Support

Need help? Start with the quick answers below. If you don’t find yours, email me at kaboomboomscience@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Getting started

How do I turn the meter on and off?
Click the Chatter Check icon in your Chrome toolbar, or press Alt+Shift+Q. If you don’t see the icon, click the puzzle piece in Chrome’s toolbar and pin Chatter Check.

How do I change how it looks?
Click the gear on the meter. You can pick Bars, Subtle, Bubbles or Dial, choose the left, right, top or bottom of the screen, and change the dial size with the slider.

How do I set how loud is “too loud”?
Open the gear and tap a preset (Silent work, Partner talk, Group work or Free time). For a closer match, press “Calibrate to this room” while the room is at its normal quiet. Advanced settings has a three-step setup to teach it what quiet, a good working volume and too loud sound like.

How do I use the chimes?
Open the gear and turn on “Play a chime when it gets too loud.” Choose a first chime, an optional second chime if the room stays loud, and a volume. Chrome only allows sound after you have clicked on the page once, so click anywhere on the page after you turn the chime on. The chime plays in the tab you are looking at.

Can I save settings for different classes?
Yes. Use Advanced settings to save a setup for each class, then switch between them. Please use labels like “Period 3” or “Art 8B” and not student names.

How do I switch to Spanish?
Open the gear and choose Language.

How do I put everything back to normal?
Open the gear and press “Reset to defaults.” It asks you to press a second time to confirm. Your language, saved classes and room calibration are kept.

Troubleshooting

The meter doesn’t show up.

• Make sure it is turned on (click the toolbar icon).

• Chrome does not allow extensions on some pages, such as chrome:// pages and the Chrome Web Store. Try it on a normal web page.

• For a file saved on your computer, open chrome://extensions, click Details on Chatter Check, and turn on “Allow access to file URLs.”

• Refresh the page and try again.

The meter shows up but nothing moves.

• Chatter Check needs microphone permission. When you first start it, Chrome asks. Choose Allow.

• If you chose Block by mistake, click the lock or settings icon next to the web address, or go to chrome://settings/content/microphone, and allow the microphone for Chatter Check. Then turn the meter off and on again.

• Check that the right microphone is selected in your computer’s sound settings, and that it is not muted.

It says “No microphone found.”
Connect a microphone (or use your computer’s built-in one), then turn Chatter Check off and on again.

It is always too loud, or never loud enough.
Press “Calibrate to this room” while the room is at its normal quiet. Computers and microphones are different, so calibrating once in each room helps a lot. You can also try a different preset.

The meter or buttons disappear during a slideshow or full screen.
That is normal when nothing has moved for a moment. Move your mouse to bring the buttons back. The meter keeps working in full screen.

I don’t hear the chime.

• Click anywhere on the page once. Chrome blocks sound until the page has been clicked.

• Check the chime volume in the gear menu and your computer’s volume.

• Chimes play once per noisy stretch and need a few quiet seconds before they can play again, so it won’t repeat right away.

The web page looks squeezed or moved.
Chatter Check moves the page over so the meter never covers your work. To turn this off, open the gear and uncheck “Move the web page over so the meter does not cover it.”

The keyboard shortcut doesn’t work.
Another program may be using Alt+Shift+Q. You can change it at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

Privacy

Chatter Check uses the microphone only to measure how loud the room is. Nothing is recorded, saved or sent anywhere. Read the full Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Contact

Questions, ideas or something not working? Email kaboomboomscience@gmail.com. Please tell me which Chrome version and computer you use (Windows, Mac or Chromebook), and what you see. If you enjoy Chatter Check, a review on the Chrome Web Store helps other teachers find it.