Have you ever been embarrassed because the sounds around you were being transmitted along with your voice so that no one could hear you clearly? Or, weirdly, are the sounds meant to come from the speaker coming through your mic instead, and everyone can hear what your device is playing? Well, issues like these are common and can be very annoying, but luckily there are ways to solve them. Let us know more detail about ‘Mic Picking Up Computer Sounds’.
Mic Picking Up Computer Sounds
Issues related to your microphone picking computer sounds could be related to incorrect configuration or setup, multiple mics, audio ports, device driver issues, OS update issues, the absence of inbuilt noise and echo cancellation or other sound enhancement options, a faulty jack, and several other possibilities. The two main problems faced are when the mic picks up background noise and when it retransmits output audio directly.
We will look at
- Common fixes to try.
- Output audio being retransmitted.
- Background sound being transmitted.
- Dealing with other applications’ settings.
- Dealing with different applications
Common fixes to try: Mic Picking Up Computer Sounds
The following are some common solutions for both cases: internal rerouting of output sound and transmission of external, background sounds.
- If this is not a common issue, try restarting the device first.
- Make sure there are no two microphones connected. For example, your webcam might have a built-in mic that interferes with your headset mic.
- Make sure the mic is plugged into its port properly.
- Try plugging the mic into a different port if that is available.
- Troubleshoot your audio device(s): there are options to do this in most OS, and often there are multiple troubleshooting options available. Follow the instructions in the troubleshooting result.
- Ensure the mic you want to use is the default mic for your device. Configure the settings to ensure your device displays all audio devices, and disable all other mics and also Stereo Mix.
- Turn off the “Listen to this device” option, which is a common culprit in this case.
- Update the device drivers for your audio devices.
- If updating fails to help, try disabling or uninstalling the sound driver and then disconnecting and reconnecting your audio device to make your OS automatically install a suitable one. Alternatively, if the problem is relatively new, you can try to roll back to an older version of the driver. You can also manually switch to another driver compatible with your motherboard.
- Try disabling any drivers you have installed: stick with the default for your OS.
- Update your OS to the latest version if it is not already on it.
- If the problem started right after an update, look for bug fixes or fixes to update-related issues.
- If your audio driver/manager has the option, make it consider all the input jacks as Independent Input Devices and turn off any options that tie similar input jacks together so that the system deals with all your jacks and their connected devices separately.
- If your mic is plugged into, for example, the port or jack of your keyboard or into the front jack of your computer’s case, try connecting it directly to your motherboard through the port at the back.
- To check your mic input quality outside of calls, you can try your OS’s inbuilt playback option or go to an online site that can record sound and play it back to know what you would sound like at the other end of a call.
When the audio output is being retransmitted?
Sometimes, your device might internally pick audio meant for the speakers and transmit that during a call with your voice. It might also – in rare cases – start playing audio through the mic, which also gets transmitted to the other end. Following are some things you can try.
- Speaker malfunctions can sometimes cause the device to designate the mic as the last-resort output device. However, this is unusual.
- Make sure the computer recognizes the speakers you want as the default audio output device and check to ensure they are working properly.
- Ensure your mic is listed as an output device rather than an input device.
- Go through the mic and audio settings and see if there are any odd settings enabled. You can perform a simple google search to know what a confusing-looking setting option is supposed to do.
- Sometimes, running multiple applications simultaneously can also mess with the mic. If your OS offers it, look for the option to let applications have exclusive control over the default mic and toggle it on.
Background sound being transmitted (with fixes)
Mics often can reject sounds that they are not supposed to transmit, for example, the background noise of the device’s output. However, if these settings are not managed, your mic can transmit any sound around you. Some ways to troubleshoot and fix this are listed below.
- If your OS has options for noise suppression and acoustic echo cancellation, ensure that these are enabled because they can help with interfering background sounds.
- Alternatively, sometimes Audio Enhancement can also interfere with your mic. Try toggling it off for a while.
- Several OS allow you to decide how much background sound the mic picks up and you can adjust this value.
- If possible, use a headset rather than using your device’s inbuilt mic because if the mic is closer to the device it would be more likely to pick up background sound.
- If possible, try using a closed-back headset that closes properly over your ears because less of the computer’s audio will leak into the mic.
- Keep the output volume reasonably low because the computer might not suppress louder sounds completely.
- Ensure the mic sensitivity is not too high.
- To check if the issue is with the application, try using another voice-calling application to see if the issue persists.
- To check your microphone, try using a different mic if you have one. If that works fine, the problem is with your hardware.
- Many applications have inbuilt noise suppression and similar tools to help with background sounds. Try using these.
- Third-party applications that cancel noise are also available. You can install and use these.
- Try reducing the mic input volume and speaking louder if all else fails.
Dealing with applications’ settings
Recently, the issue of computer sounds going with your voice automatically has been coming up repeatedly with Discord, a popular gaming platform. However, it might come up while using other voice/video-calling platforms too. Here are some tips to help.
- Check to see if the issue is with the mic: Call someone over another similar voice/video calling channel like Zoom or Skype while playing some other audio and see if the problem persists. If it does, try the options listed above.
- Otherwise, for Discord:
- Log in to Discord and open the User Settings menu (click on the gear-shaped icon).
- Select the Voice and Video settings from the left-hand side menu.
- If there is a list of options displayed, select the default microphone as the Input device and the headset as your Output device.
- As mentioned earlier, ensure that Stereo Mix is disabled for your device.
- Similarly, with other applications, you should go through the mic and audio settings and look for ones that may give you additional help with mic clarity and background noise.
Dealing with different applications
The solutions mentioned above are general; the methods for carrying them out would vary between different Operating systems (OS), so they have not been included. You can look for instructions online based on your case; most of them are fairly easy to carry out. Some basic methods are listed below
- For Linux users: Enter Settings (this will be different for different distros, but should be easy to find) and click on the Sound tab to change basic settings like mic input volume, audio output, default mic, et cetera. Check if the mic is working by looking at the flashing orange audio input bars. You can check for the input audio quality by recording sound using any other software and playing it back to manually troubleshoot between different fixing attempts. Lastly, you can try advanced fixes using the command line.
- Windows users can go to the Control Panel, then to Hardware and Sound, Sound, and then Recording, or search for the Sound Settings in the Windows search menu. Here you will find many options for your mic in the Recording tab. Search for the Device Manager in the Windows search box if you want to try device driver-related fixes. Windows also has a comprehensive inbuilt troubleshooter for audio devices.
- Apple users can get to the sound settings through the Apple menu. The Sound option should be listed there.
In general, you can simply click on the small sound icon wherever it is on your home screen to get to the appropriate settings program.
Conclusion
Now you know how to deal with the embarrassing issue of others knowing just what you are doing or listening to on your device while talking to them. Use these tips and see if they can help solve your mic-related problem!
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Can my audio be transmitted through the mic?
A: Yes! Technically, if the wiring or some other setting goes wrong, many microphones are built so that the audio meant for the speakers can come through the mic. However, the mic is not meant to play sound so the audio quality will not be good. You can Play audio through the mic intentionally if you want others on a call to listen to your device’s audio.
