There are two main ways your voice gets picked up through Discord - Voice Activity, which turns on automatically when you speak, and Push to Talk, where you press a button on your keyboard to transmit your voice. Each has its own perks, and knowing the difference can help you choose what works best for you!

What this article covers:

How to Use Voice Activity

Voice Activity allows you to just talk and transmit your voice through a mic without the need for pushing a hotkey.

1. You can change your Voice Input mode by selecting the cogwheel icon [] in the lower-left corner of the app to access your User Settings. Then tap on Voice & Video tab.

Cogwheel icon on Discord desktop/drowser

2. Under Input Mode you’ll see both selections that you can choose. Tap on Voice Activity.

Example of when the Voice Activity input mode is selected

How to Adjust Input Sensitivity

After selecting Voice Activity, you might need to adjust the audio input sensitivity. There are 2 options for input sensitivity, automatic and manual. Both of these settings can be found under Input Mode.

Option 1

If you want your sensitivity to be determined automatically, enable Automatically determine input sensitivity. A checkmark means the setting is enabled, an x means it’s disabled.

Example of enabling the Automatically determine input sensitivity setting

Discord automatically adjusts your microphone level based on the input it receives. While this feature generally works well, it may not perform as expected if there is significant background noise or large variations in your speaking volume. Disabling Automatically determine input sensitivity can help ensure a more consistent and clear audio experience.

NOTE: If your microphone volume fluctuates between being too loud and too soft, or if parts of your voice are getting cut off at the end of sentences, we recommend disabling this setting.

Option 2

If your input sensitivity isn’t being determined automatically, you’ll then want to find the right setting for you by manually adjusting the input sensitivity slider.

The key consideration when manually adjusting the input sensitivity slider is to leave the sensitivity marker high enough that nothing is transmitted when you're not speaking.

NOTE: Make sure the input activity is only in the yellow portion when you're not actively speaking into your mic.

Example of what the input sensitive looks like when you are not speaking

But input sensitivity marker should still low enough so that it doesn't cut out your voice when you speak softly:

Example of what the input sensitive looks like when you are speaking

Remember, we want to put the sensitivity marker right between your softest speaking voice and any other noise coming through. This will take some finetuning on your part!

NOTE: Due to how Voice Activity functions, there is an inherent 200ms delay, plus the distance you are from the active server.

How to Use Push to Talk

NOTE: If you're having trouble with Push to Talk while running a game in Administrator mode, please check out this Help Center article.

Push to Talk (PTT) ensures that any input audio doesn’t transmit unless you press and hold a dedicated Push to Talk key on your keyboard.

Example of when Push to Talk input mode is selected

After enabling Push to Talk, you’ll also need to select a shortcut key. This is the key that you will be pressing when you want your voice transmitted in Discord.

1. To select a shortcut, tap on the Edit Keybind icon [].

Example of how to record your keybind

2. On your keyboard, press on the key that you want to use as your shortcut.

3. After you select your shortcut key, you should now see it listed under Shortcut. You can change this key by pressing on the Edit Keybind icon again.

The Push to Talk Release Delay slider can also be adjusted to your preference. This tool affects how long the Push to Talk function waits to cut off audio after you let go of your dedicated keybind. Unlike Voice Activity, Push to Talk has relatively no delay when you push the button.

Example of what the Push to Talk Release Delay option looks like

NOTE: Push to Talk only works in the browser app when the window is in focus. If you want to use PTT system wide, you'll have to download the desktop app!