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Audio Bench

Advanced Microphone & Room Acoustics Test

Most mic tests show a bouncing bar and stop. This one measures the things that actually make you hard to listen to: your noise floor, how far your voice rises above it, whether you are clipping, how much your room echoes, and whether plosives are thumping the capsule.

Mic off

Step 1

Measure Your Noise Floor

Stay silent for five seconds. This captures the constant background sound your microphone picks up when nobody is speaking — fans, air conditioning, traffic, computer hum.

  • Noise Floor:—
  • Assessment:—

Step 2

Speak Normally

Read a sentence or two at your normal call volume and distance. Say something with hard P and B sounds — "Peter picked a big box of paper" works well for detecting plosives.

Levels

  • Peak Level:—
  • Average Speech Level:—
  • Signal-to-Noise:—
  • Clipping:—

Voice & Room

  • Plosive Hits:—
  • Reverb Tail:—
  • Sibilance:—
  • Dominant Voice Range:—

Reading Your Results

What Each Measurement Means

Noise FloorHow loud your silence is. A high floor means listeners hear constant hiss or hum behind you, and noise suppression will have to work hard — which is what makes voices sound underwater.
Signal-to-NoiseHow far your voice rises above that floor. This matters more than raw loudness: a quiet voice in a quiet room is far easier to listen to than a loud voice in a noisy one.
ClippingYour input hitting maximum and squaring off. Once clipped, the audio is permanently distorted — no amount of processing recovers it. Lower your input gain or move back.
PlosivesBursts of air from P and B sounds hitting the capsule as a low thump. Fixed by moving slightly off-axis or adding a pop filter, not by adjusting levels.
Reverb TailHow long sound keeps bouncing after you stop speaking. Long tails make you sound distant and hollow. Soft furnishings help far more than a better microphone.
SibilanceHarsh emphasis on S and T sounds. Usually improved by angling the mic slightly away from directly in front of your mouth.

Why audio outranks video on a call

People will tolerate a mediocre picture for an hour. They will not tolerate audio they have to strain against — it is genuinely tiring, and listeners disengage far faster from bad sound than from a soft image. If you have budget for exactly one upgrade, spend it on the microphone and the room around it rather than the camera.

The room matters more than most people expect. A modest microphone in a soft, quiet room consistently beats an expensive one in a bare room with a hard desk and blank walls behind you. Curtains, a rug, a bookshelf, or even a jacket over the back of a chair meaningfully reduce the reflections that this test measures as your reverb tail.

All figures here are relative measurements taken through the Web Audio API in your browser. They are not calibrated against an absolute reference level, so they are meaningful for comparing your own setup before and after a change, not as certified specifications. Nothing is uploaded — the analysis runs entirely on your device.

Benchmark Reference

Good, Fair, and Poor by Metric

MetricGoodFairPoor
Signal-to-noise> 18 dB above floor10–18 dB< 10 dB
Peak level-12 to -3 dBFSBelow -24 dBFS (too quiet)Any clipped frames
Plosives per take01–23+
Sibilance ratio< 0.350.35–0.55> 0.55
Reverb tail< 250 ms250–500 ms> 500 ms

These are this tool's own real thresholds — the same ones used to generate the suggested fixes below your results.

Step-by-Step

How to Run the Test

  1. Click "Measure Floor" and stay silent for a few seconds to capture your room's noise floor.
  2. Click "Analyze Speech" and read a sentence or two at your normal call volume, ending with a brief pause.
  3. Read your six metrics — noise floor, SNR, clipping, plosives, sibilance, and reverb tail.
  4. Check the suggested fixes panel, which only lists what's actually outside a comfortable range for your specific take.

Common Issues

Troubleshooting & Fixes

Microphone access blockedClick the camera/mic icon in your browser's address bar to confirm this site is allowed, or check your OS's microphone privacy settings — Windows: Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone; macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
Reverb reads "continuous speech"End your take with a clear pause of at least a second so the tool can measure how long the room keeps ringing after you stop.
Results seem inconsistent between runsBackground noise, your exact distance from the mic, and speaking volume all shift the reading — keep conditions as similar as possible between takes for a fair comparison.
Noise floor seems unrealistically low or highSome OS-level noise suppression runs even during the "silent" measurement step, which can understate your real floor — try disabling it temporarily in your OS sound settings for the truest reading.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I test my microphone online?
Allow microphone access, measure your noise floor in silence, then record a few seconds of speech. The tool reports levels, signal-to-noise, clipping, plosives, sibilance and room reverb.
Why does my microphone sound muffled?
Often a low signal-to-noise ratio rather than low volume. If your voice is not far enough above the background noise, noise suppression degrades it while trying to compensate.
What is a good noise floor for a microphone?
Below −60 dBFS is a very quiet room and below −50 dBFS is a typical quiet office. Above −40 dBFS means listeners will hear constant background noise behind you.
How do I stop popping sounds on my mic?
Those are plosives — bursts of air from P and B sounds hitting the capsule. Speak slightly across the microphone rather than straight into it, or add a pop filter. Adjusting levels does not help.
Do I need to fix every metric that isn't "good"?
No — prioritize by what's actually audible to the other person. Clipping and low SNR usually matter most; a slightly long reverb tail or mild sibilance are often minor by comparison. The suggested fixes panel is already ordered around what's actually out of range for your take, not a checklist to clear completely.