How To Lower The Voice Chat In CS2

One of the few things that can take your attention away from the main goal in important ranked matches is the loudness level of another player’s voice chat. Not only can it feel like your ears are literally being punctured through your headset, but it can make you tilt to the point where you just want to rage-quit right and queue up for a new match.  

With that in mind, one question remains: how to lower voice in CS:GO and get your focus back on track? Let’s have a look. 

In many cases, players aren’t even aware of the harm they’re causing each time they speak through the voice chat. They might just want to be helpful throughout the match and have no other means of communicating. This is why it’s always important to have a certain level of understanding and refrain from any derogatory comments or actions.  

There are a couple of reasons as to why your teammates’ microphones might seem louder than usual, including: 

• Cheap headset: There are an abundance of low-range, inexpensive headsets out there without any equalization or volume-limiting parameters. Your teammate’s ownership of one might be the reason for unrestrained volume levels.
• Mic proximity: If a player’s microphone is right next to their mouth, it might cause excessive loudness levels and frequency clashing. 
• In-game mic volume: There is a microphone volume parameter in the CS:GO settings. If set to 100%, it might lead to loudness problems. 

When push comes to shove, and all of your matches seem to be directly affected by other players’ voice chat loudness, the only thing left to do is to lower it yourself. This can be done in three different ways, including lowering it through the game settings, the console, or creating your loudness parameter config file. 

Let’s examine how to lower voice in CS:GO using these methods and the steps necessary to do so at ease.

Lowering The Voice Chat Via Game Settings

The first and most straightforward solution to lower other players’ voice chat is doing it through the CS:GO game settings. This can be done both in the lobby and in-game by following a few simple steps:

• Launch your CS:GO instance on your machine. 

• Click on the Settings tab in the menu. If in-game, you can access the Settings tab by tapping the Esc button and clicking on the cog icon in the top left corner of your screen.

• Head on over to the Audio tab, and then click on the Audio tab presented below. 

• Make your way to the VOIP Volume option and set it to your desired level. If set to 0%, your teammate’s voice chat will be muted for you. 

• Ensure that the volume you set is to your liking. 

• Tap on the Esc button to exit the menu and enjoy some peace of mind.

Lowering The Voice Chat Via The CS:GO Console 

If you’d like to get creative with the console and are comfortable using it, lowering the volume of your teammates’ voice chat can be a walk in the park. This is especially useful if you’re already in a match and want a quick fix without performing too many actions. Take a look at the steps necessary on how to lower voice in CS:GO through the console below:

• Open up the console by hitting the tilde (~) key on your keyboard while in-game. 

• Write the command voice_scale followed by a single spacing and a decimal number between 0 and 1 and hit enter. For reference, the command voice_scale 0.5 will set the chat volume level to 50%. 

• Go through the trial and error process until you reach the loudness level that most suits your eardrums. 

• Hit the Esc button on your keyboard to exit the console and get back to your game. 

Lowering The Voice Chat Via A Config File

Many would say this option is a bit overkill. However, it won’t hurt to be aware of it. Using the config option to lower your teammates’ voice chat volume will help you ensure that the same loudness levels will be applied every time you boot up the game. Let’s take a look at the actions required in order to make it happen: 

• Make your way to your CS:GO configuration files folder. If your machine is running on Windows, the default location is set to C:\\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo\cfg\. If you’re running on Linux, you can find the config files at ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Counter-Strike Global Offensive/csgo/cfg/.

• Create a new text file in the respective config files folder and make sure to name it autoexec.cfg.

• After creating the autoexec.cfg file, open it up, and insert the command voice_scale followed by a single spacing and a decimal number between 0 and 1. For example, the command voice_scale 0.5 would set your teammates’ voice chat level to 50%. 

• Save the changes on your autoexec.cfg file and exit it.

• Right-click on your newly created autoexec.cfg file, open its properties and make sure that it’s not set to read-only.

• Launch your CS:GO instance and finally enjoy a quieter match.

Now that we’ve answered the question of how to lower voice in CS:GO, let’s explore some further methods that will provide you with some tranquility throughout your matches. If lowering the voice chat of your fellow teammates simply doesn’t cut it, and frustration proceeds to build up within you, there’s an alternative solution.

Instead of lowering the volume, you can resort to muting the voice chat. This can be done for all team members through the game settings or on an individual level through the scoreboard. However, remember that muting voice chat altogether might lead to missing out on some vital information that will help you and your team secure a victory.

We advise you to take advantage of this option in your non-competitive matches and stick to lowering the volume during ranked play. That being said, GLHF!