Sixty seconds before the meeting starts is when “can anyone hear me?” gets answered. Each app hides its mic test in a different menu — here’s where they all live, plus the one check that doesn’t belong to any app.

The app-independent check first

Before trusting any one app’s diagnostics, get the baseline: open the mic tester, allow access, talk. If the meter moves and the recorded clip sounds clean, the hardware → OS → browser path is proven — and whatever a meeting app does next is a selection problem, not a signal problem.

That split matters more than it sounds:

• Google Meet — and Zoom or Teams running in a browser tab — use the exact same getUserMedia path this tester does. A green meter here means the browser layer is proven for Meet specifically: same permission gate, same device list, same stream.
• Desktop Zoom and Teams bypass the browser entirely — their own OS permission grant, their own device picker, their own processing. For them this site answers “is the mic alive and does the OS hand it to apps?”, not “what does Zoom see?”.

Zoom

• Before a call (desktop app): profile picture → Settings → Audio. The Microphone section has a Test Mic button — it records a few seconds and plays them straight back. The input meter beside the device picker moves live while you talk.
• Mid-meeting: the caret next to the Mute button → Test Speaker & Microphone runs a guided sequence; Audio Settings in the same menu opens the full panel.
• Nothing installed: zoom.us/test joins Zoom’s automated test meeting — it walks you through joining audio, records your voice, and plays it back. Useful as an end-to-end check that includes your speakers.

While you’re in Audio settings, note “Automatically adjust microphone volume” — leave it on for speech, but turn it off if you’re feeding Zoom music or need a fixed level; the far side can hear auto-gain pumping.

Microsoft Teams

• The test call: profile picture → Settings → Devices → Make a test call. A bot answers, records your voice for a few seconds, plays it back, then shows a results card — which mic and speaker it actually used, and whether the call passed. It’s the most honest of the built-in tests because it reports device names you’d otherwise dig for.
• In a meeting: ⋯ → Settings → Device settings shows the mic picker with a live level indicator as you speak.
• The catch: the Teams mic selector can follow the OS, but a manually picked device sticks — swap headsets and it will keep aiming at the old one until you reselect.

Google Meet

Meet is a web app — its test surface is the pre-join screen:

• The green room: before clicking Join, speak normally — the small level indicator beside the mic icon at the bottom of the preview should bounce. No movement means wrong device or denied permission, caught before the call instead of during it.
• Guided check: the audio/video check option in the preview walks speakers, mic and camera through a short wizard.
• In-call: ⋯ → Settings → Audio has the mic dropdown and a live meter.
• The browser gate: Meet inherits the per-site permission. If the mic is dead in Meet but fine in desktop apps, hit the lock icon in the address bar → Microphone → Allow → reload — the two-layer permission model explains why the browser adds a gate desktop apps don’t have.

“Nobody can hear me” — fix it in layers

When a call app’s mic check fails, run the layers in order, cheapest first:

1. Hardware: physical mute on the headset cable or boom, the keyboard mic-mute key, a Bluetooth headset stuck in a profile with no working mic path, a front-panel jack that isn’t wired.
2. OS: the input device alive and set as default (Windows Sound → Input; macOS Sound → Input), plus the OS privacy toggle that gates all apps at once — the ordered fix checklist walks both.
3. Browser — Meet and other web apps only: the per-site permission from the address-bar lock icon.
4. The app: its own input selector (“Same as System” is a choice, not a fix), its in-call mute, and its processing modes.

The order matters because each layer can fake the next one’s symptoms: a laptop mic-mute key looks identical to a dead USB mic until you watch the OS input meter.

Once the signal is alive, verify what it actually sounds like — the built-in tests prove routing; a recorded clip played back proves fidelity. And if Discord is the app that’s failing, it has its own quirks (input mode, Krisp, sensitivity) — the Discord mic check is the dedicated walkthrough.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the mic test in Zoom?

Desktop app: profile picture → Settings → Audio → the Microphone section has a Test Mic button that records a few seconds and plays them back. Mid-meeting: the caret next to Mute → Test Speaker & Microphone walks through both. You can also join Zoom's automated test meeting at zoom.us/test — no invitation needed.

Does Microsoft Teams have a mic test?

Yes — the test call. Profile picture → Settings → Devices → Make a test call. A bot greets you, records your voice, plays it back, then shows a results card listing which mic and speaker it used — handy for catching a wrong-device pick before the real call.

How do I test my microphone in Google Meet before joining?

The pre-join 'green room' does it passively: speak and watch the level bars next to the mic icon move. For a guided check, use the audio/video check option in the preview, or the ⋮ menu → Settings → Audio, which shows the mic picker and a live level meter.

Zoom hears me but Google Meet doesn't — what's different?

Meet runs inside the browser, so it sits behind the per-site mic permission — if mic access was ever blocked for meet.google.com, it fails silently while desktop apps work fine. Click the lock icon in the address bar, allow the mic, reload. Desktop Zoom and Teams bypass the browser layer entirely — that's the split.

Why does the meeting app show a different mic than Windows or macOS?

Meeting apps cache their own device choice. 'Same as System' follows the OS default; an explicitly picked device is remembered even after it's unplugged. After any hardware change — new headset, dock, Bluetooth — recheck the app's input selector; it won't warn you it's listening to a dead device.

The app's built-in test passes but I still sound bad on calls — why?

Its playback went through the app's own gain and processing, so it confirms routing more than fidelity. For an honest listen, record a short clip and judge the playback — noise floor, clipping and channel balance included.