Raising Mic Volume - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I was wondering if anyone knows how to raise the mic volume on a call. I use a car arm to use my phone to listen to music and answer calls while I'm driving. I've noticed that the mic volume is very low while the headphone jack is use (can't hardy hear me). Of I turn on the speaker feature on the call, the mic volume fixes itself. I was wondering is there was a way to raise the mic volume with the headphone jack in use .
Thanks in advance.

Bump!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

If you search for mic call on N4 threads you will see lots of complains and no answer. Seems like noise cancelation is the problem but still no luck

Stick your finger over the top microphone while you're talking. That will make the N4 send all the signal from the bottom microphone, effectively eliminating noise suppression but letting your voice come through okay.

wmm said:
Stick your finger over the top microphone while you're talking. That will make the N4 send all the signal from the bottom microphone, effectively eliminating noise suppression but letting your voice come through okay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did it with no success, in fact that should be the solution for some reason it doesnt work for me

Dunno, then; I was just reporting the experience of a user in a different thread. I haven't had a phone call in the car since then, so I don't know whether it would work for me or not.
Just a thought -- my car mount has movable feet, and I have to make sure that one of them doesn't cover the microphone hole on the bottom. I don't know if your mount potentially has the same problem or not.

Related

[Q] TF Mic not loud enough on Google Talk

Has anyone had issues using the TF to video call and the mic not being loud enough? I use Google Talk and while I can hear the other side ok, they usually have a problem hearing me. I can't find any settings in Google Talk for the mic volume. I end up trying to shout in the direction of the mic (which I think is located on the right side next to the audio jack). I also use the SE MW600 bluetooth headset with the TF a lot and Google Talk doesn't seem to output to headsets. That would solve the low volume issue as well. Any insights or confirmation would be appreciated.
The mic on my wife's transformer is defective, but my transformer is fine. We are going to have to send hers back. Try google voice search, if it has a hard time hearing you when talking normally, then you may have a hardware problem too.
Looks like I have the same issue. I tried using google talk today with no luck. SO I tested the mic with both the sound recorder and the voice search. The volume indicated with those shows a problem.
Its very directional. If I angle it so my mouth has some line of sight to it then its fine but facing head on I have to speak up. I wonder if a small plug in mic angled to the front would help.
I am surprised that the BT headset did not work. I use one all the time on my laptop with Skype.

Microphone low sensitivity when not on speaker

I have noticed an issue that did not exist with the Galaxy Nexus.
When not on speakerphone the microphone sensitivity is down-regulated significantly from the way it is when it is on speakerphone.
Frequently people connect the phone via auxiliary cable in the car (as a hands-free approach), but in order for it to route the audio to the speakers for the car, it cannot be on speakerphone. However when not on speakerphone the sensitivity of the microphone is limited, it is not the same as on speakerphone, therefore unless you have the phone right beside your mouth, the other party will be unable to hear you (due to low volume).
I assume this is an software change in 4.2, I have tested the issue on two Nexus 4's. When turning back on speakerphone, the microphone increases sensitivity again, and the other party is able to hear clearly again.
This poses a problem if you want to have the phone in your car connected to auxiliary and not right beside your mouth/face. I assume they added this because they assume that if the phone was not on speakerphone then it would be right beside your mouth/face during a call, however this is not at all always the case, especially if you connect your phone via aux in the car.
Anybody else experienced this? Any work-around?
Yes, thats really a shame.
I think, it is the noise cancellation. Nexus One has Niose Cancellation, too.
There I've found out, that I have to make a change in the build.prop to disable this
but I really don't know, where to find the line in build.prop to disable the noise cancellation.
And: You have to root your phone to do this.
It's really a shame, I can't use my Nexus 4 in my car plugged into the auxiliary input
hmm anyone can disable it via build.prop?
reminds me a of the days in Nexus one..
I've opened an issue on Google.
Hoping for many votes, that they can see it.
UKROB86 said:
I have noticed an issue that did not exist with the Galaxy Nexus.
When not on speakerphone the microphone sensitivity is down-regulated significantly from the way it is when it is on speakerphone.
Frequently people connect the phone via auxiliary cable in the car (as a hands-free approach), but in order for it to route the audio to the speakers for the car, it cannot be on speakerphone. However when not on speakerphone the sensitivity of the microphone is limited, it is not the same as on speakerphone, therefore unless you have the phone right beside your mouth, the other party will be unable to hear you (due to low volume).
I assume this is an software change in 4.2, I have tested the issue on two Nexus 4's. When turning back on speakerphone, the microphone increases sensitivity again, and the other party is able to hear clearly again.
This poses a problem if you want to have the phone in your car connected to auxiliary and not right beside your mouth/face. I assume they added this because they assume that if the phone was not on speakerphone then it would be right beside your mouth/face during a call, however this is not at all always the case, especially if you connect your phone via aux in the car.
Anybody else experienced this? Any work-around?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for bringing this up. This is my main beef with the phone coming from my Gnex. Hopefully a fix can be found soon.:good:
My suspicion is that this has to do with noise cancellation. The way noise cancellation works is that there are two different microphones at opposite ends of the phone; the one farther away from your mouth picks up ambient sounds and, more faintly, your voice. The one nearer your mouth picks up ambient sounds and, more loudly, your voice. What gets sent over the phone connection is, effectively, the difference between the signals from the two microphones, leaving mostly your voice.
If the two microphones are roughly equal distances from your mouth, they both pick up your voice about equally strongly, meaning that your voice is mostly filtered out with the rest of the ambient noise. Speakerphone mode disables the noise cancellation, so your voice comes through strongly.
.... as I've said in the second post. Other phones don't have trouble with it.
Send from my iPhone 6s
FormelLMS said:
.... as I've said in the second post. Other phones don't have trouble with it.
Send from my iPhone 6s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. This is not simply a noise cancellation problem IMO. Other phones have noise cancellation too but don't have this problem.
FormelLMS said:
.... as I've said in the second post. Other phones don't have trouble with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for inadvertently repeating what you said in that post; it's been nearly two weeks since then, and I had forgotten it had been previously mentioned.
Perhaps the other phones with noise cancellation that don't exhibit this behavior simply turn it off if a headphone is plugged in. That would make sense for a speaker-only headphone, but not necessarily for a headphone with an inline microphone, where the voice microphone would still be nearer to you than the auxiliary microphone. If that's the case, it would be nice if that setting were exposed as a controllable option.
Please look here and add as many stars, as you all can:
http://code.google.com/p/android/is... 4&colspec=ID Type Status Owner Summary Stars
I'm the only one who has told it to google and with one star I think no one will see this problem there.
So we have to gewt as many stars and comments as possible.
Any developers can help with the build.prop line to disable this?
I remember pm founder of cyanogen mod and he pointed me the line to disable in nexus one..
I heard if you get an external mic it is much better but I haven't tried myself. This is annoying because I usually just use the aux with my nexus s with no problems >.< Anyone out there got any other solutions?
Yea seriously bump on this topic. This is a massive problem..
Have you all voted on Google page for this problem?
FormelLMS said:
Have you all voted on Google page for this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I voted for 1, lets make another
Yes big problem.. I am driving using speaker phone and I can't hear ****..
mgear356 said:
Yes big problem.. I am driving using speaker phone and I can't hear ****..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the other party not being able to hear when on aux.
Misread.. But Yea if using speakerphone to avoid this problem ull barely be able to hear them, simply not loud enough

In call microphone issues when using headphones

Does anyone else have the problem where the other person can't hear you when you use a pair of headphones while in a call? When removed, they can hear me fine. I'm hoping that this is a software issue that can be resolved in an update. If not, then i want to return it before my remorse period is over.
I am having distorted sound - other party hearing it unclear and distorted..
looks like a hardware issue.. tried with 2 earpiece... no luck.
I'm actually starting to wonder about that. It may actually be a software/driver issue. I was on the phone yesterday and decided to do some testing. Unplugging them and plugging them back in provides perfect audio to the other person for a few seconds before going back to garbage, as does muting and then un-muting the microphone when in a call. Something I've noticed about the microphone is that the gain seems to be set too high - try to make a recording of cars going by - guaranteed clipping (don't have the volume too loud or you could blow out the speaker you're listening to it on).
rr5678 said:
Does anyone else have the problem where the other person can't hear you when you use a pair of headphones while in a call? When removed, they can hear me fine. I'm hoping that this is a software issue that can be resolved in an update. If not, then i want to return it before my remorse period is over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ran into the same issue. However, the headphones I was using didn't have a built in microphone. I discovered that if I plug in headphones that lacked a built-in mic, the phone switches its internal microphone's gain to the gain it would use if you were holding the headset to your ear. I held the microphone in close proximity to my mouth and that solved the issue.
I guess this would be a software issue.
KlipperKyle said:
I ran into the same issue. However, the headphones I was using didn't have a built in microphone. I discovered that if I plug in headphones that lacked a built-in mic, the phone switches its internal microphone's gain to the gain it would use if you were holding the headset to your ear. I held the microphone in close proximity to my mouth and that solved the issue.
I guess this would be a software issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly the testing I did and exactly what I was thinking. Now to wait for LG or Google to fix it.
Another experiment you might try would be to put your finger over the secondary microphone on top of the phone and see if that makes a difference. (My guess is that the reason your voice comes through softly with the headphone plugged in is that the phone is still doing background noise suppression, which works by taking the difference between the main microphone, which picks up your voice plus ambient noise, and the secondary microphone, which mostly picks up just the ambient noise. When your mouth is far away from the phone, your voice is equally loud in both microphones, so the difference doesn't yield much voice signal. If your voice comes through louder after stopping up the secondary microphone, that would confirm this explanation for the problem.)
wmm said:
Another experiment you might try would be to put your finger over the secondary microphone on top of the phone and see if that makes a difference. (My guess is that the reason your voice comes through softly with the headphone plugged in is that the phone is still doing background noise suppression, which works by taking the difference between the main microphone, which picks up your voice plus ambient noise, and the secondary microphone, which mostly picks up just the ambient noise. When your mouth is far away from the phone, your voice is equally loud in both microphones, so the difference doesn't yield much voice signal. If your voice comes through louder after stopping up the secondary microphone, that would confirm this explanation for the problem.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Next time I'm in a long phone call where I am using headphones, I'm going to try that. It could be possible.
wmm said:
Another experiment you might try would be to put your finger over the secondary microphone on top of the phone and see if that makes a difference. (My guess is that the reason your voice comes through softly with the headphone plugged in is that the phone is still doing background noise suppression, which works by taking the difference between the main microphone, which picks up your voice plus ambient noise, and the secondary microphone, which mostly picks up just the ambient noise. When your mouth is far away from the phone, your voice is equally loud in both microphones, so the difference doesn't yield much voice signal. If your voice comes through louder after stopping up the secondary microphone, that would confirm this explanation for the problem.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This appears to be what is happening. The top mic is doing noise cancelation for the bottom mic.
I called a friend and plugged in headphones. When I didn't cover either mic, she said I was quiet (because the phone thought I was background noise). When I covered the top mic, she could hear me fine.
At this point, I'm inclined to say this is a software issue because the phone app can switch between microphones and which one is used for background noise cancelation. (Putting the device in speaker mode appears to use the top mic only.)
Sent from my Nexus 10
That's good confirmation -- thanks for running the experiment. Maybe I'll put a little wad of putty in the car to stick over the top microphone while I'm driving!

