Microphone not working on 18.04 for any web or desktop conference app: No one can hear me

sound 18.04 alsa skype microphone

10,815

Your Ubuntu is listening to the stereo mic with left and right channels. You can eliminate one channel (either left or right).

First you need to run Pavucontrol by running on your terminal:
```
pavucontrol
```

If Pavucontrol is not installed, you install it with this command:

```
sudo apt-get install pavucontrol
```

Go to the input tab and click on the lock icon.
You should now see the left and the right sliders. Slide one slider to the left until it's 0%
Chrome and some other apps may adjust your volume automatically, undoing step 3. To prevent this behavior in Chrome, install the "Disable Automatic Gain Control" extension.

10,815

Oscar Ortiz García

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Oscar Ortiz García over 1 year

Hi I already tried most of the troubleshooting posts for making sure the microphone is not muted on alsamixer and for making sure the built-in microphone is selected under chrome settings, but when I join a conference meeting either via desktop using skype or via web browser like google meet, I can hear and see other people but they cannot hear me.

on Alsamixer

My Pavucontrol settings

My settings

Disturbingly enough, when I clap in front of the computer, the microphone bars go up so the hardware is picking up the sound correctly, but that sound is not being sent anywhere, I guess.

Moreover, I am using a dual boot laptop with windows 10 and the microphone works fine in all apps when I use Windows. Any ideas on how could I fix this?
- nik gnomic almost 6 years
  
  alsamixer settings screenshot showing need to show capture setings for microphone, not playback as shown . Pulseaudio Volume Control Recording tab will show audio to browser/webrtc
- leomilrib over 5 years
  
  did you by any chance updated from 16.04 to 18.04? I was facing similar problems caused by pulseaudio-equalizer that apparently is not supported anymore...
- Soren over 5 years
  
  Same problem on 16.04. The microphone is detected but people cannot hear me in zoom or vidyo. I tried Chrome and Firefox.
- Ginden about 5 years
  
  @Sören Try this for Zoom: in meeting, click on "^" symbol next to "Mute" button. Change microphone to other one, then switch back.
- Andreas von Studnitz almost 5 years
  
  That could be me. Same setup with Ubuntu 18.04 and Windows 10. Both of my microphones (internal and in the webcam) don't transfer any sound to the browser or app.
- HackerBoss about 4 years
  
  This seems to be a recent issue with the 5.x kernel
- CodeConnoisseur about 4 years
  
  I am on Ubuntu 18.04.04 and have this problem with Amazon Chime, Webex, Zoom etc.. I always have to call in with my cell phone to meetings...annoying. No fixes for this??
- Daniel about 4 years
  
  @HackerBoss -- I'm not sure it's the 5.x kernel. I'm in Ubuntu 18.04 with kernel 4.15.0 and microphone was working fine. At some point it stopped working (on this machine and on my laptop which I think already has kernel 5.x).