When playing Phasmophobia, you’ll have to use your microphone to complete a lot of tasks. But you may be experiencing problems with the Phasmophobia voice chat as it’s quite a common issue among gamers. So, what’s the best way to get the voice chat to work again? Don’t worry, we’ve got some advice in this post for you.

  1. Update your audio drivers
  2. Make sure Phasmophobia is using the correct microphone
  3. Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019
  4. Run Steam without administrative permissions
  5. Verify integrity of game files

Before we start troubleshooting, please restart your computer to flush the buffer that might affect your gameplay. After that, proceed with the tips below.

1. Update your audio drivers

If an issue is preventing you from using your correctly connected microphone, one of the first things you should do is to update your audio card driver, since an up-to-date audio driver always ensures fewer bugs.

To update your audio driver, here’s what you can do (please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well):

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Sound, video, and game controllers. Then right-click your audio driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  5. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  6. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

If Windows says that it’s already found the latest driver for you, so no newer drivers are found, then you should consider updating your audio driver in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the Phasmophobia voice chat not working problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

2. Make sure Phasmophobia is using the correct microphone

If you’re trying to use Phasmophobia voice chat but it just doesn’t work, you need to check that the microphone you’re trying to use with the game is set as default in Windows audio settings.

Please follow the steps below to check it out:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type mmsys.cpl and hit Enter to open the Sound settings. (You’lll have to click Yes to grant admin access if prompted.)
  2. From the top menu, select the Recording tab.
  3. From the Recording tab, determine which microphone you’re actively using and right-click on it.
  4. Click Set as Default Device.
  5. Hit Apply to save the changes, and re-launch the game to see if the problem is resolved.

If the problem persists, move on to the next fix.

3. Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019

Since the not-working Phasmophobia voice chat is a known issue with the new voice chat system that was added in a recent update, the developer of the game recommends us download and install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019, which accordingly fixes the voice chat problem.

To do so, kindly refer to the official download guide and see which one is compatible with your operating system (such as 64 bit or 84 bit).

The other thing we need to pay attention to is the Push To Talk feature. Before you download and install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019, try using Push To Talk and without Push To Talk in Phasmophobia to see if it helps. If it doesn’t and the Microsoft download fails to resolve the problem, please go through the next solution.

4. Run Steam without administraive permissions

This is also a known fix for Phasmophobia voice chat not working. The reason for this is the admin mode for Steam breaks the voice recognition tech.

To run Steam without administrative permissions:

  1. In the Windows search box, paste the following location and press the Enter key. 
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam

  2. Click to open the Steam folder. Find and right-click the Steam.exe file and then select Properties.
  3. In the Properties setting page, click the Compatibility tab from the top menu.
  4. Under the Settings category, uncheck the box for Run this program as an administrator.
  5. Click Apply to save the changes.

Check if the problem is fixed. If not, try the next method.

5. Verify integrity of game files

There could be corrupted game files preventing you from playing Phasmophobia smoothly. A recommendation for this is to verify integrity of game files. This will help restore and fix any damaged files in the game.

To do so:

  1. Launch Steam client. From the LIBRARY section, right-click Phasmophobia and select Properties from the menu.
  2. Select the LOCAL FILES tab and click the VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES… button.
  3. Wait several minutes for the process to complete.

Once done, re-launch Phasmophobia to see if the voice chat works normally. Hopefully, you will find one of the solutions above useful for the Phasmophobia voice chat not working issue. If you have any other questions, or any ideas to share, please leave a comment below. And if you’re pro user of Driver Techie and need our technical support, don’t hesitate to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.