Hi all, thanks in advance for any help.

I'm struggling to make my microphone work on my headset. Whether or not I'm speaking into it, it produces continuous noise, like this:-

https://www.mediafire.com/file/26nil...hone+sound.ogg

I'm quite new to Linux, and I don't know what I'm doing, but I did try to search for my problem before posting a question, and I think the output of pacmd -ls may be helpful? If so, then here it is:-

[Removed massive copy/paste from terminal, it was a red herring anyway]

All the best

S

Have you tested the microphone with another device to make sure it is indeed a Mint issue and not a mic issue?

It also might help to know the make/model of the device.

Thank you for responding. Yes, I have checked it and I can confirm it works on my windows laptop. The device itself is a Dynamode DH-878 headset with built in microphone, plugs in via the audio jack.

What are you using the mic for? If it's recording, you can edit out the hiss in Audacity or another editor.

If you have not installed the Pulse Audio Mixer (pavucontrol), you could try installing that and tweaking the input settings. Pavucontrol is in the Mint repos.

Based on my own experience with microphones (I am hardly a sound engineer, but I contribute the occasional podcast to Hacker Public Radio and you can too), I would guess that a) it is not directional and b) it is therefore probably picking up background noise from the environment. I had a similar problem with a non-directional mic and ended up getting a cheap (25 USD) directional one and the problem went away. That mic has a flexible arm and I have to adjust its position relative to my mouth; I find that just under my jaw is the best positioning--too close to my mouth, and it picks up pops from the letter p.

Do you have another mic, even a built-in one, that you can compare it to?

Of course, as I said, I'm guessing here.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Thank you for the further reply. I have several reasons for using the mic -- primarily VOIP although like you I've created a podcast or two.

Editing out the hiss leaves no signal. The mic is creating hiss but not picking up any input signal.

I'm afraid I do not have another mic to test.

I've installed pavucontrol which was easy to find in the Mint repositories. It gives me this output:-
https://image.ibb.co/m5b6kR/Screensh...6_09_51_50.png

The green bar (volume control for front microphone) flickers up and down consistent with the blank noise it's generating.

Hi all

Sorry to bump a thread, but I'm still a bit stuck here. I don't suppose any further advice is available?

Merry Christmas

S

Solved in the end. Resolution was to buy a USB mic. I couldn't make the mic into the audio jack work -- I suspect it had something to do with my dual monitors one of which is on the HDMI cable, but in the end buying an inexpensive USB mic was cheaper than wasting hours on this.