How to turn off the noise reduction microphone on Xiaomi: a detailed analysis

Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphone owners often experience voices complaining of quiet or distorted sound during conversations, due to the aggressiveness of built-in audio processing algorithms that are designed to improve communication quality, but often create more problems than benefits in practice. Noise Cancellation in the MIUI and HyperOS shell works at the software level, cutting off not only the background hum, but also some of the user’s useful voice frequencies.

This is especially true for those who use a smartphone to record dictaphone notes, stream or play online shooters, where clarity is important. Standard interface settings do not always allow flexible management of these parameters, forcing users to look for workarounds. In this article, we will discuss in detail how to turn off noise reduction, what hidden engineering menus exist for this, and how to return the microphone to its natural sensitivity.

It is worth noting that completely disabling the function can cause you to become less audible in noisy places (metro, street) due to extraneous sounds, but it is necessary to record a clean voice in a quiet room or to use external microphones through an adapter. We will look at both software methods through the standard menu and more advanced methods through the engineering menu and the technical menu. ADB-team.

Standard sound settings and their limitations

Before you get to the tricky side of the game, you need to check the basic settings of the device. In the latest versions of the MIUI 14 shell and HyperOS, Xiaomi has slightly changed the logic of the sound engine. The user may find that the volume sliders do not affect the sensitivity of the microphone directly. System restrictions often block access to raw data of the microphone, passing sound through filters.

In the audio settings section, only general equalizer settings or profile selection (music, film, game) are usually available. There is no direct Noise Cancel: On/off switch in the user interface. This is done intentionally so that an inexperienced user does not impair the quality of communication at a critical moment. However, there are use cases where standard system behavior is unacceptable.

To start, try switching the speaker and microphone modes in the Dictator app, and sometimes changing the recording profile from Interview to Normal or Concert changes the input processing algorithm, and if that doesn't work, you'll have to dig deeper.

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Before making any changes to the system sound settings, back up important data or create a restore point if you have root rights.

Using the CIT Engineering Menu for Diagnostics

One of the most effective ways to influence the audio subsystem is to log into the CIT (Customer Integration Test) engineering menu, which is designed for factory diagnostics, but allows you to access hidden microphone tests. To get there, open the Phone app and type in the combination ##6484##.

In the menu that opens, find the section related to microphone testing (usually labeled "Mic1", "Mic2" or "Main Mic"). Here you can listen to how the device captures sound in the current mode. If the sound is heavily muted or has a characteristic "robotic" hue, then an aggressive filter is active. Unfortunately, in new firmware versions, the direct ability to disable filtering through buttons in CIT is often blocked, but this step is important for initial diagnosis.

Some users have noted that switching between tests of different microphones (main, bottom, top) in CIT mode can reset a software bug that causes excessive noise cancellation. After the tests, be sure to restart the device so that changes in the drivers of the sound chip take effect.

Configure via the MTK and Qualcomm engineering menu

For deeper customization, including actual disabling of noise reduction algorithms, you will need access to the processor’s engineering menu.The method depends on your device’s platform: MediaTek or Qualcomm. Use the code ##3646633## to log into the MediaTek menu, and Qualcomm often requires a special gateway application to install, as direct code may not work on new versions of Android.

From MediaTek, follow the path of Hardware Testing → Audio → Audio → Audio Debugging → Speech. Here you will see a list of profiles (Normal, LoudSpeaker, Headset). Select an active profile (e.g., Normal for ear talk) and find an NC (Noise Cancellation) or NR (Noise Reduction). Changing the value from "On" to "Off" or leveling down (Level) can dramatically change the nature of the sound.

The way in Qualcomm's menus may be different: Audio → Audio Device → Voice. Look for parameters related to AGC (Automatic Gain Control) and noise reduction. Be careful: improperly adjusting the senses (Gain) can cause the microphone to only capture hiss or, conversely, stun the interlocutor.

⚠️ Warning: Changing the parameters in the processor's engineering menu may cause the audio module to fail. Write down the initial values before making changes so you can roll back.

Application ADB-Teams for Advanced Users

If the GUI is not available, you can use USB debugging and a computer, which is safer than picking up the engineering menu, because it doesn't affect low-level drivers directly, but changes system flags, you'll need a PC, a USB cable, and an installed ADB (Android Debug Bridge).

First, turn on USB Debugging in the Developer section on your smartphone. Connect your phone to your computer and open the command line. Enter a command to check the connection:

adb devices

To disable some of the system's audio constraints, you can try commands that reset audio service settings. However, there is no universal command to "turn off the noisemaker" because it depends on the vendor's implementation. Often, resetting the audio processor settings or changing global settings through settings put global. For example, disabling audio processing for Bluetooth devices, which sometimes affects the main path:

adb shell settings put global bluetooth_a2dp_offload_enabled 0

A more radical method is to use modifier applications that require ADB rights to grant special permissions to manage audio focus, which allows you to force Unprocessed audio mode on supported recording applications.

Third-party applications for microphone management

When the system fails to do what it wants, Google Play apps come to the rescue, and they take control of the audio stream, and the leader in this area is the Lesser AudioSwitch app, which allows you to force input and output sources to choose, ignoring the system logic of Xiaomi.

With these programs, you can make the system think that an external microphone is connected, or change the type of connection (for example, from Headset to Speaker), which changes the noise reduction profile used, and there are also voice recorders with their own recording engines that ignore the system filters, recording the raw signal.

Popular recording apps like RecForge II or Easy Voice Recorder have their own Gain and noise reduction settings, and they often have a "Disable AGC" or "Disable Noise Suppression" setting that works better than system crutches, ideal for bloggers and journalists.

Comparison of noise reduction switching off methods

To make it easier for you to choose the right way, we have organized the information in a table, each method has its own advantages and risks that you need to consider before you start.

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The safest and most effective way for the average user is to use a third-party voice recorder with the ability to turn off sound processing, rather than interfering with system files.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)