What to Do When Discord Isn't Picking Up Your Voice: 20 Fixes

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How to get back to voice chatting when Discord isn't cooperating with your mic

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IN THIS ARTICLE

1 Check if You're Muted/Deafened

2 Check Permissions

3 Restart Your Device

4 Test Your Microphone

5 Check Your Discord Input Device

6 Adjust Your Microphone's Input Sensitivity

7 Disable Noise Suppression

8 Check Your Microphone's Gain

9 Check Your Microphone's Position

10 Re-Plug In Your Microphone

11 Check Your USB Port/Microphone Jack

12 Change Windows Microphone Input

13 Run Discord as an Administrator

14 Reset Your Discord Voice Settings

15 Check Your Microphone Privacy Settings

16 Disable Windows Exclusive Mode

17 Disable Discord Quality of Service Settings

18 Run the Windows Speech Troubleshooter

19 Update Your Operating System

20 Update Audio Drivers

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Co-authored by Hannah Dillon Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: May 9, 2024 Fact Checked

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Are you having trouble with Discord not picking up your voice when you're talking? This can be an incredibly frustrating situation, especially because there's not one single fix for the issue. However, we've gathered all the ways you can try and fix it when your mic just isn't working on Discord. Keep reading to learn more.

Reasons Your Mic Isn't Working on Discord

First, make sure you're not muted/deafened. You should also make sure your Discord audio input is set to your microphone. If this doesn't help, you might need to tweak your audio settings. If you have a cardioid microphone, make sure you're talking into the front of it. If nothing else works, your mic might be broken.

Steps

1

Check if You're Muted/Deafened

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1. 
   Make sure you're not muted or deafened. The first thing to check when Discord isn't picking up your mic is to make sure that you aren't muted or deafened. Simply look at the microphone (mute) or headphone (deafen) icons in Discord to see if they're active.

   • You could have also gotten server muted or server deafened. If so, that can only be removed by a moderator or admin of the server you're in.
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2

Check Permissions

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1. 
   Make sure you have the correct permissions to voice chat. If you notice that only one server (or even just one voice channel) is giving you trouble with your microphone, it could be because you don't have the correct permissions for that channel.

   • If you are able to edit permissions, right-click (or Ctrl-click on Mac, or long press on mobile) the channel and go to Edit Channel > Permissions, then make sure your role has voice permissions.
   • If you can't edit the permissions for the server or channel, you'll need to ask an admin if they can adjust the permissions for you.

3

Restart Your Device

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1. 
   Restart your phone or computer. Sometimes various processes can stop working properly, and the only way to fix it is to restart your computer. Restarting your computer will refresh caches and registry files, and it may fix whatever bug or glitch is making it so your microphone doesn't work in Discord.
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4

Test Your Microphone

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1. 
   Check if your microphone is working with another app or program. Try using the voice recorder/voice notes app or program on your device to see if your microphone is still working. If you try recording something but your device isn't picking up any sound, the issue likely is with your mic.

5

Check Your Discord Input Device

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1. 
   Make sure Discord is using the right microphone. To get to your voice settings, click the cogwheel icon on desktop/the web or your profile picture on the app, then select Voice & Video or just Voice. In this menu, check your input device:

   • Find Input Device and make sure the microphone you want to use is selected. If your microphone isn't selected, select it from the dropdown.
   • A common issue is that when you plug in certain controllers (like a PS5 DualSense controller), all of your microphone inputs will switch to the controller.
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6

Adjust Your Microphone's Input Sensitivity

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1. 
   Make sure your input sensitivity isn't set too low. To get to your voice settings, click the cogwheel icon on desktop/the web or your profile picture on the app, then select Voice & Video or just Voice. In this menu, check your input sensitivity settings:

   • Find Input Sensitivity and toggle off "Automatically determine input sensitivity".
   • Then use the slider to adjust the ratio of green and yellow on the bar. The highlighted portion of this bar should always go into the green section when you're talking into your mic to ensure that everything you say is getting picked up.
   • If you don't want to turn off automatic input sensitivity, you can instead try toggling off Advanced Voice Activity further down in the Voice & Video settings menu.

7

Disable Noise Suppression

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1. 
   Turn off noise suppression and automatic gain control. To get to your voice settings, click the cogwheel icon on desktop/the web or your profile picture on the app, then select Voice & Video or just Voice. In this menu, check your input device:

   • Noise Suppression: If you're having issues with your microphone not picking up your voice, turn off noise suppression. Discord has built-in noise suppression which usually works to cut out background noises when you're on a call, but it could be contributing to Discord not picking up your mic.
   • Automatic Gain Control: Toggle this off if you're having issues with Discord picking up your voice.
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8

Check Your Microphone's Gain

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1. 
   Check the input settings on your actual microphone. If you have a microphone where you can manually adjust the gain (such as a Blue Yeti), make sure your gain isn't turned down too low. If your gain is too low, your microphone may have a hard time picking up your voice.

