Krisp
AI · Virtual microphone · Windows · macOS
- Background noise from your mic
- Background voices (Voice Isolation, with a compatible headset)
- Noise in the audio you hear from others (Speaker Noise Cancellation)
§ 00 — Noise test for voice chat
Hear what your mic really sends.
A noise test for voice and video chat.
In short
ChatNoise measures the noise your microphone sends into Discord, Zoom, Teams and Meet, then shows which setting, device or room fix removes it. Free, in your browser, no account.
Run the noise test → The scale the test reads on
- Segments 1–7
- Up to −18 dBFS. Room noise belongs below the first segment; speech sits in the upper green.
- Segments 8–10
- −18 to −6 dBFS. Loud speech. Fine in bursts.
- Segments 11–12
- Above −6 dBFS. Close to clipping; turn the input down.
§ 01 — What the test measures
What the test measures
Noise floor dBFS What your mic sends in the pauses, read over 4 seconds of silence.
Speech level dBFS How loud your voice arrives, read while you say one sentence.
Signal-to-noise dB The gap between your voice and the noise. Bigger is cleaner.
Peak dBFS Your loudest moment. Above −1 dBFS the sound starts to clip.
Hum 50/60 Hz Mains hum from power wiring, chargers and cables.
dBFS is decibels below the loudest level a digital recording can hold, so 0 is the ceiling and every reading is negative. What the numbers mean.
§ 02 — Start with what you hear
fix
All fixes →| 01 · You hear | 02 · Likely cause | 03 · Fix | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background noise | Room A steady noise source near you: a fan, air conditioning, a PC under the desk, traffic through a window | Turn the source off or move away from it, and close the door and windows for the call source off | → |
| Echo | Room Someone's speakers play the call loudly enough for their mic to pick it up | That person switches to headphones, or turns the speakers down and moves the mic away from them headphones | → |
| Static and hiss | Room A fan, air conditioner or computer fan makes a steady rush that sounds like hiss on a call | Turn the fan off for the call, or move the mic away from it and closer to your mouth fan off | → |
| Robotic voice | Mic A Bluetooth headset is in its low-quality call mode, or it is connected to more than one device | Disconnect the headset from your other devices, or use a USB or wired headset for the call USB headset | → |
| Mic too quiet | Mic The mic is too far from your mouth: in open space, each doubling of distance costs about 6 dB | Move the mic to 5–10 cm from your mouth for a desk mic, or use a headset with a boom closer | → |
| Keyboard noise | Room The keyboard sits right next to the mic, or it is a loud mechanical board | Move the mic away from the keyboard and closer to your mouth, or use a headset whose mic sits by your mouth distance | → |
| Fan noise | Room A desk fan, air conditioner or air purifier runs near you | Turn it off or down for the call, or move the mic away from it fan off | → |
| Hum and buzz | Mic A ground loop: two or more connected devices give the audio more than one path to ground | Disconnect the other devices in your audio chain one at a time until the hum stops; a ground loop isolator can fix the one you find ground loop | → |
§ 03 — Apps
apps
All apps →- Gaming and communities 01
Discord
Voice channels, calls and screen shares for communities and friends
- Meetings 02
Zoom
Video meetings and webinars for work, school and family calls
- Meetings 03
Microsoft Teams
Meetings and calls for work and school, part of Microsoft 365
- Meetings 04
Google Meet
Video meetings in the browser or the Meet app, with a Google account or Workspace
- Meetings 05
Slack (huddles)
Quick audio and video huddles in any Slack channel or direct message
- Meetings 06
Webex
Cisco's meetings, calling and messaging app for work
- Messaging 07
FaceTime
Apple's audio and video calls on iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Messaging 08
WhatsApp
Voice and video calls from your phone, your computer or a browser
- Messaging 09
Telegram
Messaging with voice and video calls and group voice chats
- Messaging 10
Signal
Private messaging with end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls
- Messaging 11
Messenger
Meta's messaging app, with voice and video calls on your phone or in a browser
- Gaming and communities 12
Steam voice chat
Voice calls with Steam friends and groups, in the Steam client or a browser
- Gaming and communities 13
Roblox voice chat
Proximity voice inside the Roblox experiences that support it
- Gaming and communities 14
TeamSpeak
Voice servers and channels you can host yourself, for gaming groups and teams
- Console party chat 15
Xbox party chat
Party voice chat on Xbox consoles and in the Xbox app on Windows
- Console party chat 16
PlayStation party chat
Party voice chat on PS5, with the DualSense controller mic or a headset
§ 04 — Software TOOL.01 TOOL.02 TOOL.03 TOOL.04
software
Compare all →NVIDIA Broadcast
AI · Virtual microphone · Windows
- Background noise from your mic (Noise Removal)
- Room echo and reverb (Room Echo Removal)
- Noise in the audio you hear from others (Noise Removal on the speaker)
Windows Voice Clarity and Voice Focus
AI · Operating system · Windows
- Background noise (Voice Clarity and Voice Focus)
- Echo (Voice Clarity)
- Room reverberation (Voice Clarity)
macOS Voice Isolation
AI · Operating system · macOS
- Background noise around you (Apple says it uses machine learning)
§ 05 — Learn
learn
All articles →- dBFS, Explained dBFS measures digital level against the loudest value a sample can hold. Why 0 is the ceiling, what −20 and −60 mean, and why call apps even you out.
- Noise Gate vs Noise Suppression A gate opens and closes the mic on a threshold; suppression removes noise while you talk. How each works, where each fails, and the clipped first word.
- Quieter Calls Without Buying a Mic Distance, aim, soft surfaces, fan placement and mute habits do more for a call than a new mic. What each change does, and how to check it with the test.
- Sample Rate and Bit Depth for Voice Chat What 44.1 and 48 kHz mean, what 16-bit buys you, what call apps send through the Opus codec, and why recording a call at 96 kHz adds nothing.
- Signal-to-Noise Ratio for Voice SNR is the gap between your voice and the noise behind it, in decibels. How the test works it out, what 20, 30 and 40 dB mean, and what suppression does.
- What a Noise Floor Is and What Yours Should Be The noise floor is the level your mic sends when nobody is talking. What the dBFS numbers mean, what mics add on their own, and how the test reads it.
- What AI Noise Suppression Can and Can't Remove Steady noise, sudden noise, other voices and music: what the filters in call apps take out, where they leave artifacts, and what runs on CPU, GPU or NPU.
- Why Bluetooth Mics Sound Bad on Calls Classic Bluetooth switches to a mono call profile when its mic is on. What A2DP and HFP do, the 8, 16 and 32 kHz voice rates, LE Audio, and what to do.
§ 06 — How we measure
Numbers you can check
The test listens to your microphone through your browser, the same way a call app does. It reads the level in 100 ms slices, takes the median of four quiet seconds as your noise floor, and the loud end of one spoken sentence as your speech level. Peak, clipping and mains hum come from the same two recordings.
The settings on the app and software pages come from each vendor's own help pages, with the date we last checked them and a link to every source. When a vendor changes a menu, the date tells you how fresh our copy is.
Read the methodology →