Mic Test
Test your microphone in the browser with a live input level meter, animated waveform and spectrum analyser. Run the Mic Health Check to measure noise floor, speech level, clipping and signal-to-noise ratio, then record your voice back.
Check your microphone in seconds — right here in your browser. You get a live level meter in real dBFS, a waveform you can watch as you speak, a graded health check that measures your noise floor and signal-to-noise ratio, and instant playback so you hear exactly what everyone else hears.
Click Start, then choose Allow in your browser's prompt.
Keep your voice in the green zone — real dBFS, not a vague bar.
Noise, level, clipping and SNR scored A–D — then play yourself back.
🩺 Mic Health Check
Ten seconds, two stages: stay silent while it measures your room, then speak while it measures your voice. You get your noise floor, speech level, clipping and signal-to-noise ratio graded A–D — with the specific fix for each — plus a recording of the speech stage to play back.
Measuring your room's background noise. Do not speak or type.
⏺ Record & Play Back
A meter tells you the level; only your ears tell you the tone. Record up to 15 seconds and play it back to hear yourself the way your callers do. The clip stays in your browser — nothing is uploaded — and you can download it if you want to keep it.
📈 Spectrum & Tone Balance
Where your voice sits across the frequency range. A healthy speaking voice is mid-dominant. Too much bass sounds boomy and muddy; too little treble sounds muffled, as if you were talking through a pillow.
Speak for a moment to read your tone balance.
🎚 Browser Audio Processing
Your browser quietly runs three processors on your voice. Toggle them live and watch the meter and spectrum change. Leave them on for calls; turn them off for music, podcasting and voice-over.
Stops callers hearing themselves back through your speakers. Can thin out your voice.
Removes fans, hum and keyboard clatter. Also eats breaths and quiet detail.
Rides your level automatically. Turn off to read your mic's true, unmanaged level.
About Mic Test
This Mic Test checks your microphone directly in your browser — no download, no sign-up, and no upload. It shows a live input level meter calibrated in real dBFS, draws your voice as a waveform, grades your sound quality from A to D, and plays your voice back so you hear what everyone else hears. Everything runs on your own device: your audio is never sent anywhere.
What Is a Mic Test?
A mic test confirms that your microphone is detected, has permission to run, and is actually capturing sound. Most online testers stop there — they show a coloured bar that wiggles when you talk. That answers "is my mic on?" but not the question people actually have before an interview, a podcast or a client call: "do I sound good, and if not, why not?"
This tool answers the second question. It measures your level in real dBFS instead of an arbitrary bar, measures the noise floor of your room, calculates your signal-to-noise ratio, counts clipped samples, and grades each one with a specific fix.
How This Mic Test Works
The test uses the browser's standard getUserMedia API to open your microphone and routes it into a Web Audio AnalyserNode, which hands the page raw audio samples on every animation frame. From those samples it computes RMS loudness, true peak, an FFT spectrum, and your noise floor. Because all of this happens inside the page, your audio never travels over the network. When you click Stop Mic or close the tab, the stream ends and your microphone indicator turns off.
🔒 Privacy: no audio is uploaded, stored, or transcribed. There is no server-side processing of your microphone at all — the analysis code runs in your own browser, on your own hardware. Recordings you make live in browser memory only and disappear when you leave the page.
Understanding Your Results
dBFS: the number that actually matters
dBFS means "decibels relative to full scale". It is always a negative number: 0 dBFS is the loudest signal that can be stored digitally without distortion, and everything quieter is more negative. It is a logarithmic scale, so −6 dBFS is half the amplitude of 0 dBFS, and −20 dBFS is a tenth. This is why a bar that looks "half full" is nowhere near half as loud as it appears.
The formula is simply dBFS = 20 × log10(amplitude), where amplitude is the sample value between 0 and 1.
The green target zone (−18 to −6 dBFS)
Aim to keep your speaking voice inside the green zone on the meter. Around −18 dBFS average is the level broadcasters and podcasters record at. It sits comfortably above the noise floor while leaving roughly 18 dB of headroom — the safety margin that absorbs a sudden laugh, a cough, or a hard consonant without hitting the 0 dBFS ceiling.
