Windows 10: Microphone barely picking up sound - laptop itself & headphones w/ mic same issue

Hello, I have an older MSI Prestige laptop model purchased 2020 and beginning a couple weeks ago, my microphone started being unable to pick up sound inputs. No matter if I was using the laptop's own microphone or have plugged in ear buds with a microphone attached apple ear buds, razor wireless ear buds via bluetooth, the microphone would only pick up 0-2% of sound based on microphone input test on Windows system settings. It doesn't seem to be a hardware issue with the laptop since the issue persists with headphones wired/ bluetooth. I have tried updating and uninstalling/reinstallin

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Microphone barely picking up any sound

I have a Lenovo Ideapad L340 and use the built in microphone which is a RealTek , never had an issue with it. Talked with people using my laptop this morning, all good. Went out for lunch, came back and now it barely picks up any sound, nothing changed as
far as I know, didn't even turn off my laptop. When I use the "test" option on the mic and talk the bar goes to maybe 5% at most, no one can hear me. Apps like discord and OBS aren't picking up basically any sound, you hear a low whisper if you pay attention.
The "get help" app suggested I update the drivers, I did and restarted laptop after but it's still the same, audio trouble shoot says everything is working.

Why is my input so low all of a sudden and how do I fix it please?

Thank you

 

Microphone still unable to pick up sound from Dragon Speech

Not a techie at all sorry but follow your general drift which is interesting. I've now got a mike input (USB Pro Sound) but how do you make the connection to the headphone output as there's two separate wires ?

 

Computer Won't Use Headphone Mic

Are you using a wired or wireless connection?

If you are using Bluetooth you will find there is a gotcha when using a headset with a microphone. With Bluetooth 4.x there is not enough bandwidth for both the headset's stereo speakers and the microphone at the same time. If the headset's speakers are used in mono mode then the microphone will work. Here is the information from my computer:
I I left-click on speaker icon on taskbar tray I see my options for the speakers:

• Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) = Laptops built-in speakers
• Headphones (Arctis 3 Bluetooth Stereo) = Headphones stereo mode
• Headphones (Arctis 3 Bluetooth Hands-Free AG Audio) = Headphones mono mode

I found out that if I select "Headphones (Arctis 3 Bluetooth Hands-Free AG Audio)" the headset microphone will work.




However, I found that next time the computer might choose "Headphones (Arctis 3 Bluetooth Stereo)". Then the headset speakers will work but the the headset microphone will not work.

To ensure that the right selection is always done automatically I have to go further and set the default to "Headphones (Arctis 3 Bluetooth Hands-Free AG Audio)".
Note I can always override this at any time. To do this...
I right-click on speaker icon on taskbar tray and left-click on Sounds




The first tab Playback is for the speakers

• Headset = Headphones mono mode
• Headphones = Headphones stereo mode
• Speakers = Laptops built-in speakers

The second tab Recording is for the microphone

• Headset = Headset's microphone
• Microphone Array = Laptop's built-in microphone
• Stereo Mix = N/A

To ensure that both the headset speakers and microphone work at the same time I set the default playback to Headset. This will put the headset in mono mode and allow the microphone to work. Note that if I disconnect the headset the computer will automatically revert back to using the built-in speakers and microphone.