'Can you hear me?' is a question you’ve probably heard hundreds of times if you regularly use Zoom or a Zoom alternative. Unfortunately, audio problems can’t always be avoided. However, it is crucial that the problem gets fixed quickly, especially in important meetings. Here are some solutions to try out if there’s no sound in your Zoom meeting.

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Zoom meeting has no sound? This could be the reason

Video conferences have many advantages. On the one hand, they make it easy to communicate no matter the location of the participants - be it with friends, family members, customers, or colleagues. On the other hand, a video conferencing program like Zoom makes it possible to organise large meetings and presentations online in a very flexible way. Professionalism is particularly important in this context. Common technical errors that occur time and again in virtual video conferences are difficulties with sharing the screen in Zoom, changing the background in Zoom, and problems with audio equipment.

There may be a number of reasons why other participants cannot hear you or why no sound is coming from the Zoom meeting. Typical error sources include:

  • Other participants have muted their microphone, speakers, or headphones.
  • Incorrect audio settings or recording devices have been selected.
  • Audio scripts are blocked by temporary data in the browser cache.
  • The computer’s audio output is muted.
  • Speakers built into the smartphone have been disabled in the app.
  • The smartphone’s volume or audio profile is incorrectly set up.

Specify and test the Zoom audio settings

If you want to create a Zoom meeting or join a Zoom meeting as a participant, it is advisable to know your way around Zoom’s audio settings, to set the microphone and speakers/headphones correctly, and to carry out an audio test if in doubt.

  • Step 1: Log in to your Zoom account by entering your user data in the Zoom client.
  • Step 2: Click on your profile picture and below that you should see the gear icon with 'Settings'.
  • Step 3: Then go to 'Audio' in the left sidebar.
Image: Audio settings in the Zoom menu
Click on 'Audio' in the 'Settings' menu
  • Step 4: Here you will find a whole list of audio options. The important items are ‘Speakers’, ‘Microphone’, ‘Automatically join audio by computer when joining a meeting’ and ‘Mute my microphone when joining a meeting’.
  • Step 5: Under ‘Speakers’, you can perform an audio test and select the appropriate speaker from the drop-down menu.
Image: Settings in Zoom with Audio Test
Test the function of your speakers and check whether the correct speaker is selected.
  • Step 6: Under ‘Microphone’, you can test the audio input, select the microphone from the drop-down menu, and enable automatic sound enhancement.
Image: Test the microphone’s functionality in the Zoom audio settings
Check the functionality of your microphone.
  • Step 7: By checking the ‘Automatically join audio by computer when joining a meeting’ box, you instruct Zoom to automatically connect to your computer audio during meetings.
Image: Option to allow the computer audio to automatically connect on Zoom
Enable automatic audio connection via computer to give Zoom access to your computer audio when you enter a meeting.
  • Step 8: With the 'Automatically join audio by computer when joining a meeting' option disabled, you will always receive a prompt to connect to audio before the meeting. In this prompt window, you can also perform an audio test and enable automatic connection to computer audio.
Image: If automatic computer audio connection is disabled, Zoom will ask for access to audio devices
With computer audio connection disabled, Zoom will ask for speaker and microphone access before you enter each meeting.
  • Step 9: If you attend a lot of meetings or regularly join meetings, you may want to reconsider the 'Automatically join audio by computer when joining a meeting' option to avoid accidentally becoming the active speaker. However, this could be the cause of the Zoom audio not working so remember to turn the microphone back on when needed.
Image: To mute the microphone automatically, activate ‘Mute my microphone when joining a meeting’.
Enable or disable ‘Mute my microphone when joining a meeting’ to automatically mute or turn on the microphone.

Zoom: No sound – how to solve the problem

When it comes to small meetings consisting of two or three people, first ask the question:

  • Have the other participants muted their own microphones or speakers?

If they haven’t and you can’t hear or be heard in a Zoom meeting, you can assume that the problem is on your end. Here are a few possible solutions.

Using the desktop client (Windows/Mac)

Test audio playback and recording devices in a meeting

During a meeting, test your audio devices in the audio settings. To do this, go to the arrow next to the microphone icon and click on ‘Audio Settings…’ or ‘Test Speaker & Microphone…’. Here you can test your speakers/headphones and microphone respectively or change selected devices.

Image: Click the arrow next to the microphone icon to open the audio settings
Click on the arrow next to the microphone icon to open the audio settings and test your audio devices.

Clear browser cache

Too much temporary data in the browser cache can cause blocked audio scripts on Zoom in rare cases. To clear your browser cache, open the browser settings menu, and clear both the cache and the cookies.

Check the audio output from your computer

If the Zoom audio doesn’t seem to be working, it may also be due to the computer volume. Check if the volume on your computer is muted or too low. To do this, click the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of Windows 10. To open advanced settings, right-click on the speaker icon and then select ‘Open Volume mixer’.

Image: On Windows 10, right click on the speaker to open the settings and go to ‘Open Volume mixer’
Right-click on the volume icon at the bottom right to open the volume settings. Go to ‘Open Volume mixer’.

Check that the volume is set correctly for Zoom meetings.

Image: Volume settings of the output devices and applications
Check that the volume control for Zoom meetings is set correctly.
Note

With macOS, you can also find volume control options via the menu bar or System Preferences.

Using the mobile client (Android/iOS)

Check the speaker in the Zoom app

If there’s no sound in the Zoom meeting, check your built-in smartphone speakers. Look to see if you can see an X next to the speaker icon. If so, activate the speakers using the buttons or by tapping the speaker icon.

Image: Check that the Zoom speaker is activated and no X is visible
Tap the speaker icon or press the speaker buttons if there’s an X next to the speaker.

Check the microphone in the Zoom app

If the other participants can’t hear you in the meeting, check your built-in microphone. If you see that you’re muted, tap the microphone icon to unmute yourself.

Image: Tap the microphone icon if it is set to mute
To unmute a muted microphone on Zoom, tap the microphone icon.

Check smartphone audio settings

If you are having audio problems in a Zoom meeting on your smartphone, it is often because the device’s volume is too low. Check the volume using the volume buttons on your smartphone.

If you habitually set your smartphone to silent or vibrate, check the audio profile on Android or iOS to see if the sound is turned on.

Restart your smartphone

As simple as it sounds, rebooting often helps solve audio problems. However, this is only an alternative if you don’t have important, time-limited meetings.

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