How to Test Your Microphone in Discord

Discord has a built-in mic test that plays your voice back so you can hear what others would hear. It takes a minute and helps you find out whether a problem is your microphone, your settings or something else before you join a call.

Before you start

• Connect the microphone and, ideally, headphones. Headphones keep the playback from leaking back into the mic and causing echo.
• Check for a hardware mute switch or button on the headset, cable or microphone.
• Make sure your operating system allows apps to use the microphone. On Windows this is under Privacy & security > Microphone, including access for desktop apps. On macOS it is under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone, where Discord must be allowed.
• If you use Discord in a web browser, the browser must be allowed to use the microphone for Discord. The browser will usually ask the first time; if you blocked it, change it in the site permissions.
• Close other apps that may be holding the microphone, such as recording software or another call app.

The mic test runs inside the Discord app or web client and plays audio back on your own device. Discord does not describe it as a recording you can save. If it matters to you how voice data is handled, check Discord's current privacy documentation rather than assuming.

Step-by-step instructions

These steps are for the Discord desktop app and the web version. Discord occasionally renames or moves settings, so labels in your version may differ slightly. Note your current values before changing anything so you can put them back.

• 1. Open User Settings with the gear icon next to your username at the bottom left.
• 2. Under App Settings, select Voice & Video.
• 3. In Input Device, choose the microphone you want to use. Avoid leaving it on Default if you have several mics, because the system default may not be the one you expect.
• 4. In Output Device, choose the headphones or speakers you want to hear the playback on.
• 5. Set Input Volume to a middle position to start. This controls how loud your mic is sent into Discord.
• 6. In the Mic Test area, click Let's Check and speak at your normal volume and distance.
• 7. Watch the level bar and listen to the playback. Adjust Input Volume until your voice is clear and not distorted.
• 8. Click Stop Testing when you are done.

Two other settings on the same page affect whether people hear you. Input Mode switches between Voice Activity, where Discord transmits when your voice passes a threshold, and Push to Talk, where you hold a key. With Voice Activity, Input Sensitivity sets that threshold: leave automatic detection on, or turn it off and drag the marker so your speech passes it but quiet room sound does not.

Further down, voice processing options such as noise suppression, echo cancellation and automatic gain control change how your voice sounds. If you want to judge the raw microphone, test once with your usual settings and once with these turned off, then decide which you prefer.

Check the output

• The level bar should move when you speak and stay low when you are silent.
• The playback should sound like your voice without crackling, cut-off words or harsh distortion on louder sounds. Distortion usually means the input level is too high.
• If you use Voice Activity, the indicator should show that you are transmitting while you talk and stop shortly after you stop.
• Constant hiss, fan or keyboard sound in the playback is background noise that others will hear too.

The mic test only shows what reaches Discord on your device. It does not show network quality or what a specific server's settings allow. For a full check, join a voice channel with a friend and ask how you sound.

Common problems and next steps

The level bar does not move. Check that the correct input device is selected and that the operating system or browser permission is granted. Then unplug and reconnect the microphone, select it again, and restart Discord. If another app is using the mic, close it.

The test works but nobody hears you in calls. Check Input Mode first: with Push to Talk you must hold the key, and with Voice Activity a manual sensitivity set too high will block quiet speech. Also make sure you are not muted in Discord and that the server has not muted you or removed your permission to speak in that channel.

Your voice is too quiet or too loud. Adjust Input Volume in Discord, and check the microphone level in your operating system's sound settings, because both affect the input level. Moving closer to or further from the mic also makes a large difference.

Others hear echo or background noise. Use headphones instead of speakers, enable echo cancellation and noise suppression, and set a manual input sensitivity so quiet room sound is not transmitted.

The sound is crackly or robotic only in some setups. On Windows, the microphone's format in the system sound settings, including sample rate, can sometimes cause problems with certain devices. Try a different common format there, restart Discord and test again. Choppy audio that appears only during calls is more often a network issue than a microphone issue.

Nothing helps. At the bottom of Voice & Video, Reset Voice Settings returns the page to its defaults. After that, select your devices again and repeat the mic test. If the microphone also fails in other apps, the problem is the device, cable or driver rather than Discord.