How MicProbe tests your microphone

A microphone test can help you check the sound captured on your device. MicProbe records a short guided sample, lets you listen back and checks the recording for common technical problems. It does not join a call or hear what another person receives.

What happens during a test?

Choose the app you want to test for and select your microphone. Follow the prompts to stay quiet, then read aloud. While you stay quiet, the test records the sound around you. While you read, it records your voice with the selected settings.

After recording, listen to the sample and read the result. Keep the microphone, room and distance the same when comparing a change. A result describes that recording, not every future call with the same microphone.

What does the result look at?

Speech level: whether the captured voice is unusually quiet or loud for the selected test.
Clipping: signs that the recording has run out of room for louder sound.
Background noise: the sound captured while you were quiet and its relationship to your recorded voice.
Narrow sound: whether the voice has a limited range of sound, as can happen with some headset connections. This finding alone does not identify a Bluetooth device or prove the cause.

The recording must contain enough usable evidence for a check. An unavailable check does not mean that no problem exists. Listen back too: technical measurements do not replace your judgment of how the recording sounds.

What does the score mean?

When the recording supports it, the result shows Technical checks: a score out of 10 for the selected test. It summarizes the supported checks. It is not a rating of your voice, a laboratory rating of the microphone, or a prediction of what someone hears in a call.

A higher score does not guarantee natural or intelligible speech. If the recording is incomplete or cannot support a score, the result explains that limitation. Read the findings alongside the number.

Does choosing Zoom or Discord test that app?

No. These tests approximate an app’s microphone settings locally in your browser. MicProbe does not connect to Zoom, Discord, Teams or the other apps. It cannot assess the actual call, your internet connection or the listener’s device. Your browser and the real app may also use different microphones or sound processing.

If the sample sounds good but your calls do not, read why a microphone can sound good in a browser and bad in calls.

What happens to the recording?

Audio is recorded and processed on your device. Test measurements are sent to MicProbe for assessment. Saved reports do not contain audio; download the recording separately if you want to keep it. The privacy policy explains how report and account data are handled.

The Raw recorder is a separate recording tool. It saves audio without running a test, creating a report or assigning a score.