All Discussions > Steam Forums > Help and Tips > Topic Details
Rizenstrom 7 Feb, 2023 @ 6:23pm
Is there a way to stop Steam, or specific games, from accessing the mic?
I am using bluetooth headphones to play games and any time the mic is in use it drastically lowers audio quality. As far as I'm aware there's no fix for this, it's a Windows issue, something about switching to a lower bit rate when the mic is in use. I don't know.

It's not an issue 99% of the time because I only use my mic while working and mostly play single player games.

However some games seem to want constant access to the mic. Doom Eternal is the big one I'm having issues with right now. The only work around I know is to completely disable the mic but then it becomes an issue working because sometimes I forget to reenable it when I need to make calls the next day.
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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
Arg0n 8 Feb, 2023 @ 3:08pm 
That's not a Windows bug. It's a limitation of Bluetooth. Bluetooth has transfer rates of 1 - 3 MBit/s (Bit!). That's just not enough for two audio streams. Most VOIP stuff has a lower quality than your normal audio track. So Bluetooth is just good for phone calls and so on. Even in Teamspeak you will sound like a dog barking in a metal bukket with your Bluetooth Mic. I feel bad for your team mates xDDD

Ok, back to your problem. You can only work around this issue by buying a new headset with a propper connection. Or you can try to automate the process. So whenever you launch your game, it will disable your mic and when it quits it wil be re-enabled.

Or you can build some kind of button prompt to toggle it easily. I've found a SO thread, which can give you a direction on how to do it: https://superuser.com/questions/1432157/shortcut-to-enable-disable-a-device-in-windows
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Rizenstrom 9 Feb, 2023 @ 9:37pm 
Originally posted by Arg0n:
That's not a Windows bug. It's a limitation of Bluetooth. Bluetooth has transfer rates of 1 - 3 MBit/s (Bit!). That's just not enough for two audio streams. Most VOIP stuff has a lower quality than your normal audio track. So Bluetooth is just good for phone calls and so on. Even in Teamspeak you will sound like a dog barking in a metal bukket with your Bluetooth Mic. I feel bad for your team mates xDDD

Ok, back to your problem. You can only work around this issue by buying a new headset with a propper connection. Or you can try to automate the process. So whenever you launch your game, it will disable your mic and when it quits it wil be re-enabled.

Or you can build some kind of button prompt to toggle it easily. I've found a SO thread, which can give you a direction on how to do it: https://superuser.com/questions/1432157/shortcut-to-enable-disable-a-device-in-windows

I have a different headset for the rare occasion I do play a multiplayer game and want to use voice chat, I just prefer this one for my typical use case. I'll check that out, thanks.
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ACE 23 Sep, 2023 @ 11:19pm 
Very late to this, but you can try disabling a driver on your audio and sound. It should be the name of your headphones and "hands free" right after it, that's basically the mic causing all the issues.
#3
Asairus 22 hours ago 
Originally posted by ACE:
Very late to this, but you can try disabling a driver on your audio and sound. It should be the name of your headphones and "hands free" right after it, that's basically the mic causing all the issues.
thank you. fkn amazing. i had disabled the mic in audio recording devices but for some reason steam kept getting access to it regardless. i don't its mic. they're awful anyway. i've got a dedicated mic so imagine the frustration when something that i want off and was so, nagged me anytime i wanted something wireless (bluetooth ofcourse)
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Date Posted: 7 Feb, 2023 @ 6:23pm
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