Troubleshooting Voice Distortion in Zoom

As we continue forward into the year 2020, Zoom has become an ever increasingly popular option for hosting many forms of virtual education, meetings, and conferences. It has now become more necessary than ever to shift much of our daily activity onto the remote screens of our computers. This includes connecting with co-workers and clients through the Zoom app, alongside other video hosting services. Zoom, which allows for the option to add audio and video at your discretion, can sometimes experience malfunctions from a wide variety of causes. Here are a few of the causes of audio issues on Zoom in particular, and what you can do to fix them.

Testing Computer Audio Before Starting

Zoom allows its users to test the quality of their audio connection both before the following video call and during it. As you may have noticed when you signed in to your Zoom meeting, a pop-up window asks if you would like to join the meeting with computer audio. Below that window, it says ‘Test speaker and microphone.’ Clicking on this leads you to access the general settings menu. From there, click on the audio box on the left-hand side of the settings window to get to the audio settings. From here, there are two options for changing the audio settings:

1. Test Speaker

This option affects the volume of the speaker of your computer, or what you hear from the Zoom meeting. The options section allows you to select which speaker you would like to use; the one that is built into your computer or, if you have one, a custom speaker that you have synchronized with your computer. The panel below affects the volume of the sound you receive from the Zoom meeting.

2. Test Mic

This allows you to change the volume of your microphone, or what you say in the Zoom meeting. Similarly to the speaker section, the options for the mic allow you to choose between using your computer’s microphone or your own if you have one. The panel below allows you to change the volume of your voice in the Zoom meeting.

Volume Problems During Zoom Meetings

While users can get the volume fixed before entering into your Zoom meeting, there are often problems that arise during Zoom meetings as well. To fix these problems, you’ll have to go to the general settings. This area can be accessed in one of two ways:

• Next to the microphone/ ‘Mute’- clicking on the arrow pointing up to the right of the microphone brings you to the general settings.
• Three dots/ ‘More’- clicking on this also brings you to the general settings.

Once you’re in the general settings, a window with the list of settings will appear. One of these options is the audio settings; clicking on it will lead to a window opening with two sliding panels- ‘Test Speaker’ and ‘Test Mic.’ These panels work in the same way as the ones listed before the Zoom meeting starts; allowing for the user to choose their speaker/ microphone and for the user to adjust the volume of the Zoom meeting.

Between scheduling, quiet spaces, and internet issues, it can already be difficult to host work meetings online, nevermind the many things that can go wrong with the app while you’re using it. With software like Zoom becoming more popular than ever before, it’s often helpful to know how many of the basic settings work, such as the audio input and output. Hopefully, with this in mind, you will be able to fix any audio issues that come up both before and during your Zoom meetings.