Hi
People I call from the desktop (on WhatsApp or Signal but mainly WhatsApp) hear an echo of their own voice coming back to them…and I use headphones.
I guess that I should force echo cancellation…
But don’t know how to do it.
I am on Ubuntu Mate 26.04.1 Kernel 7.0.0-38
I’ll still dig on the web, but any idea would be welcome
Thanks !
W
p.s. and would forcing echo cancellation have undesirable side effects ?
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do you use a webcam? maybe the webcam mic is on.
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No separate webcam. If a need for camera, it is the one integrated to the laptop.
W
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And I’m not warm at playing with pipewire the different ways described on some web sites… with a risk of creating more issues then need to be addressed.
W
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How to disable your laptop microphone in Ubuntu MATE to get rid of echo
If you’ve noticed echo during calls or recordings, most of the time the culprit is the laptop’s internal microphone, which picks up the sound from the speakers and sends it right back. The good news is that in Ubuntu MATE you can turn it off very easily, straight from the graphical settings, without touching the terminal.
The quick way: muting the microphone
Open Control Center and go to Sound, or even simpler, right-click the volume icon in the panel and choose Sound Preferences. In the window that opens, go to the Input tab, select the internal microphone from the list (it usually shows up as “Internal Microphone” or “Analog Input - Built-in Audio”) and tick Mute next to the volume slider. Alternatively, you can drag the slider all the way to the left.
This option is good if you want to be able to turn the microphone back on anytime, with a single click.
The permanent way: taking the microphone out of the picture
If you don’t use the internal microphone at all (for example you work with a headset or a USB microphone), you can disable it completely. In the same Sound Preferences window, go to the Hardware tab, select the internal sound card and under Profile choose Analog Stereo Output (the one without “+ Input”). From that moment on, the system uses the card only for audio output, and the setting stays in place after a reboot.
When you want the microphone back, return to the same place and choose the Analog Stereo Duplex profile.
For those who prefer the terminal
Click for commands
Ubuntu MATE 26.04 uses PipeWire, so you can control the microphone with wpctl:
# mute the default source
wpctl set-mute @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SOURCE@ 1
# or toggle between mute and unmute
wpctl set-mute @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SOURCE@ toggle
Run wpctl status to see the full list of devices, in case the internal microphone isn’t the default source.
If the echo doesn’t go away
If you’ve muted the microphone and the echo is still there, the problem may be somewhere else. Install pavucontrol from Software Boutique or with sudo apt install pavucontrol, then check in the Input Devices tab that no other microphone is active (for example the webcam’s) and look at the sound card profiles in the Configuration tab. It’s also worth checking the app you’re making the call with, because some of them pick the input device on their own, regardless of the system settings.
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Even though this deals with a somewhat similar issue in 24.04 this thread from the old UM forums may be worth looking at:
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