What is a boom mic?
A boom mic is the microphone on a thin arm that reaches from a headset's ear cup toward your mouth. Because it sits a few inches from your lips, it picks up your voice much louder than the noise around you, so callers hear you clearly even in a busy room.
On a film set the same name means a microphone on a long pole held over the actors. On a headset, it is the arm by your cheek.
For anyone taking calls from a kitchen table or a spare room, the boom is the part of the headset doing most of the work. It is also why the headsets we pick for home-office calls nearly all have one, even when the rest of the design looks like a pair of headphones.
Why a boom mic sounds clearer than a laptop mic
A boom mic sounds clearer because it is closer to your mouth, and distance matters more than anything else about a microphone.
Sound from your mouth drops off quickly as it travels, while the hum of a fridge or a dog down the hall reaches every mic in the room at roughly the same level. Move the mic from the laptop lid, two feet away, to a boom three inches from your mouth, and your voice rises well above the room. A setting cannot do that; it can only turn everything up together.
Boom mic, laptop mic or earbud mic?
For a day of calls, the boom mic wins because of where it sits.
| Mic type | Boom mic | Laptop mic | Earbud mic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance from your mouth | A few inches | Usually one to two feet | At your ear or on the cable |
| Room noise on the call | Low compared to your voice | High | Depends on the earbud's processing |
| Stays the same when you move | Yes, it moves with you | No, it changes as you lean back | Mostly |
Boomless headsets such as the Jabra Evolve3 75 use several microphones and processing to reach your voice from the ear cup. They suit people who mostly listen and join a few meetings. If you talk for most of the day, keep the boom.
What a noise-canceling boom mic adds
A noise-canceling boom mic is built to pick up sound from the front, where your mouth is, and reject sound from the sides and back. That is a different feature from active noise canceling in the ear cups, which quiets what you hear rather than what callers hear; the two are easy to mix up. Microsoft also gives some Teams-certified headsets a Premium Microphone for Open Office designation, meaning the mic picks up the wearer's voice without passing on the conversations nearby.
How to position a boom mic
Angle the boom so the mic points at the corner of your mouth rather than straight in front of it, which keeps your breath from puffing into it. Keep it at the same distance all day so your level does not jump around. If you use one headset for your laptop and your phone, multipoint Bluetooth is what lets the same boom mic follow you from a Teams meeting to a phone call.
If the headset itself becomes the problem by mid-afternoon, why headphones hurt your ears covers the fit side: clamp force, cushions and glasses.
Can you use a headset with a boom mic for Zoom and Teams?
Yes. A headset with a boom mic works with Zoom and Teams like any other microphone once you select it in the app's audio or device settings.