The microphone is an important input device of the computer. Normally, people use microphones to communicate with other people like using Skype, Zoom etc. or the mic is also used for recording your voice.
If you are having trouble with mic volume or your mic volume is too quiet, we will discuss the possible issues and their resolution in this article.
There are two components that are important when troubleshooting the mic volume:
- Hardware
- Software
The physical mic should be working fine to input your voice properly through the computer. If the mic is physically damaged, there is not much you can do about it other than to replace it altogether.
In software, there are two categories:
- Operating System level settings
- The actual software that is making use of the mic
We will discuss both of these in the article. Keep reading.
Windows 10 comes with options that can make your mic louder to a certain level. We will discuss these options in this article.
Tip: We have already talked about how to increase the maximum volume of your speakers in Windows 10.
Let’s start with cleaning the hardware and then we’ll move on to the software part:
Table of Contents
Increase mic volume by cleaning the mic
If you are using your laptop’s built-in mic, please check if its vent is blocked by dust particles. The dust particles can reduce mic performance by more than 50%.
Cleaning the mic with a wet cloth will remove the dust from its vent. Make sure that water particles do not enter the mic. Otherwise, it will cease to work.
The built-in mic is beside the web cam in most laptops. If you are using an external mic, you can clean it up accordingly.
Increase Mic volume using Sound Control Panel in Windows
The sound control panel in Windows can be used to adjust mic volume levels to your needs. Here are the steps involved to adjust mic volume using sound control panel in Windows 10.
- Go to Run –> mmsys.cpl. This will open the sound control panel directly.
- Go to the Recording tab.
- Right-click the mic that you are using and select Properties. There may be multiple microphones listed if you have installed more than one mic on your computer.
- Go to the Levels tab. There are two components listed here.
- Microphone Array (The actual name of your mic): This is the actual volume of the microphone. You can set the slider to 100 to achieve maximum mic volume.
- Microphone Boost: This setting can be used to boost the mic volume further. The boost depends on how much boost your physical mic supports. For example, my built-in mic supports only +10dB.
The new Windows 10 settings make it difficult to change mic volume settings. That’s why we use the old control panel applet for ease of use.
Turn up mic volume using sound card audio manager
Most modern sound cards come with their own audio manager. For example, the most popular is Realtek Audio Manager. You can use the sound card manager to turn up the mic volume.
The options listed on the audio manager are almost the same as Windows settings. If you have an advanced mic or sound card, then there will be advanced options listed here.
Please note that if you don’t have a sound card manager, either the sound card manufacturer didn’t include it with the sound card driver or you didn’t install the manager.
Check with your sound card manufacturer website if they have a sound card manager. Otherwise, you only have the Windows option at hand.
TIP: Check and find unknown device drivers in Windows.
Adjust mic volume using Software properties
There are times when the Windows settings are absolutely correct and even then the mic is not working properly. In this case, you should check the settings of the software that is using the mic.
For example, if I’m using Skype, I can check Skype options to make sure mic settings are correctly configured.
How to fix mic sensitivity
There are times when the mic is working perfectly fine but you want to adjust some settings like enable noise cancellation, reduce hissing and whistles when the mic is close to your mouth etc.
You can adjust these settings in Windows but these settings are only available if your sound card supports them.
These settings are available in the sound control panel enhancements tab.
Let’s discuss what I have in my enhancements tab:
Beam Forming (BF): Enhances the voice signal inside the beam while suppressing the noise outside the beam.
Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC): This removes the echo coupled into the mic from the loudspeaker output through the air.
Far Field Pickup (FFP): Enabling this setting can be useful when you are not sitting right in front of the mic.
Keystroke Suppression (KS): Suppresses typing noise.
If this helps you fix your mic volume, please leave a comment below. This gives us encouragement to keep finding solutions like this.
