A free mic test that shows your microphone level as you speak — record and play back your voice, or hear yourself live through headphones.
Your privacy is protected! No data is transmitted or stored.
Press Start mic test, allow the microphone, and speak. If the level bar moves, your microphone works — that is the whole of a mic test. This mic test tool is free, needs no sign-up, and runs as a web page, so it is a mic test site you can use on whatever device is in front of you.
Nothing is installed and nothing you say is uploaded, which is what most people want from a mic test online free of accounts and downloads. It is also the quickest way to run a mic test and check your microphone online before a call, a class or an interview.
| Level | The page says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Below −60 dB | No sound | Nothing is reaching the microphone, or the wrong one is selected. |
| −60 to −42 dB | Very quiet | It is working, but others will struggle to hear you. Move closer or raise the input level. |
| −42 dB and above | Picking up sound | A normal, usable level for speech. |
| Bar turns red | Too loud | The signal is clipping, so your voice will sound distorted. Move back or turn the input down. |
The number is the sound level in decibels relative to the loudest signal the microphone can deliver, so 0 dB is the top and everything real is negative. It is a real-time microphone sound and audio test: the level is worked out from the microphone signal many times a second, and the thin marker on the bar holds the recent peak for a moment so short loud sounds are not missed. The waveform underneath is the same signal drawn as a line; a flat line is silence.
A meter tells you the microphone is picking up sound and at what level. It cannot tell you whether your voice sounds good — for that, record yourself. No website can give a truthful mic quality test online score, because quality depends on the room, the distance and your voice as much as on the microphone.
Press Record 10 seconds to record a mic test: speak, and the clip stops by itself after ten seconds or when you press Stop recording. A player appears so you can listen straight away, which is the mic test playback most people are after — record online and play back online in one step, with Download recording if you want to keep the file. Hearing a recording is the only way to catch a hum, a crackle or a muffled sound that a meter will never show.
Hear yourself is live playback for a mic test, sometimes called mic loopback. Whatever the microphone picks up plays straight back to you, with a slight delay, so you can hear yourself online while you adjust a headset. Use headphones for it — through speakers the microphone hears its own output and the result is a loud howl.
Any speech works, but a few lines test different things. Press Next line to step through them. This is the mic test script: the classic mic test 1 2 3, a couple of mic test phrases with hissing and popping sounds, and mic test sentences at normal and raised volume.
If the page says the microphone was blocked or not found, the block is usually in one of two places: the browser's permission for this site, or the system setting that lets the browser use a microphone at all. In the browser, click the icon at the left of the address bar, open the site settings and set Microphone to Allow, then reload and press Start mic test again.
| Device | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Windows 11 | Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone: turn on Microphone access and Let desktop apps access your microphone. Choose the input under Settings → System → Sound. |
| Windows 10 | Settings → Privacy → Microphone: allow apps and desktop apps to access your microphone. Choose the input under Settings → System → Sound. |
| Mac | System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone: turn it on for your browser. Choose the input under System Settings → Sound → Input. |
| iPhone and iPad | Settings → Apps → Safari → Microphone, set to Ask or Allow (on iOS 17 and earlier, Settings → Safari → Microphone). In Chrome, Settings → Apps → Chrome → Microphone (Settings → Chrome on iOS 17 and earlier). |
| Android | In Chrome, tap the icon at the left of the address bar → Permissions → Microphone. If Chrome itself is blocked, Settings → Apps → Chrome → Permissions → Microphone. |
| Ubuntu | Settings → Sound → Input: pick the microphone and check the input volume is not at zero. |
For a mic test on Windows, the two switches above catch most problems. On Windows 11, Microphone access turned off looks exactly like a broken microphone, and on Windows 10 so does a setting that stops desktop apps using it. The same page works as a mic test on any computer, PC or laptop, and on a Mac once the browser is allowed under Privacy & Security. On Ubuntu and other Linux systems, the usual reason the microphone reads nothing is an input volume sitting at zero.
A mic test on a phone works the same way, and nothing needs installing. On an iPhone or iPad the mic test runs in Safari or Chrome. On an Android phone, including Samsung, the mic test runs in Chrome or Samsung Internet. Any mobile mic test starts with the same permission prompt, and if you tapped Don't Allow the first time, the browser remembers it until you change it in the settings above. On desktop it works in any current browser: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
Connect them first, then press Start mic test. Once permission is given, Microphone lists every microphone the browser can see; pick the headset. To test the microphone on headphones or a headset, speak into it and watch the level. Earphones, earbuds and AirPods with a built-in mic work the same way. If the bar only moves when you speak towards the laptop, the built-in microphone is still selected.
This page switches off echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain, so it shows what the microphone itself picks up. Zoom, Teams, Discord and Google Meet usually switch those on and have their own microphone and volume settings. That is why a microphone can read quiet here and sound fine in a call, or pick up a fan here that the app filters out. To test noise cancellation, use the app's own test; this page tells you whether the hardware is working.
It does not change your system volume or fix drivers, and it cannot see settings inside other apps. It does not grade your microphone. And it does not send your voice anywhere: the sound is measured in the page, a recording stays in the page and is gone when you close the tab unless you download it, and Stop releases the microphone.