Cut background noise on calls with Voice Isolation

Why it happens

Your Mac's microphone picks up everything around you, from keyboard clicks to a barking dog. Mic Mode lets you choose how it listens: Standard, Voice Isolation, which focuses on your voice, or Wide Spectrum, which keeps every sound. The option only shows while an app is using the microphone.

How to fix it

1. Start or join your call, or start a recording, so the app is using the microphone.

2. Click the Video icon in the menu bar, or the Audio icon if only your microphone is on, then click Mic Mode.

   Menu bar›Video›Mic Mode

3. Choose Voice Isolation. The change applies to the call you're in.

4. Ask the other person whether you sound clearer. You can switch back to Standard from the same menu at any time.

Still not fixed?

1. No Mic Mode? Make sure the call has actually started. Some apps don't support Mic Mode, and then it doesn't appear for them.

2. Pick Wide Spectrum only when you want the whole room heard, such as playing an instrument. It lets more noise through.

3. Still noisy? Lower the input volume in Sound > Input, so your microphone picks up less from across the room.

   Sound›Input

4. A headset with its own microphone close to your mouth picks up far less of the room than the Mac's built-in microphone.

5. If your voice sounds crackly or cuts out with every Mic Mode setting and in every app, the microphone may be faulty. That's a hardware problem, so contact Apple Support or a repair shop.