You Can Hear Visitors But They Can't Hear You? We'll Fix It in Knowle

One-way audio — you can hear your visitor but they cannot hear you — is a surprisingly specific fault, and that specificity is useful. Speech circuits in door entry systems are separate in each direction, so a one-way failure points to the transmit path on your side: your handset's microphone, the hookswitch that opens the circuit, the wiring carrying your voice back to the panel, or the speaker in the entrance panel itself.

Why it happens

The most frequent cause is a failed or blocked microphone in the handset — the element degrades with age, or years of dust and grime muffle it. The second most common is the hookswitch: the small switch that closes when you lift the handset can stick or corrode so it never fully completes the transmit circuit. Loose or corroded connections on the transmit pair are another regular culprit, as is a failed speaker in the entrance panel, which leaves the visitor side silent even though your handset receives perfectly. On systems with a panel-mounted talk button, a sticking or failed button produces exactly the same symptom. Moisture in the panel can also selectively kill the outgoing audio while leaving the incoming path intact.

How we diagnose the transmit path

We test both directions of the speech path first, confirming the fault is genuinely one-way rather than a general quality problem. Then we work along the transmit side: testing or substituting the handset, checking the hookswitch operation, measuring continuity on the transmit wiring between handset and panel, and testing the panel's speaker and talk button. On video systems we also confirm the fault is confined to audio. By the end of the visit we can usually tell you whether the repair is a handset, a connection, a panel component or something on shared wiring.

Repairs and permissions

Typical fixes are a replacement handset or microphone element, cleaning or replacing the hookswitch contacts, re-terminating corroded connections, or replacing the panel speaker or talk button. Parts are quoted separately and the full cost is approved before we start. If the fault lies in communal equipment — the entrance panel or shared riser wiring — most buildings require landlord or managing agent permission for that work, and we will explain what needs authorising before we proceed. We do not force secured doors or bypass entry systems to reach communal equipment; access is arranged through whoever manages the building.

What not to do

Do not open the handset casing or attempt to clean the microphone with anything inserted — the elements are delicate and easy to damage, and an improvised repair usually complicates the diagnosis. Reseating a plug-in handset and checking any talk or privacy switch are the sensible DIY limits.

Honest expectations

We diagnose first, so no repair cost or duration can be promised until the fault is found. In older systems a degraded transmit element can coincide with early wear elsewhere, and if we find the system is approaching the end of its practical life we will say so and give you a straight comparison of repair versus replacement. If your building's system is maintained under a contract with another company, we will flag that rather than work across it unannounced.

When to book

Call when visitors cannot hear you at all, when they hear you faintly or intermittently, or when you have to shout directly into the panel to be heard — that last pattern strongly suggests a failed panel speaker rather than your handset. When booking, tell us the system make if you know it, whether it is audio or video, and whether other residents report the same problem.

One-way audio defeats the whole point of a door entry system. Get in touch and we will restore both directions of the conversation at a price you approve first.