RMS vs true peak
RMS is the average energy over a short window — it tracks how loud you sound. True peak is the single loudest sample in that window — it tracks how close you are to distortion. Speech typically peaks about 12 to 18 dB above its RMS, which is exactly why targeting −18 dBFS RMS keeps your peaks safely under 0.
Noise floor and signal-to-noise ratio
Your noise floor is the level of your room with nobody speaking: fans, air conditioning, traffic, and the mic's own electronic hiss. Your signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is simply the gap between your speech and that floor. SNR is the single best predictor of whether you sound professional, and the fastest way to improve it is counter-intuitive: move closer to the mic instead of turning the gain up. Closing the distance raises your voice but not the room noise; raising the gain raises both equally and changes nothing.
What Good Microphone Levels Look Like
| Reading | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Silence | Below −50 dBFS | No signal reaching the mic — muted, wrong device, or not speaking |
| Too quiet | −50 to −30 dBFS | Callers will strain to hear you; hiss becomes audible |
| A little quiet | −30 to −18 dBFS | Usable, but move a few centimetres closer |
| Target zone | −18 to −6 dBFS | Professional speaking level with safe headroom |
| Getting hot | −6 to −3 dBFS | Headroom is nearly gone; a loud laugh will clip |
| Clipping | Above −3 dBFS | Distortion. Lower your gain — this cannot be fixed later |
What the Mic Health Check Measures
| Check | What it measures | Grade A means |
|---|---|---|
| Noise floor | Your room's background level during the silent stage | Quieter than −60 dBFS — a genuinely quiet room |
| Speech level | The 90th percentile of your voice while speaking | Between −24 and −12 dBFS — ideal with headroom |
| Clipping | The share of frames touching full scale | Zero clipped frames — nothing distorted |
| Signal-to-noise ratio | Speech level minus noise floor | 40 dB or more — broadcast-clean separation |
| True peak | Your single loudest sample | Below −3 dBFS — room for a sudden laugh |
Each check is graded from A to D, and the overall grade is the average of all five — so a single failing area cannot hide behind four good ones. The 90th percentile is used for speech rather than a plain average, because the silent gaps between words would otherwise drag your measured level far below what people actually hear.
Common Microphone Problems and How to Fix Them
Check the input selector above — headsets often expose several inputs and browsers pick the wrong one. Then check for a mute switch on the cable or mic body.
Distance beats gain. Halving your distance to the mic is worth about 6 dB and costs nothing in noise. Aim for 15 to 30 cm.
You are clipping. Lower the input gain in your sound settings and back off slightly. Clipped audio is destroyed at capture — no filter restores it.
A low noise floor is a room problem, not a mic problem. Turn off fans and AC, close the window, and move away from your computer's own fan.
Plosive bursts hitting the capsule head-on. Angle the mic slightly off to the side of your mouth, or add a pop filter.
Check the Tone Balance panel. Heavy bass usually means you are too close, or the mic is picking up desk rumble — put it on a stand.
Microphone Not Working? Troubleshooting by Browser
- Chrome / Edge: click the microphone or lock icon in the address bar, set Microphone to Allow, and reload. To clear a block: Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Microphone.
- Firefox: click the lock icon → Connection secure → More information → Permissions, then clear the saved setting for Use the Microphone.
- Safari: Safari menu → Settings for This Website → Microphone → Allow. On iPhone and iPad, also check Settings → Safari → Microphone.
- Windows: Settings → Privacy and security → Microphone. Confirm both Microphone access and Let desktop apps access your microphone are on.
- macOS: System Settings → Privacy and Security → Microphone, and tick your browser.
- Still nothing? Close Zoom, Teams, Discord and OBS — they can hold the mic exclusively. Then try another USB port and restart your browser to release a stuck device.
How to Use This Tool
- Start the mic: Click Start Mic Test and choose Allow when your browser asks for permission.
- Watch your level: Speak normally and keep the meter inside the green −18 to −6 dBFS target zone. The verdict line tells you which way to move.
