Turn Off Noise Suppression on a Windows PC

Most Windows laptops come with software that cleans up your voice for video calls. It listens for a voice and removes everything else — and a violin, a piano or a guitar counts as “everything else”. When your instrument cuts out on a call, this is usually why.

Two things to know before you start. These controls stack: Windows has one, your laptop maker usually adds another, and a headset or graphics-card app can add a third. Turning one off and still hearing the instrument vanish means there is another layer, not that the fix was wrong. And every one of them is set per microphone: plug in a different mic and you may have to do it again.

This is step one of Audio Cuts Out When Someone Plays Their Instrument. Do the Windows setting there first, then find your laptop’s app below.

Which app do you have?

Search the Start menu for each of these. Whichever one exists is the one you have. The other quick way: click the small ^ arrow next to the clock — most of these live there — and look for the icon. If a little audio panel pops up by itself when a lesson starts, that panel is the one.

Newer Windows 11 laptops: Voice Focus

On recent Windows 11 machines with an AI chip, Windows itself has a microphone effect called Voice Focus. If you see a Studio effects tile, turn it off:

1. Click the network, sound or battery icon next to the clock (or press Windows + A).

2. Click Studio effects.

3. Click the microphone icon.

4. Turn Voice Focus off.

Dell

App: Dell Optimizer. The setting is on by default.

1. Open Dell Optimizer from the Start menu.

2. Click Audio on the home screen.

3. Switch Remove My Background Noise to Off.

4. If the person on the other end is the one cutting out, switch Remove Others’ Background Noise off too.

Some Dells also have MaxxAudio Pro. Open it, find the microphone or recording side, and turn off any voice or noise effect there. It can switch itself back on when you plug in a new audio device, so re-check it if the problem returns.

HP

App: Bang & Olufsen Audio Control (on some models HP Audio Control).

1. Open Bang & Olufsen Audio Control from the Start menu.

2. Click Noise Cancellation.

3. Switch Microphone Noise Cancellation off.

4. If there is also an AI noise removal setting for the input device, switch that off too.

Newer HPs use the myHP app instead: open it, go to Device, then Audio, and turn off the AI noise reduction under Microphone. One more thing: HP’s audio app may pop up when a lesson starts and offer Conference call or Personal. Conference call turns the noise cancelling back on — pick Personal.

Lenovo

App: Lenovo Vantage (or Lenovo PC Manager; Commercial Vantage on ThinkPads).

1. Open Lenovo Vantage from the Start menu.

2. Go to Device, then Device Settings, then Audio.

3. Scroll to the Microphone section.

4. Set Smart Noise Cancelling to Off.

There is also an Automatic Audio Optimization switch nearby that can override this; turn it off as well. Some Lenovos switch noise cancelling back on after a restart, so check it again if the instrument starts cutting out later.

Microsoft Surface

1. Do the Voice Focus steps above first — that is the main one on recent Surfaces.

2. Then in Settings, System, Sound, click your microphone under Input and set Audio enhancements to Off.

3. On an older Surface running Windows 10: open Realtek Audio Control from the Start menu, choose Microphone Array under Recording devices, and turn the microphone effects off.

On Windows 11 Surfaces, Microsoft puts further microphone effects in the Dolby Access app. If you have it, look for anything under Microphone and turn it off.

ASUS

Gaming laptops (ROG, TUF) use Armoury Crate; everything else uses MyASUS.

1. Armoury Crate: open it, click Device, choose System, click Audio, and turn Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation off — the Input one is the one that matters.

2. MyASUS: open it, go to Device Settings, find the audio section, and turn AI Noise-Canceling Mic off.

Faster still: in Muzie’s Device Settings, if your microphone is listed as “AI Noise-Cancelling Input (ASUS Utility)”, pick the plain microphone instead. That bypasses the whole thing.

Acer

App: Acer QuickPanel. It usually appears by itself when your camera or microphone turns on, and hides again after a moment.

1. Open Acer QuickPanel.

2. Click the PurifiedVoice tab.

3. Choose the All Off preset — it turns off every microphone noise-reduction effect at once. (Conference Call and Personal Call are the presets that cut instruments.)

Older Acers have Acer Purified Voice Console instead: open it from the Start menu and set the microphone effects to Off.

MSI, and any laptop with Nahimic

App: Nahimic (on newer MSIs it is inside MSI Center under Tools, then Audio). Nahimic is bundled on some other brands too — if you have the icon, these steps apply.

1. Open Nahimic from the desktop or the taskbar.

2. Click the Microphone tab.

3. Turn the microphone effects off. There is usually one switch for all of them; otherwise set Voice Shaper to Off and turn off Voice Leveler (or Voice Stabilizer) and Noise Reduction (or Static Noise Suppression).

4. Click the microphone icon in the left sidebar to open Microphone Device Properties, and turn off AEC and Beamforming — Beamforming is the one that cancels a piano across the room.

Realtek Audio Console (many brands)

1. Click the Start button, type Realtek Audio Console, and open it.

2. Click Microphone Array, or the microphone you use.

3. Turn off the effects you see — they may be called Noise Suppression, Acoustic Echo Cancellation, Beam Forming or AI Noise Reduction, and not every laptop shows all of them.

4. If there is a pickup pattern, choose Omni-Directional: Uni-Directional only listens to the person sitting in front of the laptop.

Samsung Galaxy Book: this is the app to use. Samsung does not have its own microphone noise control on Windows.

NVIDIA Broadcast and SteelSeries Sonar

Both work by inserting a fake “virtual” microphone. The quickest fix is to stop using it:

1. In Muzie’s Device Settings, if the microphone is listed as NVIDIA Broadcast or SteelSeries Sonar, choose your real microphone instead, and Save.

2. Or in NVIDIA Broadcast: open the Microphone tab and turn Noise Removal and Room Echo Removal off.

3. Or in SteelSeries GG: open Sonar, click the Mic tab, and turn off ClearCast AI Noise Cancellation, Noise Reduction and the Noise Gate. The Noise Gate is the one that clips the start of every note.

If you cannot find any setting

Some laptops — many with Intel Smart Sound microphones — have no switch for this anywhere in Windows or in the maker’s app. If you have done the steps above and there is nothing to turn off, the practical answer is a microphone that is not the built-in one: a USB microphone, a headset, or an audio interface all bypass the laptop’s processing entirely.

Whatever you changed, go back to step 2 of Audio Cuts Out When Someone Plays Their Instrument and try Muzie’s audio modes as well.