Many users have encountered an issue with the microphone on their Windows 11/10 PC which is automatically adjusting without any user intervention. They have reported that the levels of the microphone either go up or down without any external trigger. Users have found this issue occurring with different built-in as well as third-party applications. This fluctuating microphone problem has been annoying users who use it for communication with others where people at the other end need to be informed about the fluctuating sound levels in your microphone.
If you are confronting this auto-adjusting issue with your microphone levels on your Windows 11/10 PC, then read this article. Here, we have curated a list of methods that can help you resolve this problem with your microphone.
Fix 1 – Turn Off Exclusive Control of the Microphone by Applications
Step 1. Press Windows + R to open the Run box.
Step 2. Type mmsys.cpl and hit Enter to open the Sound window.
Step 3. Go to the Recording tab.
Step 4. Right-click on your Microphone device and choose Properties.
Step 5. In the Microphone Properties window, select the Advanced tab.
Step 6. Uncheck the box next to Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device in the Exclusive Mode section.
Step 7. Click on Apply and then on OK to save the changes.
Step 8. Check if the problem with the microphone is resolved.
Fix 2 – Modify Sound Settings for Communication
Step 1. Hit the Windows key and type control panel in the search box.
Step 2. Click on Control Panel in the search results.
Step 3. In the Control Panel, make sure that the View by is set to Large icons.
If not, then use the dropdown list and choose Large icons.
Step 4. Select Sound in the list displayed to adjust the Sound Settings on your system.
Step 5. Go to the Communications tab in the Sound window.
Step 6. Select the radio button next to Do nothing under When Windows detects communication activity.
Step 7. Lastly, click on Apply and then on OK.
Step 8. Check if the issue is fixed with your microphone.
Fix 3 – Manually Change the Microphone Levels
Step 1. Open the Sound window using either the Control Panel or the Run command as indicated in Fix 1 and Fix 2 above.
Step 2. Once the Sound window is open, go to the Recording tab.
Step 3. Select your microphone from the list of recording devices.
Step 4. Once the microphone is highlighted, click on the Properties button at the bottom.
Step 5. In the Microphone Properties window, go to the Levels tab.
Step 6. Manually adjust the microphone level using the slider.
Set it to an optimal level anything above 75.
Step 7. Click on Apply and then OK.
Your microphone must be stable without auto-adjusting itself.
Fix 4 – Turn Off Microphone Audio Enhancements
Step 1. Press Windows + I to open the Settings app.
Step 2. With the System tab selected in the left pane, click on Sound on the right side.
Step 3. On the Sound page, click on the arrow next to your microphone in the Input section.
Step 4. In the Properties window for the Microphone, use the dropdown associated with Audio enhancements and select Off.
Step 5. Check if the auto-adjusting problem with the microphone is fixed or not.
Fix 5 – Prevent Skype from Adjusting the Microphone Automatically (if applicable)
Step 1. Open your Skype application.
Next to your name at the top left corner, click on the three dot button and then choose Settings from the menu that appears.
Step 2. Once the Skype Settings page opens, go to the Audio & Video tab in the left panel.
Step 3. Move over to the right side and scroll down to Microphone in the Audio section.
Here, turn off the toggle next to Automatically adjust microphone settings.
Step 4. Close the Skype Settings window.
Check if you are encountering the auto-adjustment issue with the microphone on your PC.
Fix 6 – Block Steam from Adjusting the Microphone Automatically (if applicable)
Step 1. Launch your Steam client and make sure you are logged in.
Click on the plus icon next to Friends & Chat at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Step 2. Once the Friends & Chat window opens, open the Settings by clicking on the gear icon at the top-right corner.
Step 3. Select the Voice tab in the left pane of the Friends List Settings window.
Step 4. Moving over to the right, scroll down and click on Show Advanced Settings button.
Step 5. In the Advanced Settings section, toggle off the option Automatic volume/gain control.
Step 6. Relaunch Steam and check if the issue with your microphone volume is resolved or not.
Fix 7 – Run the Recording Audio Troubleshooter
Step 1. Open the Run dialog using the Windows and R key combination.
