BOMBANANA! Mic Not Working

A broken microphone is a bigger deal in BOMBANANA! than in most co-op games. As covered on our voice chat & mic setup page, communication between roles is close to the actual gameplay here — the Blind Monkey can't see the bomb at all and depends entirely on being told what to do out loud, so a mic that isn't picking up audio doesn't just make things awkward, it can shut that player out of the round entirely. This guide covers isolating and fixing the problem, from the most likely cause to the least.

1. Check in-game voice settings

Open the audio/voice settings menu inside BOMBANANA! and confirm the correct input device is selected — this matters especially if you have more than one microphone available (a headset and a webcam mic, for instance) since games sometimes default to the wrong one. Check that your input volume registers on the in-game meter when you speak, and that you haven't accidentally toggled the HUD mic-mute indicator, which is easy to hit by accident on an unfamiliar keybind.

2. Check Windows microphone privacy permissions

Windows blocks apps from accessing the microphone by default unless explicitly allowed. Go to Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and confirm:

• "Microphone access" is turned on at the top level.
• "Let apps access your microphone" is enabled.
• BOMBANANA! (or its executable, if it's listed separately) is allowed in the per-app list further down.

This single setting is one of the most common causes of "mic works everywhere except this one game" reports across PC gaming generally, and it's worth checking even if you've granted mic access to other apps before — permissions are per-application.

3. Check the Windows volume mixer

Right-click the speaker icon in the Windows taskbar and open the volume mixer (or Sound settings → Volume mixer on Windows 11). Confirm the game isn't muted there specifically — apps can end up muted at this system level independently of any in-game setting, and it's easy to miss since the game's own UI won't show any indication of it.

4. Confirm your mic works outside the game

If you haven't already, test your microphone in a completely separate app — Windows' built-in Voice Recorder app is the simplest option, or a Discord voice channel if you have one handy. If your mic doesn't register there either, the issue is with the microphone hardware, its cable/connection, or Windows' device settings, not with BOMBANANA! specifically. In that case, check Windows Sound settings → Input to confirm the right physical device is set as default and that its level isn't at zero.

5. Update audio drivers

Less common, but worth a mention: outdated audio drivers (for onboard sound, a USB headset, or a dedicated sound card) can cause intermittent mic dropouts. Checking for driver updates through Windows Update or your hardware manufacturer's site is a reasonable step if the issue is inconsistent rather than a complete failure.

Still not working?

If your mic works fine in other apps but still fails specifically inside BOMBANANA! after checking all of the above, that likely points to a game-side issue worth reporting — check the Steam Community hub to see if others are reporting the same thing, or reach out to bombanana@tarkgames.com directly. And if voice chat is technically working but your team is still struggling to communicate clearly, our callout guide gives you a shared vocabulary that helps a lot more than raw audio quality does.