People say your microphone is too quiet
How do I fix my laptop mic being too quiet on video calls?
Written by The CommonFixes team · fact checked by CommonFixes review desk
Last updated
Short answer
Laptop microphones start at a modest input level and meeting apps apply their own automatic gain on top. If the Windows input level is low, a boost is switched off, or the app picked the wrong microphone, your voice arrives thin and distant. The quickest thing to try first: raise the input level in windows — Settings, System, Sound, Input, click your microphone, and drag Input volume to about 90. Speak and watch the test bar reach roughly two thirds. Most people are done in about 10 minutes.
Full walkthrough below: 6 steps for Windows and Mac, rated easy.
Sounds like this
- •Others ask you to speak up
- •The level bar barely moves when you talk
- •It sounds fine in recordings but not in calls
Why it happens
Laptop microphones start at a modest input level and meeting apps apply their own automatic gain on top. If the Windows input level is low, a boost is switched off, or the app picked the wrong microphone, your voice arrives thin and distant.
Work through these in order
0% done- 1
Raise the input level in Windows
Settings, System, Sound, Input, click your microphone, and drag Input volume to about 90. Speak and watch the test bar reach roughly two thirds.
- 2
Switch on Microphone Boost
In the same sound page open More sound settings, Recording tab, your microphone, Properties, Levels. Set Microphone to 100 and Microphone Boost to +10 dB. Going to +20 dB usually adds hiss.
- 3
Pick the correct microphone in the meeting app
In Teams, Zoom or Meet open the audio settings and select the internal array microphone by name. Headsets left connected by Bluetooth are often chosen silently and sound far worse.
- 4
Turn off the app's automatic level control
Zoom: Audio, untick 'Automatically adjust microphone volume'. Teams and Meet: turn off noise suppression temporarily. Aggressive suppression mistakes a quiet voice for background noise and mutes it.
- 5
Stop other apps grabbing exclusive control
Recording tab, Properties, Advanced, untick 'Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device'. This stops one app locking a low level for everything else.
- 6
On a Mac, raise the input gain
System Settings, Sound, Input, choose the microphone and drag Input volume most of the way up while watching the level meter respond to your normal speaking voice.
If none of that worked
Sit about a forearm's length from the screen and speak across the keyboard rather than over it. If it is still weak, a basic USB headset gives a far bigger improvement than any setting.
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Who wrote this and how we checked it
The CommonFixes team
Writer and researcher
We are a small group of people who spend our days repairing laptops and desktops for family, friends and small offices. Every guide here starts with a problem someone actually brought to us, and we only write down the steps that put the machine right.
- Everyday repairs
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CommonFixes review desk
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Before a guide goes live, a second person walks through it on a real machine and checks each instruction against the maker's own support pages. Anything we cannot confirm is removed rather than guessed at.
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This guide was last updated on 10 August 2026. If a step no longer matches what you see on screen, tell us on the contact page and we will test it again.
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