# See and hear yourself the way others do on calls. People might not tell you that your mic sounds muffled, that they can hear themselves echo, or that your face is lost in shadow. It just makes you a little harder to listen to, and harder to read. In a 2018 study, people listened to the same talks with good and poor sound. With poor sound, they found the speakers less likeable and less intelligent, and rated their work as less important. [Read about the study](https://checkyoursetup.pages.dev/guides/what-the-science-says/). Most fixes are free and take a minute. This check takes about two, and your video and sound are never sent anywhere. Run the check at https://checkyoursetup.pages.dev/ in a browser with a camera and microphone. ## Step 1: your microphone, speakers and camera Pick the microphone, speakers and camera you use for calls, and the app you call with (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or FaceTime). If your microphone is a Bluetooth headset such as AirPods, the check warns you: Bluetooth switches to a low-quality call mode when its microphone is in use, so you sound muffled and everyone else sounds worse to you. The free fix is to keep listening through the headphones but choose your computer's built-in microphone. ## Step 2: how you sound Record short clips and play them back. Record once with each microphone you have and compare them. ### The echo test When you listen through your computer's speakers rather than earphones, your microphone can pick up everyone else's voices and send them straight back. They hear themselves echo. You don't, which is why nobody ever mentions it. Set your volume to where you'd normally have it on a call. Then **stay completely quiet for about 20 seconds** while we play a short clip of a real meeting through your speakers or headphones. After that we'll check whether your microphone picked it up, and you can hear exactly what it heard. ## Step 3: how you look Compare your camera with these common problems. Most take a minute to fix and cost nothing. ### A bright window behind you Your camera adjusts for the bright window, so your face ends up in shadow. People can't see your expression. Free fix: Turn around so the window is in front of you, or close the blind behind you. Can't move your desk? A small LED light panel in front of you (about $30 to $50) solves it. ### The room is too dark Webcams struggle in low light. The picture gets grainy and muddy, and your face loses detail. Free fix: Turn on a lamp and put it in front of you, just behind your laptop. Better fix: A small LED light panel (about $30 to $50) gives you steady light that doesn't change with the weather or the time of day. ### The camera is looking up at you A laptop on a desk or on your lap looks up your nose and shows off the ceiling. Nobody looks their best from that angle. Free fix: Raise your laptop on a stack of books so the camera is level with your eyes. Better fix: A laptop stand (about $30), plus a keyboard and mouse (another $30 or so) so you're not typing on the raised laptop. The camera stays at the right height and stops wobbling every time you type. [More about this](https://checkyoursetup.pages.dev/guides/camera-height.md) ### Looking off to the side If the call is on a second monitor but your camera is on the laptop, you spend the whole call looking away from everyone. It can come across as distracted, even when you're paying close attention. Free fix: Move the call window onto the screen with the camera, as close to the camera as you can. Better fix: A webcam on top of the monitor you actually look at (about $40 to $70). [More about this](https://checkyoursetup.pages.dev/guides/webcams.md) ### Strong light from one side Half your face is washed out and the other half is in shadow. It's surprisingly distracting. Free fix: Turn your desk to face the window, draw a sheer curtain, or put a lamp on the dark side. Better fix: A small LED light panel on the dark side (about $30 to $50) evens it out whatever the sun is doing. ### Too close to the camera A face that fills the whole screen feels intense, and the wide lens stretches your features. Free fix: Sit back until your shoulders show and there's a little space above your head. ### A busy background People's eyes wander to the clutter instead of staying on you. Free fix: Sit somewhere with a plain wall behind you, or clear what's in view. Can't move? Most call apps can blur your background. Look near the camera button, or in Settings under Video or Backgrounds. It can shimmer around your hair and hands, so a real plain wall looks better. ### A low-quality camera Plenty of older and cheaper laptops have 480p or 720p cameras. They look soft and grainy, especially indoors. Free fix: More light makes a small camera less grainy, but it can't add detail the camera doesn't have. Better fix: An external 1080p webcam (about $40 to $70) makes a big difference. [More about this](https://checkyoursetup.pages.dev/guides/webcams.md) ## Step 4: your checklist The check builds a printable checklist from your results, with instructions for the app you use. ## Hosting a call? Send your guests to the check before the call. Invite wordings for interviews, podcasts, appointments and family calls: [Hosting a call](https://checkyoursetup.pages.dev/hosting-a-call.md). ## Privacy Everything runs in your browser. Your video and sound are never sent anywhere. Echo test audio: an excerpt from the [AMI Meeting Corpus](https://groups.inf.ed.ac.uk/ami/corpus/) (meeting ES2002a), trimmed and volume-adjusted. Used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).