Nexus 6p microphone

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ricey1986

Senior Member
Mar 6, 2009
844
148
Bolton
Getting the same whenever I hunch my shoulder up to balance the phone near my cheek

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

SugarySnack

Senior Member
Aug 5, 2011
71
7
I think I had a similar issue with my Nexus 5. When the noise cancellation mic was blocked, people would have a hard time hearing me. My guess is now that the mic is on the back and not the top it is easier to block.
 

cb474

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2010
1,051
392
The Nexus 6P is supposed to have three microphones. I assume the main mic is in the bottom speaker. There is clearly a mic hole on the back just below the camera hump, so that may be what people are blocking. I'm not sure where the third mic is, perhaps in the top speaker.

It is a little odd that block one of the extra noise cancellation mics on the back of a phone would disrupt call quality (at least in a quiet place). This is a common design and you'd think the obvious use case of speakerphone with the phone sitting on a flat surface would be considered.

Perhaps, once one of the noise cancellation mics is blocked, the phone can't tell what's background noise and what's your voice, so it starts attenuating your voice as if it's background noise?

I'm assuming the 6P using Qualcomm's Fluence noise cancellation, which is what most phones with Qualcomm chipsets use these days. Fluence has always been kind of mediocre as far as noice cancellation goes. The Nexus 5 with Fluence tended to cut people's voice off a lot. I was hoping the extra third microphone would improve things, but it's also the algorithm that matters.

There's definitely better noise cancellation out there. The Audience chip (now called EarSmart) is probably the best. It was in the Nexus One, which had amazing noise cancellation (and also in the iPhone 4). But both Apple and Google dropped it. Samsung put it in a lot of the Galaxy S phones, but has dropped it now too. I assume they just don't want to pay for the licensing. Motorola uses four microphone noise cancellation and their own propriety algorithm, which is pretty good--that's what's in the Moto X 2014 and the Nexus 6, don't know about the new Moto X.

Anyway, you could experiment with covering the hole on the back and see if that's what's causing the problem.
 
Last edited:

dricco

New member
Apr 21, 2009
1
0
Having the same issue, need to have the microphone right up to my mouth for anyone to hear me. If I move it an inch away people sound it too low. Going to get onto google tonight about returning. Hopefully it's just a faulty microphone and not the phone design. I've tested in quite and noisy spots and same in both. Also checking not to cover any pin holes in phone that may be noise cancelling microphones.
 

solvingchaos

Member
Jul 17, 2012
20
4
I have the same issue with people reporting they cant hear me when the bottom mic is off angle from my mouth. I've done some testing by calling a desk phone on speaker and playing with the angle of the phone. From my testing and personal opinion it seems that the issue is likely due to over aggressive noise cancellation. Hopefully this is fixed in a software update or google gives us at least the ability to disable noise cancelation.
 

xtruss

Member
Apr 19, 2007
15
11
Same issue here, a lot of people saying they cant hear me properly, if i then swivel the phone so the mic is in line with my mouth problem goes away. It seems very sensitive!!
 

godsafk

Senior Member
Apr 15, 2010
103
38
Apple Valley, CA
Anyone resolve this issue with a replacement device? It's quite annoying to have the phone glued to your face and if you move an inch the other party cant hear you clearly.
 

bsg411

Senior Member
Nov 23, 2007
1,549
304
Google Pixel 4 XL
Anyone resolve this issue with a replacement device? It's quite annoying to have the phone glued to your face and if you move an inch the other party cant hear you clearly.

Same here....not sure if its a hardware issue or bad design? But if every phone is not like this then I have to send it back. Just need to determine what it is first.
Also when playing music my bottom speaker is not as loud as my top....I'm assuming that is a defect as well.
 

ohlin5

Senior Member
Feb 24, 2012
916
360
Verizon Blows, USA
Same here with 2 devices. I've read that disabling noise cancelling fixes the issue, but this obviously requires root to do. I sure hope Google adds an option to disable this without having to root....or at least tones it down because it definitely does seem over-aggressive.

I also enabled advanced calling on both devices, and I'm not sure that didn't *help* at least a tiny bit...although I don't really have much to base that one other than neither of us getting any complaints for the past 24-48 hours....and if any of you are for sure using advanced calling and still getting complaints than I guess take this fwiw.
 