   • Also make sure your polar pattern is set to cardioid, if you have a cardioid microphone (like the Blue Yeti). The cardioid polar pattern icon looks like an upside-down, rounded heart.

9

Check Your Microphone's Position

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1. 
   Make sure your mic is set up in the correct position for its polar pattern. This only really applies if you've got a cardioid microphone. If you do, make sure you're talking into the front of the microphone. The mic shouldn't be angled towards you so you're talking into the top.

   • Cardioid microphones pick up sound best when you're speaking into the front of them. Using a cardioid mic incorrectly could be contributing to why Discord isn't picking up your voice.
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10

Re-Plug In Your Microphone

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1. 
   Unplug your microphone and plug it back in. This essentially serves as a refresher for the microphone. While it may not fix any underlying problems, it can get you back into voice call again when your microphone decides to suddenly stop working.

11

Check Your USB Port/Microphone Jack

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1. 
   Make sure the port your microphone is plugged into still works. Try plugging your microphone into another USB port or microphone jack to see if this solves the problem. If your microphone has a USB plug, you can also try unplugging it from the port and plugging in something else, like a flash drive. If the flash drive appears in your devices and you can use it, then the issue isn't your USB port.

   • If your microphone jack stops working, try a USB sound card. This device plugs into a USB port and has a headphone and microphone jacks so you can use your headphones/microphone via a USB port.
   • If you're running out of usable USB ports on your computer, try a USB hub. You just need one working USB port on your computer to plug the hub in, and then you can plug all of your USB devices into the hub to use them on your computer.
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12

Change Windows Microphone Input

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1. 
   Make sure your microphone is set as your computer's input device. This tip is for Windows computers only. To do this, type "Sound" into the taskbar search bar and select Sound Settings from the list that pops up. Then, make sure your device is selected under "Input Device" and change it in the dropdown if not.

13

Run Discord as an Administrator

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1. 
   Try running Discord as an administrator. If your microphone is still not working, you can try running Discord as an administrator. This tip is only for Windows computers.

   • With Discord closed, open it up by right-clicking Discord and selecting Run as administrator.
   • If certain games cause your microphone to stop working on Discord, make sure you run Discord as an administrator before you open the game.
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14

Reset Your Discord Voice Settings

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1. 
   Reset all of your Discord voice settings to default. If adjusting your Discord voice settings isn't working, you may need to reset them back to default and start over. To do this, click the cogwheel icon on desktop/the web or your profile picture on the app, then select Voice & Video or just Voice. Then, scroll down and select Reset Voice Settings.

15

Check Your Microphone Privacy Settings

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1. 
   Make sure your privacy settings aren't restricting your mic. This tip is for Windows computers only. In the taskbar search bar, type "Privacy" and select Privacy Settings from the list that pops up. Click Microphone in the left-hand sidebar, then make sure "Allow apps to access your microphone" is toggled on.
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16

Disable Windows Exclusive Mode

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1. 
   Try turning off exclusive mode for your microphone. This tip is for Windows computers only. In the taskbar search bar, type "Sound" and select Sound Settings from the list that pops up. Click Device properties under your input device, then click Additional device properties on the right-hand side (though Windows 11 users can skip this particular step).

   • In the Microphone Properties window that opens up, click the Advanced tab. Then, uncheck everything under "Exclusive Mode" and click OK to save.

17

Disable Discord Quality of Service Settings

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1. 
   Turn off Discord's high packet priority setting. While Discord's Quality of Service High Packet Priority setting usually makes voice calls smoother, it can sometimes cause the opposite to occur.

   • To disable this setting, click the cogwheel icon on desktop/the web or your profile picture on the app, then select Voice & Video or just Voice. Then, scroll down and toggle off Enable Quality of Service High Packet Priority.
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18

Run the Windows Speech Troubleshooter

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1. 
   Try running the Windows Speech Troubleshooter. This tip is for Windows only. While the Speech Troubleshooter may or may not give you results in Discord, running the troubleshooter is a simple step that may identify an unknown underlying problem that can be fixed.

   • To run the troubleshooter, search for "troubleshoot" in the taskbar search bar, then select Troubleshoot Settings from the list that pops up.
   • Click Additional troubleshooters at the bottom of the page, then click on Speech > Run the troubleshooter.

19

Update Your Operating System

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1. 
   Make sure your device is fully updated. Whether you're on a PC, Mac, or mobile device, an outdated operating system can lead to a number of issues. If you have a pending OS update, download and install it before trying again.

   • If you aren't sure how to update your device, you can read these wikiHow articles for PC, Mac, Android, and iPhone.
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20

Update Audio Drivers

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1. 
   Your audio drivers may need an update. This tip is for Windows only. While updating your Windows OS usually updates drivers as well, you may want to manually check for driver updates for thoroughness's sake. To update your drivers:

   • Boot in Safe Mode, then right click the Start button and select Device Manager.
   • Expand Audio inputs and outputs.
   • Right click your microphone and select "Update driver". After the drivers have been updated, restart your PC to see if the issue still occurs.

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