Why the sound changes when the microphone opens
Classic Bluetooth headphones work in one of two modes. In Stereo mode they play music and video in good quality, and the microphone is off. In Hands-Free mode the headset microphone works, but the sound in your ears drops to phone-call quality: mono and narrow. Switching between the two usually takes about a second, sometimes longer.
Windows shows the two modes as two devices. For Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones in English Windows they look like this:
- Headphones (WH-1000XM3 Stereo): good sound, no microphone;
- Headset (WH-1000XM3 Hands-Free AG Audio): the microphone, with call-quality sound.
The names depend on the brand, the model and the language of Windows. The device with Hands-Free in its name is the call mode; the other one is the stereo one.
As long as any program keeps the headset microphone open, Windows holds the headphones in Hands-Free mode. That is a limit of Bluetooth itself, not a fault of the headphones or of VoiceKeyboard.
The best setup: a separate microphone and Stereo headphones
Dictate into a microphone that is not part of the headset: a USB microphone, the laptop's built-in one or the one in a webcam. The headphones then stay in Stereo mode, so the sound stays full and the recording starts without waiting for the switch.
- Open Start → Settings → System → Sound.
- Under Output, choose the Stereo device of your headphones, in the example above Headphones (WH-1000XM3 Stereo).
- Under Input, choose the microphone you want to dictate into. This matters for the Google engine: if Chrome cannot use the microphone chosen in VoiceKeyboard, Google listens to the Windows default (how to make a microphone the Windows default).
- In VoiceKeyboard, on the LIVE screen, choose the same microphone in the MICROPHONE list of the INPUT panel.
A call app that uses the headset microphone switches the headphones to Hands-Free too. Choose the separate microphone in that app as well, or close it after the call.
If you dictate into the headset microphone
That works. While VoiceKeyboard records, the headphones are in Hands-Free mode and everything you hear is call quality; with classic Bluetooth there is no way around it. When the recording stops and no other program holds the microphone, the headphones go back to Stereo. VoiceKeyboard does not keep a Bluetooth microphone open between dictations, so its INPUT meter stays at zero until you start recording (see microphone, sensitivity and BOOST).
Some newer headsets support Bluetooth LE Audio. With a computer that supports it as well and a recent Windows 11, such a headset can keep better sound while its microphone is on. Whether yours can depends on the headset, the computer's Bluetooth hardware and its drivers.
What VoiceKeyboard 1.0.3 and later does
- When your microphone is not the headset's, VoiceKeyboard plays its own sounds, such as the clicks at the start and end of a recording, through the Stereo device of the headphones.
- When the Windows output is the Hands-Free device, VoiceKeyboard shows a notice about it. Its Sound settings button opens the Windows sound settings, where you choose the Stereo device under Output.
Common problems
| What happens | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| The sound turns muffled when dictation starts. | The output is the Hands-Free device, or the headset microphone is recording. Choose the Stereo device under Output and dictate into a separate microphone, as above. |
| A click and a pause of about half a second before the recording starts. | The same cause: the headphones are switching to Hands-Free. With a separate microphone and Stereo output the recording starts at once. |
| The sound stays muffled after dictation. | Another program, often a call app, still holds the headset microphone, or Output is still set to the Hands-Free device. Check both. |
| The headset microphone is not in the MICROPHONE list. | Reconnect the headset: turn it off and on, or disconnect and connect it again in the Windows Bluetooth settings. Windows then adds its Hands-Free device again. |
If dictation itself does not work, go to dictation problems and how to fix them.