Last edited:

tkoreaper

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2011
937
272
I remember this happening with my Nexus 5... The fix was to disable to the noise cancellation until Google came out with a patch.
 

chichu_9

Senior Member
Oct 27, 2006
761
142
Atlanta
I was talking to a nice Tech guy from Huawei on a completely separate issue, when I tried to hold my phone with the face while resting it on my shoulder. The guy told me that he started hearing me all muffled up. When I told him what I was doing. He told me that there is a third Mic that is in the back of the phone, which when covered, causes low or muffled noise to the other user. Seems, like disabling noise cancelling is the only option to fix this, because I do want to put my phone down and use speakerphone., especially during long conference calls.. Hope someone else can find a solution that does not require root.
 

adiseth1

Member
Sep 22, 2015
12
1
Delhi NCR
Just commenting to say that I'm experiencing the same thing as everyone else here. Thought it was just because the phone was so big, but looks like its definitely a software issue related to noise canceling
 

Trekkk

Member
Aug 1, 2011
32
6
I have same issue got a replacement thought it fixed it, but realized today I still have the same issue. I am losing my patience with this phone and the replacement device has a pink hue on the top of my screen.
 

omnius1

Senior Member
Mar 28, 2011
410
166
It's not a bug, it's already been explained that it's because if you cover the noise cancellation mic on the back near the top you'll muffle yourself. Personally I don;t know how you could possible hold this phone in a manner that would block it but... I'm used to seeing a lot of nonsensical issues from smartphone forum posters these days.
 

scoobiesnacks

Senior Member
Nov 15, 2011
89
21
I've had the phone resting face up on the table on speakerphone and the person the other end can't hear me properly
 

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  • 9
    Possible Fix

    Here's something that seemed to work for me:

    You need to be rooted. Edit using a file explorer such as ES Explorer with root access.

    Edit:

    /system/build.prop.

    Change:

    ro.qc.sdk.audio.fluencetype=fluence

    to

    ro.qc.sdk.audio.fluencetype=none

    Then, edit:

    /system/etc/audio_platform_info.xml

    Change:

    <device name="SND_DEVICE_IN_VOICE_DMIC_TMUS" acdb_id="41" />

    to

    <device name="SND_DEVICE_IN_VOICE_DMIC_TMUS" acdb_id="4" />

    Reboot.

    This is a fix I adapted from a very similar problem on the Oneplus One. In honesty I think this just compensates for a hardware issue relating to the cheap noise cancelling employed on both of these devices, but it seems to do the job. THIS WILL NOT SURVIVE AN UPDATE, so you'll have to do this again anytime you update Android. Let me know how it works.
    2
    The Nexus 6P is supposed to have three microphones. I assume the main mic is in the bottom speaker. There is clearly a mic hole on the back just below the camera hump, so that may be what people are blocking. I'm not sure where the third mic is, perhaps in the top speaker.

    It is a little odd that block one of the extra noise cancellation mics on the back of a phone would disrupt call quality (at least in a quiet place). This is a common design and you'd think the obvious use case of speakerphone with the phone sitting on a flat surface would be considered.

    Perhaps, once one of the noise cancellation mics is blocked, the phone can't tell what's background noise and what's your voice, so it starts attenuating your voice as if it's background noise?

    I'm assuming the 6P using Qualcomm's Fluence noise cancellation, which is what most phones with Qualcomm chipsets use these days. Fluence has always been kind of mediocre as far as noice cancellation goes. The Nexus 5 with Fluence tended to cut people's voice off a lot. I was hoping the extra third microphone would improve things, but it's also the algorithm that matters.

    There's definitely better noise cancellation out there. The Audience chip (now called EarSmart) is probably the best. It was in the Nexus One, which had amazing noise cancellation (and also in the iPhone 4). But both Apple and Google dropped it. Samsung put it in a lot of the Galaxy S phones, but has dropped it now too. I assume they just don't want to pay for the licensing. Motorola uses four microphone noise cancellation and their own propriety algorithm, which is pretty good--that's what's in the Moto X 2014 and the Nexus 6, don't know about the new Moto X.

    Anyway, you could experiment with covering the hole on the back and see if that's what's causing the problem.
    2
    It's not a bug, it's already been explained that it's because if you cover the noise cancellation mic on the back near the top you'll muffle yourself. Personally I don;t know how you could possible hold this phone in a manner that would block it but... I'm used to seeing a lot of nonsensical issues from smartphone forum posters these days.
    2
    I think that I can find solution with mic issue.
    After battery replacement I noticed that without phone case I have no issue and I get it after phone assembly.
    After some experiments this issue gone when I loose screw that showed on photo.

    Can anybody verify and confirm?
    2
    From what I gathered its cause by the noise canceling mic that's below the camera on the back and when it gets covered up it tends to not function properly. There is no official fix but they say changing the persist.audio.fluence.voicecall build property to false turns off the noise canceling capabilities for the mic creating a temporary fix. From my experience after do so I dont get *****ed at for not having the phone up to my mouth lmao whether its on my shoulder or on my desk it seems to have fix the issue, but it requires root and we shouldn't have to modify the phone to get it to function properly.

    I believe I read about this fix in this thread.



    Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk