why cant other people hear me when i call them on a samsung a5

[Android Central Question]

when i record myself using the camera my i can hear myself clearly but when i call someone they say they cant hear me. I also sent a voice message on instagram to someone and i had to yell just for a little sound to appear. ive tried factory reseting my phone and cleaning my microphone out they dont work

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! The video camera uses both primary and secondary mics (at the bottom and top of the phone), so if the primary mic is blocked or faulty, the video camera will still be able to record audio using the mic at the top of the phone. I suspect that if you listened to that recording using stereo headphones, you'd only hear your voice from one channel.

Can people hear you if you turn on speakerphone, or use a wired or Bluetooth headset?

 

[VidJunky]

I'm not 100% on the A5 but often the device uses a mic on the back of the phone for recording video. Some like my old U12+ had 4 mics and recorded in 3D sound, so you're device may be using both mics and recording in stereo but only one channel is picking up sound or it may only use that one mic. That would explain why you can hear yourself in videos. For voice recording it may assume that you are looking at the phone and use the mic for handset calls, but this also would mean that the mic is working but for some reason the sound it is getting is muffled. I would venture a guess that if you yelled at the phone, similarly to when you did the voice message, you're callers would hear you. But no one wants to go around yelling at their phone. Lol. Anyway, I think you may have been on the right track with the mic being clogged or dirty. We carry these things in our pockets and bags and they can get stuff in places that seem too small for anything to get into. Not sure how you attempted to clean the mic hole, they are usually just little pin ***** holes but I would try that again. Be careful tho because even though the mic isn't as fragile as the speaker it can still suffer damage if mistreated. My go-to for this would probably be an old tooth brush or plastic bristled brush of some kind and I'd probably take just one bristle and come in at an angle making loops around the outside followed by compressed air, not blocking the hole but blowing slightly into or across it almost flute like in the hopes of drawing out whatever is in there. A pin probably wouldn't give you much angular motion and you wouldn't want to poke the mic.

Replacement mics are usually pretty cheap if you think it's damaged or blown. Then it comes down to DIY or insurance.

 

[elijahthegod15]

Welcome to Android Central! The video camera uses both primary and secondary mics (at the bottom and top of the phone), so if the primary mic is blocked or faulty, the video camera will still be able to record audio using the mic at the top of the phone. I suspect that if you listened to that recording using stereo headphones, you'd only hear your voice from one channel.

Can people hear you if you turn on speakerphone, or use a wired or Bluetooth headset?

speakerphone no but i havennot tried to use a headset

 

[elijahthegod15]

I'm not 100% on the A5 but often the device uses a mic on the back of the phone for recording video. Some like my old U12+ had 4 mics and recorded in 3D sound, so you're device may be using both mics and recording in stereo but only one channel is picking up sound or it may only use that one mic. That would explain why you can hear yourself in videos. For voice recording it may assume that you are looking at the phone and use the mic for handset calls, but this also would mean that the mic is working but for some reason the sound it is getting is muffled. I would venture a guess that if you yelled at the phone, similarly to when you did the voice message, you're callers would hear you. But no one wants to go around yelling at their phone. Lol. Anyway, I think you may have been on the right track with the mic being clogged or dirty. We carry these things in our pockets and bags and they can get stuff in places that seem too small for anything to get into. Not sure how you attempted to clean the mic hole, they are usually just little pin ***** holes but I would try that again. Be careful tho because even though the mic isn't as fragile as the speaker it can still suffer damage if mistreated. My go-to for this would probably be an old tooth brush or plastic bristled brush of some kind and I'd probably take just one bristle and come in at an angle making loops around the outside followed by compressed air, not blocking the hole but blowing slightly into or across it almost flute like in the hopes of drawing out whatever is in there. A pin probably wouldn't give you much angular motion and you wouldn't want to poke the mic.

Replacement mics are usually pretty cheap if you think it's damaged or blown. Then it comes down to DIY or insurance.

okay is there any way i can switch to the camera mic for phonecalls?

