5 Quick Ways to Solve “Can’t hear people in Discord”

As they say, without audio, there is no real gaming. It likes playing with some buttons on a desert-like screen.

Similar to these modern-day communications without a crystal-clear voice is like watching in a theatre in the 90s while trying to figure out the intent of the dialogues.

Yes, I am talking about the issue you face with the voice in Discord while in the middle of a game, preparing a blueprint to bring down your opponents.

Though many of the multiplayer games you play come preloaded with an in-game voice chat feature, most of the time makes your game lag. Here, Discord appeared as a rescue. 

However, there are times the participants in the middle of a voice chat go inaudible. Although a green circle appears when a participant speaks up, no way you can listen to them.

In the recent update releases, even Discord has recognized the bugs and claimed to have fixed it. But if you are still facing this issue, I am here with some quick and easy fixes for you.

So…

Why can’t you hear anyone on Discord?

Well, this is subjective. There is no specific reason behind this issue.

Sometimes the issue is due to misconfigured audio settings in Discord. At the same time, sometimes, it occurs when third-party software in your PC is interfering with your default audio settings. 

Also, if you have not updated Discord for a long, you might feel the issue is occurring due to outdated versions containing unfixed bugs.

Despite having a decent internet speed, the right mic, and a robust sound system if you can’t hear people on Discord, this guide is exclusive. 

Let us move to the solutions of quick ways to solve cant hear people in discord that will help you overcome the problem.

Method 1: Set As Default  Sound and Communication Device in Sound Settings

quick ways to solve cant hear people in discord

Some third-party sound managers and voice tweaking applications interfere with your PC’s default audio settings and create conflicts.

However, modifying the default audio settings is not necessary every time, but you should make sure that your audio device is made default for all audio communications.

Hardware faults also sometimes create issues with audio output. So, check the compatibility of your audio hardware components before you update Discord to the latest version.

Steps to Set Default Sound and Communication devices:

  1. On the Taskbar, near the Quick Launch area, right-click on the Speaker icon and select Sound.
  2. You will get a dialogue window on your Desktop screen. Move to the Playback tab.
  3. Now, a list of installed devices will appear on the screen. Now, decide the required audio output device and then select the Set As Default Device option.
  4. To change the Communication Device, and mic, perform the same process and select Set as Communication Device.
  5. Now, check for the green checkmark and apply the changes. Then tap Ok to finalize the changes made.

Method 2: Use the Legacy Audio Subsystem

When Discord receives an update release, the minimum hardware requirements keep changing from time to time. While upgrading the hardware is best recommended, you try turning on the Legacy Audio Subsystem option in Discord. It has helped many players who had similar issues in the past.

Steps to enable the Legacy Audio Subsystem:

  1. Doubleclick open the Discord
  2. Tap on the User Settings gear icon on the top right side of your account Avatar.
  3. Navigate to the Audio & Video option.
  4. Scroll downwards and find the option that says “Use Legacy Audio Subsystem.”
  5. Tap to toggle the “Legacy Audio Subsystem” on
  6. You will get a confirmation dialogue box on your screen. Press Okay to confirm.
  7. Close Discord and reopen.

Method 3: Make sure you have selected the correct Output Device

quick ways to solve cant hear people in discord

In some instances, many users reported that when an incorrect Output Device is selected, the voice output becomes bitter, even with no sound at all.

Making sure you are using the correct output device helps the sound output become better and  error-free

Follow the steps below to check whether you are using the right Output Device:

  1. Open Discord. Navigate to the bottom-left corner of the dashboard and look for the Cog symbol near your User Avatar.
  2. Find the Voice and Video tab under the App Settings row and click on that.
  3. You will see the option “Output Device.” Here, check whether your desired audio output device has been selected or not. If not, adjust it to the current one. 

Method 4: Reset Discord’s Voice Settings To Default

If nothing worked for you, then resetting the Voice settings to the default will help if the voice output was working fine previously.

Resetting voice settings to default comes to your rescue when you’ve wrongly made some changes to the configurations but couldn’t remember it back. Resetting will revert the settings to Discord’s original default settings.

Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Open the Discord application. Hover to the Cog icon you see on the bottom-left side of the dashboard near the user avatar.
  2. Click on User’s Settings.
  3. Click on the Voice and Video option.
  4. By scrolling down to the bottom of the page, you will get the “Reset Settings” option. Tap on it.
  5. When you get a dialogue box for confirmation, click Okay to complete the process.

Method 5: Try the Discord Web Version

When you have exhausted all the possible ways that could fix your “can’t hear people in Discord” issue, then this one is the last option that you can try.

Here, you will not need to install the Discord setup on your pc. Instead, it will be the web version of Discord that doesn’t require any specific configurations to perform smoothly and doesn’t create conflicts with any third-party applications.

If you can play Music files and  Videos directly from your browser, then the web version of Discord too will perform flawlessly.

When prompted to “Allow” for the accessibility of your mic on the browser dashboard, allow it so that you can send an audio message from your PC.

Go to this link  discordapp.com for the Discord web version.

Final words

Though Discord has sturdy server systems running 24×7 in the behind, sometimes technical issues do appear that cause issues with voice and audio output and inputs. Also, as it is the most used VoIP application used by the world’s largest gaming community and also non-gamers, due to heavy traffic, server downtimes are sometimes expected.

Despite these facts, hardware incompatibilities, config errors, and buggy version updates are quite popular among gamers, making the participants of a Discord chat inaudible to you. I hope the solutions shared above got your issue resolved successfully.

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