- Run the Mic Health Check: Click Run Health Check, stay silent for the first stage, then speak for the second. You get an A–D grade for noise floor, level, clipping, SNR and true peak, each with a fix.
- Play yourself back: Click Record, say a sentence, and press play to hear what your callers hear.
- Compare the processing: Toggle echo cancellation, noise suppression and auto gain to see and hear what each one does to your voice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this mic test safe and private?
Yes. The test runs entirely inside your browser using the standard getUserMedia API. Your audio is metered, analysed and played back on your own device and is never uploaded, recorded on a server, or shared with anyone. Nothing is stored: when you click Stop Mic or close the tab, the stream ends and the microphone indicator turns off. Any clip you record lives only in your browser memory until you leave the page.
What is dBFS and what level should my microphone be?
dBFS means decibels relative to full scale. It is a negative number where 0 dBFS is the loudest signal that can be stored without distortion, and quieter sounds are more negative. For speech, aim for an average of about −18 dBFS with peaks that stay below −6 dBFS. That is the green target zone on the meter. It leaves headroom so a laugh or a cough does not clip, while staying far enough above the noise floor to sound clean.
Why is my microphone so quiet?
The most common cause is distance: sound level falls off quickly as you move away, so doubling your distance from the mic costs you about 6 dB. Speak within about 15 to 30 cm of the microphone. Next, check your input gain in your operating system sound settings, since many devices ship at 50 percent. Finally, make sure you are speaking into the correct side of the microphone, because most headset and USB mics only pick up from one face.
What does clipping mean and how do I stop it?
Clipping happens when your voice is louder than 0 dBFS, so the tops of the waveform are cut off flat and turn into harsh distortion that no software can repair. Fix it at the source: lower your input gain in your sound settings, move slightly further from the microphone, or angle the mic just off to the side of your mouth so plosive bursts do not hit it directly. On this tool the meter turns red and the clip counter rises when it happens.
What is a good signal-to-noise ratio for a microphone?
Signal-to-noise ratio is the gap between your speech level and your background noise floor. Above 40 dB is excellent and sounds broadcast clean. From 30 to 40 dB is good and is fine for calls and most recordings. From 20 to 30 dB is usable but hiss is audible in the pauses. Below 20 dB your background is competing with your voice. The fastest way to improve it is almost always to move closer to the microphone rather than to turn the gain up, because closing the distance raises your voice without raising the room noise.
Why is my microphone not working or not detected?
The most common causes are: another application such as Zoom, Teams, Discord or OBS is already holding the microphone exclusively, so close it and try again; microphone permission is blocked for this site in your browser settings; the wrong input device is selected, which is common with headsets that expose several inputs; a physical mute switch on your headset cable or mic body is engaged; or your operating system privacy settings deny microphone access to browsers. On Windows check Settings, Privacy and security, Microphone. On macOS check System Settings, Privacy and Security, Microphone.
Should I turn noise suppression and echo cancellation on or off?
For video calls, leave echo cancellation and noise suppression on. Echo cancellation stops the other person hearing themselves back through your speakers, and noise suppression removes fans and keyboard clatter. For recording music, podcasts or voice-over, turn all three off, including auto gain control. These processors are tuned for speech intelligibility, not fidelity: they can pump the level, smear reverb tails, and remove quiet detail such as breaths and instrument decay. This tool lets you toggle each one live so you can hear the difference on your own voice.
Does this mic test work on a phone?
Yes. On a phone or tablet the tool works the same way, and you can switch between the built-in microphone and any connected headset with the input selector. If you use headphone monitoring, wear headphones first, because monitoring through a phone speaker creates a feedback howl. The page requires a secure HTTPS connection, which this site always uses.
Related Tools
- Remove Background Noise — Clean up hum, fans and chatter in a recording you already made.
- Audio to Text Converter — Turn a recording into text.
- Audio Splitter — Cut a long recording into parts.
- Audio Extractor — Save the sound of a video as an audio file.
Additional Resources
Reference this content, page, or tool as:
"Mic Test" at https://MiniWebtool.com/mic-test/ from MiniWebtool, https://MiniWebtool.com/
by miniwebtool team. Updated: October 11, 2026
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