Microphone delay

[spiritfree]

Hi all!

For probably a year or so I have had the following problem: After some time of listening to other participants and thus having been silent, when I start speaking there is a delay until my microphone kicks in which means the others do not hear the first few words I say which, needless to say, quickly becomes annoying. It happens across at least three laptops and reinstalling the app does not seem to help, nor does changing the headset I use. Has anyone experienced this problem, and if so, is there a fix?

Alex

[jrmagno]

What you’re describing is a known issue that some Zoom users face, often referred to informally as:"Microphone gating delay" or "first-word cut-off"

It happens when your mic is silent for a while, and then the first second or two of speech is missed when you begin talking again. It’s frustrating and can feel like you're being ghosted by your own hardware.

---

🎯 The Root Cause (Likely)

This behavior is usually due to a combination of:

• Zoom’s audio processing features like noise suppression or voice activity detection

• Power-saving or “sleep” modes on mic input

• Headset firmware or Bluetooth latency (if using wireless headsets)

• Hardware gating (especially common in low-power sound cards)

---

✅ Solutions & Workarounds That Often Help

🔧 1. Enable “Original Sound for Musicians” in Zoom

This is your best bet to bypass Zoom’s noise gating and voice detection:

1. Go to Zoom > Settings > Audio

2. Enable "Show in-meeting option to enable 'Original Sound for Musicians'"

3. Once in a meeting, click "Turn On Original Sound" in the top-left corner

4. Optional: Also try disabling noise suppression or setting it to Low

This keeps your mic “open” all the time, eliminating the “mic wake-up” delay.

---

⚙️ 2. Prevent Mic Sleep (Windows settings)

Sometimes, Windows turns off devices to save power:

1. Open Device Manager

2. Find your mic under Audio inputs and outputs

3. Right-click > Properties > Power Management

4. Uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”

---

🎤 3. Use a USB Audio Interface or Pro Mic

If you’ve tried multiple laptops and headsets, and it still happens, consider using a USB condenser mic or an audio interface (like a Focusrite Scarlett or similar). These tend to have less aggressive gating and keep the input always live.

---

🧪 4. Use a "Wake Word" Hack

If you don’t want to tweak settings or change hardware:

• Just say a quick filler like “Hey,” “Okay,” or even just “Uh” right before you talk.

• This triggers the mic to open before your real sentence starts.