One colleague came up to me the other day asking me to take look at her headset because she was freaking out by her own voice echoing in her headset. Sure enough, as soon as I put on the headset and turned it on, I can hear almost every sound around me, the keyboard I was typing, the breath I was taking, and yes, my own voice when I said hello to myself.

Nothing seemed wrong after I checked the sound settings and headset drivers. Since she’s using a Plantronics headset, I even went into its own software, Plantronics Hub, trying to tackle some of the settings to see if it helps. Nothing.

Turns out, there is a setting specifically designed to let you listen to your own voice, believe it or not.

The magic setting is hidden in the classic Sound settings window from the Control Panel. Opening it is a bit different on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

On Windows 10, right-click the sound icon in the System Tray and select Sound.

On Windows 11, right-click the same sound icon in the System Tray and select Sound Settings, which opens up the Settings app. You will then click More Sound settings to open the classic Sound settings window.

Now in the Sound settings window, go to the Recording tab, highlight the recording device you are using and click Properties.

Under the Listen tab, uncheck the option called Listen to this device. And as soon as you click OK to save the change, everything all of sudden becomes so quiet.