With the shift in work culture from office to WFH, online connectivity has seen an unprecedented surge. Important meetings, client presentations, school, almost everything has shifted towards online platforms like GoogleMeet, Skype, and Zoom Meetings, etc. Therefore, it becomes extremely important that input devices like mic, keyboard, mouse are working correctly.
But how to test if they are functioning properly or not. Don’t worry; there are an ample number of free softwares present online to test the integrity of your input devices. In addition, there are simple visible cues that will tell you about the health of your mic and other devices.
You can simply enter an online mic test in search engine, and a list of corresponding sites offering free mic checks will pop up. Most of these sites work on the mic hardware itself and do not depend on any software for input. So it will ensure that your mic is working properly regardless of internal software glitches. These softwares have similar layouts of waveform tester, where either a wave or line is used to judge the functioning of the mic. So if you see a disturbance in wave or line, it means your mic is working just fine else, you need to resolve the issue.
Loose connections: If you are using an external mic, it is very common that the connections are loose. Please reinsert the microphone jack and also check the compatibility of your jack with the laptop’s port.
Simultaneous usage: In most cases, the mic will simply not function if it is being used simultaneously by two or more applications. The mic may work properly in one application and may not even connect in the second one. Avoid running simultaneous applications where the mic is a necessity.
Access is disabled in the application: It is pretty usual to decline the in-app permissions for mic and camera access involuntarily. If you have done the same, ensure to check the application's settings and enable the device. If you are using it on a web browser like Chrome, you can find the access tab on the left of the search bar or visit the site settings and turn on the devices.
Driver is old or not found: Just like any other input device; you need a driver to run your mic too. So first, check the right driver for the make-model of your laptop. Then, install or reinstall and update the driver for the proper functioning of the mic.
If still, your mic is not working, get it checked with any technician at a nearby electronics shop.
Online testing softwares is highly beneficial in providing accurate results. Also, these work fine with most of the model of laptop and microphones. You can use any web browser to open these free online testing softwares and easily check your mic online.
Retest.us is one such online software that is accurate to define the integrity of your mic. You can also test the keyboard, speakers, battery health, and mouse with the mic.