How to keep your voice from fading out on a Zoom call

Q: When I'm in a Zoom video meeting, my audio is fine at first. But if I mute myself, then unmute, my audio is hard for other call participants to hear. The only fix seems to be to leave the meeting then rejoin it. Also, I use a Logitech external camera-microphone unit. What can I do?

Joel Boon, Shakopee

A: Because you are using an external camera with a microphone, any Zoom call you are on involves three sets of audio controls — those in Zoom, on your computer and on your camera-microphone combination. Toggling from mute to unmute on Zoom might affect any one of them, so be sure each one is unmuted and the volume is set appropriately.

Here are some other possible causes:

• USB and Bluetooth connections. If your camera-microphone unit plugs into a computer's USB port, try using a different port (some ports don't provide enough electricity to power digital devices.) If your camera-microphone unit connects to your computer via wireless Bluetooth signals, be sure its battery is adequately charged and that the device isn't dropping its Bluetooth connection. (See tinyurl.com/ybzs8gta).

• Other apps running on your computer. Zoom and other internet video services are data-intensive, so shut down any other apps that might be trying to use your internet connection or your computer's processor chip during a video call.

• Background noise. Noise near your computer can make it hard for others on a Zoom call to hear you. The Zoom app has settings that can suppress background noise so that you can be heard more clearly (see tinyurl.com/y689nbjs).

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