they no longer hear themselves, the original symptom is resolved. While they speak and you stay silent, your input level indicator should stay low or show no activity. Note which setting made the difference so you can restore it after an update or device change.

If the problem remains

Keep a short record: device names, connection type, Discord version or browser, operating system version, the settings you changed and what happened after each change, and whether the echo also occurs in other voice apps with the same devices.

If the echo appears only in Discord and not in another voice app using the same devices, contact Discord support with that record. If it happens in every app and the microphone picks up the speakers strongly even at low volume, the device manufacturer's support is the better contact. Echo alone does not prove that hardware is faulty; placement, volume and audio routing are far more common causes. Consider repair only if the device also misbehaves on another computer or phone.