While it may be surprising, one of the most common issue we have students experience in Discord is our instructors being able to hear them, but them not being able to hear us. 


The following steps are the best practices we have noticed for resolving issues with students not being able to hear us on Discord.



Step 1: Establish Communication (Optional, but recommended)

  • If you are in a Voice Channel with other students and an instructor, but you can't hear them, start a Direct Message or Chat with the Instructor. You can do this by right-clicking the instructor's name and selecting Message. 


Step 2: Check the Basics

  • While not the most exciting answer, before diving into more complex troubleshooting steps, it's worthwhile to check to ensure the basics are set up correctly.
    • Check to ensure any sound is coming from your Speakers or Headset (run YouTube for instance)
    • If you are not hearing anything, confirm your speakers are plugged in, if they have volume button on the cord, ensure that is turned up and on, and check the volume settings on windows. This article can be helpful in resolving no sound at all issues.


Step 3: Discord Output Device

  • Next, we'll check Discord to ensure it is set up correctly. The first step is to open the Voice and Video Settings. To do this, click the "Gear Cog" near your name in Discord.

  • Under Voice & Video, change the Output device and cycle through all of the device options. If you are on a Voice Channel, you will almost certainly hear the instructor or students chatting. Even if technically Default should work,  try the other devices anyway. It is a very common issue that we see.


Step 4: Windows Sound Mixer

  • Another common problem we see is that Windows Sound Mixer is set up such that Discord is quieter than the rest of the sounds on the system. Below is an example of how to update Sound Mixer for Windows 10. 
  • To open Sound Mixer, first press the Windows Key then type in Sound Mixer. 

  • Ensure that Discord is currently running and that you are in a Voice Channel.
  • Confirm that Discord's relative volume is similar to other volumes on your system. Try increasing it as well.




Note that the most common sound issues we are see are; wrong output device selected or sound mixer issues.