Microphone Intermittently Drops on Dell Peripherals Connected to Computers Using the TGL CPU

Microphone intermittently drops in Windows

Owners of Dell computers using the Intel Tiger Lake Central Processing Unit (CPU) may experience an intermittent microphone drop. This can be seen after the computer resumes from hibernation, Sleep, or after a restart.

Other symptoms include:

• The Microphone intermittently is not working.
• No sound is intermittently coming from the speaker or headphones.
• The peripheral is missing from the selection list for audio devices in conference applications.

This problem can be seen when using a peripheral with an integrated microphone such as the:

• Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Headset
• Alienware Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Headset AW725H
• Alienware Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Headset AW920H
• Alienware Wired Gaming Headset AW520H
• Alienware Wireless Gaming Headset AW720H
• Dell Pro Stereo Headset WH3022
• Dell Speakerphone SP3022
• Dell Soundbar SB522A

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The Intel Smart Sound Technology (ISST) driver is installed on computers with a Tiger Lake CPU.

ISST is an integrated audio Digital Signal Processor (DSP) that is built to handle audio, voice, and speech interactions. The ISST enables the audio USB to offload from the CPU to the Intel DSP.

In a computer running a different CPU, a Microsoft inbox driver is installed. You do not see this issue with the MSFT driver.

Intel reports that this issue is seen when the Intel USB audio driver gets stuck on an 8 KHz recording path. (Although the default recording bit rate should be 16 kHz.)

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The following steps take you through resolving this issue on those computers using the Tiger Lake CPU and the Intel Smart Sound Technology:

1. Open the Device Manager application:

   • Press the Windows Key + X together to open the Power menu and press M to open the device manager.

   • Right click on the start menu logo and click on device manager from the menu that appears.

   • Press Ctrl + R to open a run box. Type devmgmnt.msc and press the Enter key.

2. Identify your version of the Intel Smart Sound Technology driver and follow the appropriate instructions:

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