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Burrows Tools

Mic Test

An AI assistant cannot hear your microphone, and a support article cannot either — finding out whether yours works needs a page that opens the input and shows you the signal. This one does. Press the button, allow the permission prompt, and you get a live level meter, a waveform that moves when you speak, the sample rate and channel count your browser negotiated, and a recording you can play back to hear what a call would hear. When the meter never moves, the page names which of the usual causes it is — a refused permission, no device attached, another application holding the microphone, or a muted input — rather than showing one vague error. Nothing is uploaded: this page makes no network requests at all, the recording lives in this tab's memory, and closing the tab throws it away. Nothing opens your microphone until you press the button, even if you granted this site permission before.

Your browser will ask for permission when you press the button — nothing listens before that. The audio never leaves this tab: this page makes no network requests at all, records nothing on a server, and keeps no history.

Input level-∞ dB RMS · -∞ dB peak

Press the button above to see your microphone's level here.

Record and play it back

A meter proves the microphone is working; hearing yourself proves it sounds right. Up to 15 seconds, held in the memory of this tab and thrown away when you press Clear or close the page.

How to use the mic test

  1. Press “Start microphone test” and allow the permission prompt your browser shows. Nothing listens until you do.
  2. Pick the right input from the list if you have more than one — names appear once permission has been granted.
  3. Speak normally and watch the meter and waveform. Peaks between -18 dB and -6 dB are the range calls and recordings want.
  4. Press “Record”, talk for a few seconds, then play it back to hear yourself the way the other end of a call would.
  5. Press “Stop” when you are done. That closes the microphone; leaving the page does the same thing.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my microphone not working in Zoom, Teams, or Discord?
If the meter on this page moves, the microphone and its drivers are fine and the problem is inside that app: check the input device it has selected, that it is not muted in the call, and that it has microphone permission at the operating-system level. If the meter does not move here either, the fault is below the app — start with the mute switch, the system input volume, and whether another program is already holding the device.
The meter does not move at all. What should I check?
In order: a physical mute switch or mute key on the headset or laptop; the input volume in your system sound settings, which can sit at zero; whether you picked the right microphone in the list above; and whether a call app is still running and holding the device. This page watches for exactly this and says so after a few seconds of silence.
Is my voice recorded or uploaded anywhere?
No. This page makes no network requests at all — audio goes from the microphone to a meter in this tab and nowhere else. A recording you make is held in the tab's memory so you can play it back, and it is destroyed when you press Clear, start another recording, or close the page. There is no account, no server, and nothing to delete afterwards.
Why does my microphone show no name in the list?
Browsers withhold device names until a site has been granted microphone permission, because the list of hardware attached to your computer is itself identifying. Allow the prompt once and the real names appear immediately.
Why do I sound quiet or distant to other people?
Usually distance and gain. Speak within about 30 cm of the microphone, raise the input level in your system sound settings until peaks reach roughly -12 dB here, and be aware that browser automatic gain control will keep raising the level of a quiet signal — which also raises the room noise with it.

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