USB Audio

This article details the necessary system configuration to support speakers and microphones connected to the system via USB. Laptops commonly include microphones connected to the USB as part of the integrated webcam hardware whereas many USB headsets include both microphones and speakers over USB for sound input and output.

Configuration

Kernel

SND_USB_AUDIO

The USB audio/MIDI kernel symbol must be enabled for USB speakers and microphones to work properly.

KERNEL Enable support for SND_USB_AUDIO

Device Drivers -->
   Sound card support -->
      Advanced Linux Sound Architecture -->
         USB sound devices -->
            <*> USB Audio/MIDI driver

Testing

Many desktop suites include a dedicated application for which to test the functionality webcam and/or voice recording software. Systems running the Gnome desktop environment can utilize the media-video/cheese application.

The CLI tool media-sound/sox can also be used to record and playback sound for users not using Gnome.

Troubleshooting

Extremely high volume

When testing the microphone, it is common for the output to be very loud and grainy. This is often caused by the input volume of the microphone being too high. This can be solved by decreasing the volume using the audio server:

For PulseAudio:

user $pactl set-source-volume $(pactl get-default-source) 50%

For Pipewire:

user $wpctl set-volume @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SOURCE@ 20%