Discord has grown from the initial idea of a gaming-focused chat provider to a robust content and media platform used by content creators, brands, and groups of friends alike. Discord has taken the world by storm with its feature-rich and accessible platform built around maintaining and interacting with communities by combining some of the best features from other social platforms like Skype, Zoom, and TeamSpeak.
This rapid growth has led to some incredible innovations and additions within the application, but glitches and problems can still rear their ugly heads. Those hiccups most often crop up as microphone connectivity issues. Getting one’s mic to work properly is a common source of problems among users. Luckily, Discord’s intuitive user interface and tweaking options make it easy to narrow down exactly what’s going on and how to fix it in just a few short minutes. This step-by-step guide will lay out how to fix the most common microphone connectivity issues on Discord.
First Steps
As with any hardware or software issue, make sure the device you’re using as a microphone is plugged in. I know that sounds simple, but ensuring your device is connected to your computer is a key first step in troubleshooting. Take the standard steps of closing and reopening Discord and/or plugging and unplugging your device
Sometimes the issue isn’t on the broadcaster’s end. Make sure that the friend or group you are chatting with has their audio output settings toggled correctly. Your profile picture should have a green circle around it when you are speaking and audio is being transmitted correctly. We can move on to the user settings and start checking the input and output settings of the device if those initial steps do not resolve the issue.
Ensure Discord is Detecting the Proper Audio Input & Output
Incorrect Input and output settings are the most common reasons for a malfunctioning mic on Discord. Discord does a good job at automatically detecting devices and allowing users to seamlessly switch between inputs, but mistakes can happen.
- Simply go to the gear icon next to your username and click on it.
- Go down to the section labeled “App Settings” and click on “Voice and Video”
- Select the drop-down menu for “Input Device” and make sure it is set to the correct microphone. Likewise, select “Output Device” to ensure that Discord audio is being sent to the correct headset or speakers
- In this same menu, scroll to the bottom and click “Reset Voice Settings” if the first three steps do not resolve the issue.
Enable Automatic Input Sensitivity or Try Push to Talk
“Automatic Input Sensitivity” is an additional option that can be found in that same “Voice and Video” tab. It should be on by default. Double-check and make sure that it is enabled and active. If not, enable it and click on “Let’s Check” to see if your microphone is now transmitting audio correctly. If the audio indicator flashes green, then you are successfully transmitting audio. Move on to the next steps if it is still not outputting audio.
Push to talk allows users to chat with others by clicking an assigned button on their keyboard. Clicking a button each time to chat is a bit clunkier than active input detection; However, it may be able to work around the input issues that your device is having by making it a manual selection. You will find the “Push to Talk” option in the “Voice and Video” menu under a tab called “Input Mode.” If that does not resolve the issue within the application, users will likely have to try finding a solution outside of Discord like the troubleshooting option listed below
Update the Audio Driver
Following the above steps should fix most audio issues that users may run into. However, there are other options to try if these steps did not resolve the issue at hand. Sometimes the connectivity issue is not with Discord itself. Follow the instructions detailed on the manufacturer’s website to update the audio driver for either your motherboard’s onboard audio or your audio card. Sometimes out of date or improperly downloaded drivers can cause all sorts of strange and frustrating audio issues. Using a Bluetooth headset can also make things a bit tricky. Check Bluetooth settings and look for the device. It should show up as paired and connected. Additionally, users should verify that the Bluetooth drivers for that headset and motherboard are installed and up to date.
Conclusion
It is likely a separate hardware or software problem if none of the above steps resolved the issue. The problem could also be related to the initial installation of Discord. Try uninstalling Discord completely and reinstall it after a PC restart as a last resort. Reach out to Discord’s support team directly to get user-specific assistance and troubleshooting if none of the above steps fixed the issue.