Fix a classroom noise monitor microphone.

Most “broken” monitors are a permission, a muted OS input, or a laptop sitting next to a projector fan. Work through the room before you assume the site is down.

Start only happens after you click

RoomTone does not listen in the background. The browser asks for microphone permission when you press Start. If you never see a permission prompt, the browser already has an answer saved, the site is not in a secure context, or the device has no usable input. The page will tell you when the context is insecure or the API is missing. Do not keep clicking Start in the dark; read the on-screen state.

If permission was denied

1. Open the site settings for classroomnoise.live in the browser.
2. Set the microphone to Allow, not Ask or Block.
3. Reload the page, then press Start again.
4. On a shared cart, check that the previous teacher did not block the mic for all sites.

Chrome, Edge, and Chromebooks hide this under the padlock or the site information chip. Safari on iPadOS puts camera and microphone access in Settings → Safari and in the site settings after a denial. If a district policy has disabled microphone access in the browser, no classroom site can override that. You will need another device or a policy exception.

The permission is on, but the level never moves

• The wrong input may be selected at the OS level: a disconnected webcam mic, a muted headset, or a DisplayPort dummy.
• The physical mute key on a laptop may be on. Chromebooks and many ThinkPads have one.
• The device may be so far from the class that ordinary talk is below the silent floor. Move it before you drag thresholds to zero.
• Automatic gain and noise suppression can flatten a room. Try another browser if one OS-level effect is aggressive.

It moves too much

Place the laptop away from the projector fan, HVAC, and the nearest table. Lower sensitivity if the mic is in the middle of a group. Raise yellow if chair scrapes count as weather. A false red is usually geometry, not a haunted site. See classroom acoustics for building noise versus student noise.

Pause and leave

Pause or close the tab to stop the microphone track. Closing the lid should also stop it. If you project from a laptop that stays open in a cupboard, pause first. RoomTone does not record, but you still should not leave a live mic in an empty room as a habit.

Still stuck?

Try a second browser on the same device, then a second device on the same browser. That split tells you whether you have a site problem, a browser problem, or a hardware problem. The browser and devices guide lists what we expect to work. If you have a district-specific block, email with the browser and OS; do not send recordings.

A cart checklist you can leave on the lid

Write four lines and tape them to the presenting laptop: 1) Unmute the mic key. 2) Allow classroomnoise.live in site settings. 3) Sit the computer away from the projector fan. 4) Press Pause before you close the lid. Most “it worked yesterday” mysteries are one of those four. Substitutes should not have to guess.

If you use an external USB microphone, label the port and the device. Carts accumulate dongles. The browser may pick a webcam with a dead mic because it was plugged in last. After you plug in HDMI, glance at the OS input again; displays sometimes steal the default. That glance is faster than recalibrating a class that is already sitting.

Do not troubleshoot by dragging yellow to the floor in front of students. You will teach them that the target is fake. Pause, fix the input, restart, then set yellow against the sound you want. If you cannot fix it in two minutes, run the lesson without the monitor. A broken cue is worse than no cue.

After a substitute day, check site settings again. People click Block because they are in a hurry. One blocked permission looks like a dead website. Two minutes in the padlock menu is the whole repair. Then reset the goal so leftover progress from another class is not on the board when your students sit down.