[Q] {ISSUE} Nexus 4 - Microphone does not work on normal mode, but works on speakers

Hi,
I've been using Nexus 4, and recently this issue started.
when I try to call, the other side can not hear my voice.
However, if I turn on the loudspeaker the mic works fine.
So, the probably the hardware is fine because the same mic works fine when used in loudspeaker mode.
I've not installed anything, not changed anything, its a brand new device.
I've tried starting in Safe mode, it doesn't help.
i was using the stock android from google all these days and issue started. I have now migrated to Cyanogenmod 11 and the issue still persits.
I have downloaded an app from play store called soundabout to try convince my phone that there was no headset plugged in. But of no use yet.
Any help on this please
Help please
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app
Fellas, please please help
Does your earpiece speaker work normally? If so I can only guess the nexus 4 uses top mic for loudspeaker calls. If your bottom mic has failed its easily fixed as it comes as part of the charging block.
It could just be something blocking the mic. Does your voice sound muffled or is it no audio at all?
DrFredPhD said:
Does your earpiece speaker work normally? If so I can only guess the nexus 4 uses top mic for loudspeaker calls. If your bottom mic has failed its easily fixed as it comes as part of the charging block.
It could just be something blocking the mic. Does your voice sound muffled or is it no audio at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the earpiece speaker works fine. the bottom mic if u hold it close to ur mouth and talk works just ok...as in the other person cant hear 100% but its like u r talking from a far off place.
Hardware problem, mic - flex cable???
deepudips said:
Yes the earpiece speaker works fine. the bottom mic if u hold it close to ur mouth and talk works just ok...as in the other person cant hear 100% but its like u r talking from a far off place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably is just dust or something then, get a dental pick or something and try and clear the mic hole from the outside. If it still doesn't work you might have to disassemble the phone and remove the blockage.
I had the same problem and I use the application soundabout to resolv it
Nexus 4 MIC not work - all answers listed

[Q] Earpiece distortion

HI there guys.
Brand new to this forum.
I've searched for days and I'm unable to find a solution.
I'm experiencing a crackling or a distortion on phone calls at certain volumes. I noticed it with certain pitches in peoples voices it would cause a vibration in the ear speaker and some distortion in the sound. Kind of like the speaker is being over driven or has too much power going to it. It usually goes away if I turn the volume almost all the way down, but this is obviously not a practical option since I'm not always making phone calls in a dead silent room. The speaker phone works fine. This only happens when I'm using the earpiece. Is this normal? Is it related to the camera autofocus sensor rattle? Are the sound vibrations from a person's voice enough to set off the rattle? It's really annoying as I tend to make phone calls a lot and I don't like using speaker phone or a headset. Does anyone else have this problem?
From what I can tell, it happened and was normal in the S4. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2280930).
Please help. Im deciding if i need to return it.
..
fffft said:
It's too bad that you didn't describe it in more detail.. i.e. give us steps to replicate it. A recording of the distortion would have been helpful too. I haven't noticed what you describe but it sounds like the gain or auto gain is too high and your earpiece speaker is being overdriven.
There is a gain setting in the service mode menu but first you need to distinguish an app issue or possibly damaged speaker before messing around in the hidden settings. See if you can find an audio app that will give you a wider adjustment range for your system volume and gain.,
.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply.
If you go into the service menu, the go into the low frequency test. At 100hz and 200 hz there is a little bit of buzz in the headset reciever unless you really push it against your face (which i assume kind of tightens the spaces in the plastic and prevents whatever vibration in the speaker is occuring).
Hmm.. the vibration is akin to as if you were speaking into some cellophane wrap; like some film (maybe for waterproofing) is covering the speaker.
Oh. It's also worth noting that I cannot replicate the issue on Skype or Viber. Those sound crystal clear.
Bump. Anyone?

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