Troubleshooting Camera and Sound Issues

Troubleshooting Sound 

I Failed the Audio Output System Test

If you fail the audio output test, you may not be able to hear anyone in the room. 

•  If you are using headphones or external speakers, try unplugging them.  
•  Is your device muted? Do your speakers/headphones work? Please test your speakers. 
•  Try restarting your browser. 
•  Try restarting your computer.

If nothing above works, please try troubleshooting by clicking the links below:

Click here for Windows.

Click here for Mac. 

My Audio Sounds Robotic or Distorted

Most likely your internet connection is slow. Slower upload speed will cause distortion or robotic sounding audio in the virtual conference room. Please take a look at our System Requirements to learn minimum requirements and possible solutions. 

I Can’t Tell If My Microphone is Working

Before you enter the virtual visit on web and mobile, you will be taken to a test page that will show you if your microphone is working, in the "microphone" section. This will also show in the virtual conference room as a "moving bar" every time you talk. 

What Can I Do To Prevent Echo Or Feedback?

Reasons for an echo or feedback:

• Echo occurs if input output audio devices are placed close together. Someone's computer speakers or cellphone might be too close to their microphone or their audio is too loud. 
• Being in the virtual room twice. If you hear an echo and notice that someone is in the virtual conference room twice, that may be the cause.
• Having multiple people in the same physical office or room in the same virtual room (sound from the speaker on one computer enters the microphone of the other computer).
• If playing a YouTube Video without muting yourself, in your YouTube browser, click on the Settings icon (upper right). Then go to the General tab, scroll to Audio and choose whether the sound is muted when browsing YouTube or only playing a specific video.

Prevention:

• Wear a headset or ear buds.
• If you or someone else is in the virtual room twice; remove them, exit or close any extra windows or tabs.
• Refresh the page.
• Move any microphones away from your speakers.
• Mute or turn off the microphone of the person who is causing it or mute yourself if you are the cause. Mute others when they are not speaking. 
• Have the person who is causing it turn down their computer's volume.
• If multiple people are on multiple computers in one physical location, have them go in separate rooms or turn off or mute all the computers but one.
• Mute yourself when you play a YouTube video.
• Buy or use an external microphone. Built-in mics quality can vary. 
• Turn off webcams. This will allow more bandwidth for audio. 

Troubleshooting Video 

My Webcam Video is Really Slow, Laggy, Frozen or Distorted

Most likely your internet connection is slow. Slower upload speed will cause lag and distortion in the virtual room. Please take a look at our System Requirements to learn more about our minimum requirements and ways to increase your speed. The upload speed provided by most broadband providers is often much slower than the download.

Also, you may need to only share audio. The more you share in the virtual room (video and screen), the more bandwidth you use. The more bandwidth you use, the better connection you will need. 

Reducing the number of video and audio streams may help. 

If you're getting a black screen when you share your camera, there could be a few reasons for this. Follow the steps below.

I Only See a Black Screen When Sharing My Camera

1. A black screen can appear if your camera is broken or installed incorrectly. Test your camera with our system checker here. If that does not work, refresh the page or restart the browser.

2. Your internet speed may be slower than necessary. This can prevent your camera from loading. To check your internet speed, use the system checker here.

If your speed is below 10 / 15 Mbps upload or download, we recommend joining via Dial-In.

3. Opening another app (like answering an incoming call) will temporarily interrupt the video and microphone. After going back to the webinar or Telehealth Visit screen, the best thing for both the host/provider and the attendee/patient to do is to refresh the page. 

• The host should refresh an attendee's browser remotely from the host control panel. Click the attendee's name, and then select Refresh Attendee's Browser.
• Then, the host should refresh their tab by clicking the Refresh button. 
• It will take about 30 seconds to reload the page and reconnect.

4. A black screen may also happen if the incorrect device was selected when allowing the camera, or if you have a camera privacy cover on your device. Go to settings to choose a different device.

5. Other reasons: If you see a black screen when entering a webinar or telehealth appointment, please register as indicated with your full name and email address. Follow the prompts on the screen. Make sure you click on "Continue on the Webinar / Meeting". If this button is not clicked, you have not fully entered the webinar or telehealth appointment and you will see a black screen.

I Can’t Hear Some/All People in my Webinar

 Try reloading the virtual room or refreshing the page. 

• Make sure that the presenter is actually sharing their mic and your device's volume is turned up. 
• If you are using headphones, try unplugging them.  
• Is your computer muted? Do your speakers/head phones work?
• If that doesn't work, try restarting your browser. 
• If that doesn't work, try restarting your computer.
• If this doesn't work, please check your system and our requirements. 
• If it is an Information Session, it is likely that only the Admin or Presenter has enabled access to their Camera and Microphone. If chat is enabled, you can use that to communicate with them. 

If you have tried everything above, please click the links below.

Click here for Windows.

Click here for Mac. 

If you continue to have issues, email [e-mail]

Troubleshooting both Microphone and Video

My Camera and Microphone Are Turning Off Every Few Seconds

Cameras and microphones turning off every few seconds is normally caused by a browser issue or a network firewall. We first recommend updating your browser. After the update is complete, it maybe necessary to restart your computer or relaunch the browser (click "quit" or X, then re-open).

Sometimes Chrome's automatic updates may not finish without restarting your computer or relaunching the browser.* This has been known to cause camera and mic issues within a virtual visit/webinar. Completing the update and relaunching the browser should fix the issue. 

However, if you are seeing an UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION screen, you are most likely behind a firewall. If that happens, you may need to contact your IT staff. The linked article explains in more detail what you can do to circumvent (if possible) your network's firewall. Please also check if your microphone is properly set up. 

If the articles above do not remedy the issues, please contact support at [e-mail]. 

*When possible, turn off your computer when you are not using it. Restarting your computer on a normal basis is necessary for software updates on your computer. Make sure you are always using the most up-to-date browser and operating system, whether you are using a MAC or WINDOWS device. 

Allow Access to Your Camera or Microphone

After you have clicked the Microphone or the Camera button, and neither your camera nor microphone are working, you may need to click ALLOW within your browser's address bar. Each browser is a bit different. Just make sure you are choosing to Allow BigHeart or MyOwnDoctor access. 

(*We highly recommend you use the latest version of either Chrome or Firefox. If you are a MyOwnDoctor patient, it is very crucial to use one of those two browsers.)

For Google Chrome it will appear on the right side of the address bar like this:

For Firefox it will appear on the left side of the address bar like this:

Here are some general troubleshooting steps for your camera AND microphone

IMPORTANT: Make sure you are using Google Chrome as your browser.

• Check your that your camera and microphone are on with our system check.
• Check to see if your camera and microphone work on a different browser or in a private/incognito browser. If so, there could be a browser extension enabled blocking your ability to share.
• Quit any other video application that uses your mic and camera (Skype, Zoom, phone calls, etc).
• Restart your browser or computer and try accessing them again.
• Clear your browser's history
• Make sure you're clicking "Allow" within the browser
• Make sure Google Chrome has permission to share your camera and microphone
• Make sure Google Chrome allows the specific website you’re on to share your camera and microphone