Audio Glitches While Recording Voice

This article is for when you can record and listen back to your voice, but there are audio glitches (pops and crackles) that affect the pronunciation analysis, resulting in a consistently low score.

For all other issues with the Speaking questions (where you record your voice), please refer to Help With the "Speaking Practice" Activity

An issue like this can also sometimes be caused on the user's end. Below are some things you can try to help us figure out together what could be causing the problem.

Easily Testing a Speaking Question

Here's a test phrase to make it easy to troubleshoot these potential solutions: Test Phrase

Is It Specific to Our Platform, Or Your Device?

Try a test recording using a third-party browser audio recording utility, such as: https://online-voice-recorder.com/ or https://mictests.com/. Are you able to record successfully with these tools? 

This will help us narrow down the issue, i.e. whether it's related to browser settings, related to your device, or just a bug on our end.

Eliminating Possible Causes

After you make each change, it would be a good idea to completely close and reopen your web browser. (That way you know which change made a difference!)

• Try closing other applications (or browser tabs) that might be using a lot of your devices resources. 

• After pressing record, try pausing an extra couple seconds before recording your voice. Some devices need a bit of extra time to gather their wits (technical term!) to provide a reliable recording.

• Try using a different microphone. For example, if you're using your device's built-in mic, try connecting a headset or bluetooth microphone, or vice-versa.

• Try a different web browser. (Eg. Chrome / Safari / Firefox)

• Try rebooting your computer

• Try a different device (Computer / Smartphone / Tablet – our platform should work well on all modern devices)

Get In Touch

If you're still having trouble after trying the above suggestions, please do let us know. We are happy to help! Tell us what you've tried so far and what happened, as that way we can investigate the issue and get you back to learning more quickly. We know technical issues like this can be frustrating and we appreciate you working with us to determine the cause.