Audio tests — microphone, speakers and headphones

What each test is looking at

The microphone check shows your input level in dBFS, the sample rate the browser negotiated, and how much delay sits between speaking and seeing the meter move. Normal speech at a comfortable distance lands somewhere around −20 to −12 dBFS. A meter pinned at the bottom means nothing is reaching the browser at all; a meter slammed against 0 means your gain is too high and you are clipping, which sounds like crackle to whoever is listening.

The speaker and headphone checks are simpler and more useful than they look. They play tones through the left and right channels separately, so a thirty-second sound test tells you which side has gone quiet, and they sweep through a frequency range so you can hear where a driver starts to buzz or drop out.

When the hardware is fine and the software is not

Most “my mic is broken” moments are a permission or routing problem, and they are worth ruling out before you buy anything.

Windows has both a system-wide microphone privacy toggle and a per-app one, and a browser can be blocked by either. macOS keeps its own list under Privacy & Security, and a browser that was denied once will not ask again. On any OS, a call app that grabbed exclusive control of the device can leave every other app hearing silence, so quit Zoom or Teams and try again.

Bluetooth headsets have a quirk of their own. When the mic is active the headset usually switches to a hands-free profile, and audio quality drops noticeably. That drop is expected, not a fault.

Which one to start with

Start with the output tests if you cannot hear anything, and the input test if other people cannot hear you. A left and right audio check is the fastest way to prove stereo still works before you dig into drivers. If one side of a pair of headphones is silent in our check but fine on a phone, the cable or the port is the suspect rather than the driver. If both sides are silent everywhere, it is usually the wrong output device selected rather than a dead speaker.

Nothing you play or say here leaves the browser. There is no recording, no upload, and no account.