If you have no microphone but you want to communicate audibly, Discord’s TTS (text-to-speech) feature can be handy. As with any other feature, it can also malfunction from time to time. In some cases, Discord TTS does not work despite being turned on in the settings.
This can happen due to either a mismatch in your Discord setting or a problem with your operating system. Regular Discord users may find this very frustrating, so let’s look at some fixes that may help Discord TTS get back on track.
1. Ruling Out Server Specific Issues
Check whether TTS is not working on one or more servers. When it doesn’t work in a specific channel, there are three possible causes.
Either the channel administrator/owner has disabled the TTS feature for all members, or he has muted you. Or, you might have accidentally muted the channel.
In the first two cases, you can ask any fellow member to check if the problem lies with only you or with other members as well. You can ask the administrator to unmute you if he does it. And, having muted it yourself, you need to unmute it from your end.
To do this, go to the server where TTS is not working and look for the bell icon in the top right corner. The server is muted when you see a red line over the bell. If that is the case, click on the bell icon and choose Unmute Channel from the dropdown menu.
The issue may be resolved by ruling out a server issue, but if that fails to do so or the problem occurs with every channel you’ve joined, then follow the below fixes in the list.
2. Give TTS a Fresh Start
You should start by disabling and re-enabling the TTS to rule out a temporary interruption from Discord. While a fresh start may fix the TTS issue, it’s unlikely to happen if the fix is more serious. Nevertheless, here is how you can disable and enable the Discord TTS:
- Go to Discord and click on the gear icon in the lower-left corner.
- Navigate to Accessibility under App Settings on the left sidebar.
- Locate the Text-to-Speech option and click on the toggle for Allow playback and usage of /tts command to turn it off.
- Log out of Discord and then log back in.
- Follow steps 1 to 3 again, but this time click on the toggle for Allow playback and usage of /tts command to turn it on.
Go back and test TTS again. If it works, it’s good to go. If it doesn’t, the issue is more severe and requires further investigation.
3. Tweak the TTS Notification Settings
The TTS notifications may be set to Never in the settings if you don’t hear TTS notifications from your active channels despite the feature being enabled. Before continuing, try enabling the notifications.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Open Discord.
- Click on the gear icon in the lower-left corner.
- Go to Notifications under App Settings on the left sidebar.
- Locate text-to-speech notifications.
- Check the circle for For all channels to get messages of all channels played in TTS.
- Give Discord a fresh start and check whether the feature is working fine this time.
You should check the option, For current selected channel, only if you want TTS to work on the current channel. If tweaking notifications has not made any difference, scrutinize your audio hardware.
4. Inspect Audio Hardware
The problem may lie with your audio hardware rather than with Discord. Thus, ruling this possibility out is also imperative.
Start by reconnecting your headphones or speakers to your computer. Try to play anything else on your system to ensure your hardware isn’t to blame. If the output sound device is causing the problem, connect a second pair to the same PC and try again. To confirm the problem is with your system, connect any of the two pairs to another device and see if they work.
Following the above steps will narrow down your issue to either Discord or the system. When the problem lies with your hardware, replacing it should fix it, but when it lies with your system, you should update the sound driver before trying anything else.
5. Update Your Sound Driver
Sound driver updates have a good chance of improving voice communication in apps such as Discord. It’s worth a shot.
To update your sound driver, follow these steps:
- Left-click on the Windows Start button and navigate to Device Manager.
- Expand the Sound, video, and game controllers category.
- Right-click on your selected driver.
- Hit Update driver.
If updating the sound driver didn’t solve the issue, reinstall Discord and log back in.
6. Uninstall/Reinstall Discord
Before you reinstall Discord, it’s imperative to uninstall it properly. Here’s how:
- Go to the Settings app.
- Go to the Apps settings.
- Search “Discord” in the search bar.
- Click on the Discord and hit Uninstall.
Afterward, go to the Discord official website and download the Discord app. Log back in after a fresh installation, and hopefully, the TTS will work now.
7. Switch to the Discord Web Client
If TTS still doesn’t work after reinstalling the app, you should test it on the Discord web client. By doing so, any Windows internal settings that prevent the application from accessing or using the output device will be ruled out.
Log in to your Discord account through the web client and determine if the text-to-speech feature is working correctly. If yes, it’s time to permanently abandon the Discord app by switching to a web client or troubleshoot Windows internal issues that may be causing TTS to malfunction in the app.
Running the Windows audio troubleshooter, checking sound settings, turning off audio enhancements, changing your default audio device, and updating your OS to the latest version may help resolve sound problems on the OS side.
Get Discord’s TTS Back on Track
With the fixes in the list, we hope to get TTS up and running again. If nothing seems to work, the problem might lie with your Discord account. If so, change your Discord account and rejoin your servers there or switch to another device and run the same account.
Do you want to make your Discord chat rooms more fun or automate redundant tasks like welcoming new members? Discord bots allow you to customize your Discord experience to your liking. If you have some programming experience, check it out.
Read Next
About The Author
