Mic sensitivity on calls is too quiet

[strongthany]

Hardware: Fairphone 3 (with upgraded cameras from FF3+)
OS version: Android 10
Build number: 8901.3.A.0129.20210805
Signal version: 5.23.8

Hi all, in the past I had made this post about calls made over Signal having issues with echoing. The issue was solved in a past software update where the problem was one of the microphones would drop to 0 sensitivity when a call started, effectively making noise cancellation impossible.

However I seem to be having an opposite issue now. When I call someone over Signal, the person on the other end of the call doesn’t hear themselves in an echo, but rather they can barely hear me. It would seem that the mic levels during calls are at a level too low to make conversations over speaker mode very difficult.

During the past issue, I saw other people reported the same issue with other apps such as whatsapp or wire. I am posting here before I take this to support to see if this is a wider spread issue or if support is aware of it yet. If anyone has any questions for me, please let me know!

[anon9989719]

Hi Just tried calling the few ‘friends’ I have on signal but no one answered, will try again tomorrow.

Can you provide more detail: I see you have mentioned speaker mode, so is it ok in normal to the ear calling mode what about video calls?

The other thing is that in hands free/speaker mode you have to talk across the top of the phone similar having it propped up against a computer screen maybe as it’s the top mic that is being used.

Then of course you can test the mic via dialling *#*#66#*#*

Service tests > Test single > Microphone
MIC1 test is the bottom mic and is much more sensitive than the top MIC2 , a lot.

No problem on WhatsApp.

[strongthany]

calling hands free(sorry I seem to refer to “hands free mode” as “speaker mode” a lot. And I have tried it with and without video with the same outcome.

[anon9989719]

Yes sorry I missed that in your post, have edited it after a second read