Step 2. Type ms-settings:troubleshoot and hit Enter.
Step 3. Click on Other troubleshooters on the Troubleshoot Settings page.
Step 4. In the list of Other troubleshooters, click on the Run button associated with Recording Audio.
Step 5. After some initial checks, you will be asked to select the device that you want to troubleshoot.
Choose you current microphone with which you are facing the issue and click on Next.
Step 6. The troubleshooter will run and detect any problems with your microphone.
Step 7. Apply the fixes if any mentioned to correct the problem.
After the troubleshooting process completes, check if your microphone levels are auto-adjusting or not.
Fix 8 – Update Microphone Driver
Step 1. Press Windows + R to open the Run box.
Step 2. Type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter to open the Device Manager.
Step 3. In the Device Manager, expand the Audio inputs and outputs section by clicking on the arrow next to it.
Step 4. Right-click on the microphone device that needs to be updated and choose Update driver.
Step 5. Choose Search automatically for drivers in the Update Drivers window.
Step 6. Windows will automatically search for any updates to the driver on your PC and then install it.
Follow the on-screen instruction to complete the update.
Step 7. Reboot your PC after the driver is updated.
Check if the microphone auto-adjusting issue exists or not.
Fix 9 – Modify the Registry
If you have setup your microphone using the Control Panel for Speech Recognition, then try the registry fix mentioned below. Make sure that you make a registry backup before moving ahead with the steps so that you can reset the registry to its working state if any issues occur.
Step 1. Open the Run box using the Windows and R key combination.
Step 2. Type regedit and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
Step 3. Navigate to the path mentioned below using the folders in the left pane or copy and paste the path in the navigation bar.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Speech\RecoProfiles\Tokens\{55218707-B3B9-4060-AB8B-A9CD1B9DC557}\{DAC9F469-0C67-4643-9258-87EC128C5941}\Volume
Step 4. Once you are in the path above with Volume folder selected, double-click on the entry in the right side.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech\AudioInput\TokenEnums\MMAudioIn\{0.0.1.00000000}.{59025b50-d570-4a30-91cd-72cc6410382d}
Step 5. Edit the value for the Microphone level to that you want to set it to.
For instance, if you want to set the level to 33% then enter 3333 and for 77% enter 7777.
Then, click on OK.
Step 6. Restart your PC and check if the problem with your microphone is resolved.
Additional Fixes
1. Scan for Malware
Step 1. Tap on the Windows Start button on your taskbar and type windows security in the search box.
Step 2. Click on Windows Security in the search result.
Step 3. In the left panel of Windows Security, select the Virus & threat protection tab.
Step 4. On the right, click on the link Scan options.
Step 5. In the Scan options screen, select the radio button next to Full scan.
Then, click on the Scan now button.
Step 6. Wait for the scan to run and check all the files and programs on your system.
Step 7. If there are any threats detected, perform the recommended actions.
Step 8. Restart your PC and check if the problem with the microphone is resolved.
2. Update Windows
Step 1. Open Run (Windows + R) and type ms-settings:windowsupdate and hit Enter.
Step 2. On the Windows Update page, click on Check for updates.
Step 3. Wait for Windows to check for updates to your Windows version.
Step 4. If there are any updates download and install them.
Step 5. Restart your PC and check if your microphone level is changing automatically or not.
If none of the fixes mentioned in this article work for you in resolving the auto-adjusting issue with the microphone, then you can try performing a clean boot of your Windows PC. In order to restart your system in clean boot mode then follow the steps mentioned in this article. Once the system starts up, check if you are still noticing the automatic adjustments in your microphone. If the issue still persists, then try re-enabling the startup items and services that were disabled previously one at a time. Once you identify the problematic service/app, keep it disabled.
That’s it!
Thanks for reading.
We hope that the methods mentioned in this article have helped you resolve the auto-adjustment issue with the microphone levels on your Windows 11/10 PC. Did you find this article informative enough in fixing the problem? Please let us know your thoughts and the fix that worked for you in the comments section below.