 

[B. Diddy]

Does it still happen in Safe Mode? https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...e-safe-mode-on-my-galaxy-a5%2F&token=xAUD1Eay

 

[Rukbat]

Speakerphone uses the camera mic.

 

[VidJunky]

okay is there any way i can switch to the camera mic for phonecalls?

Sure, by using speaker phone for calls but you probably don't want to take every call openly just like I joked about yelling during calls. First you should try to find out if it's working at all and actually B. Diddy's mention of it only playing in one channel is probably the easiest way. Yell into the bottom mic while recording a video or voice recording and with a pair of headphones, and the volume almost off, put them on and see which side has sound. Remove that side and gradually increase the volume until you've maxed out or you can hear something from the dead side. If you end up getting something there's a good chance it's just blocked, again all the junk we carry in our pockets and bags, anything might end up in the hole. If you're confident the hole is clear then it's probably a blown mic. Like a blown speaker it doesn't mean that it just quit working, it could, but often they're just damaged and still function a little.

B. Diddy I didn't mean to step on your earlier post you were just faster at posting than I was with my long winded answers. Lol. I remember awhile back it was trend between us. Hahaha.

 

[B. Diddy]

LOL, I never have a problem with people posting the same or similar things -- we all just reinforce each other!

 

[elijahthegod15]

yes it does

 

[elijahthegod15]

im not sure what you were telling me to do but ive recorded a message and sent it to someone on instagram and i put on headphones to listen to it... did u mean use my headset mic? but anyways i listened to the recording back and i heard something on both sides of my headphones however i did have to put my volume to the max and it didnt pick up my voice

 

[VidJunky]

Sorry I wasn't clear. What I meant was... Using the mics on the phone, since the one is in question, take a short video yelling at the phone. Since it's a video it will record using both speakers and it should separate the sounds into two channels. Depending on the phone it may not be a perfect split but I would assume it will be close enough that one side will be less than the other.

But since you've kinda proven this using your voice recorder we can probably skip this. I'd say that because you were able to get some sound that it's not completely dead. The question now becomes what to do. I go back to the cleaning instructions I offered, plastic bristled bush, gently probing the hole and blowing it out. Then obviously recheck the function. If there's no improvement you'll have to assume that it's damaged causing degraded function and in need of replacement.

 

[elijahthegod15]

i cleaned the top one out with a toothpick and i put it in front of a fan would i need to do more?
i also dont understand how the mic can break so suddenly even when i didnt drop it or anything the day it started malfunctioning

 

[VidJunky]

You can't really get in the hole with a tooth pick, you need an old toothbrush or something and you should be careful doing this, and a can if compressed air. A fan isn't strong enough. The unit could have been defective but I'm leaning towards dirty because we put them in dirty places.

 

[elijahthegod15]

also im not sure how a toothbrush could fit if a toothpick couldnt lol

 

[elijahthegod15]

ayee i fixed it thanks guys i used the toothbrush and cleaned my bottom mic i think that was the mic that is used for my calls

 

[B. Diddy]

Excellent, and kudos to @VidJunky for helpfulness and persistence!

 

[Apple_No_More]

New business idea, Android Toothbrushes :-$

 

[VidJunky]

New business idea, Android Toothbrushes :-$

Hey I had a phone that was notorious for the upper speaker grill getting cruddy, there were multiple threads about it and later an article, I think about it or if not about the same problem, anyway the solution was always a toothbrush. Actually ended up doing it once myself. I think you'd have to call them something else tho... aBrush, nah too much like that fruity company. What about Grill Brush, will that could get mistaken in multiple ways, teeth, barbeque... I'm out??

 

[VidJunky]

also im not sure how a toothbrush could fit if a toothpick couldnt lol

Seriously, did you just say that? Forgive me I'm about to lose my kudos...

One last article and I'm unsubscribed from this thread.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/Clean-an-iPhone-Microphone?amp=1

Best wishes mate.