Does CodeSignal Record Audio During a Test?

Yes. A proctored CodeSignal assessment records your microphone for the entire session, and the review team confirms it stayed on. As of September 9, 2026, CodeSignal's documentation lists the microphone alongside the camera and screen as required shares, states that the recording is reviewed by CodeSignal staff only, and says it is deleted within 15 days. A non-proctored CodeSignal test does not request the microphone. This makes CodeSignal different from HackerRank, whose Proctor Mode documents no microphone at all.

What CodeSignal says about the microphone

The proctoring documentation states: "Prior to the assessment, you will be prompted to share your camera, microphone, and screen for the duration of the assessment." After submission, "The CodeSignal proctoring verification team will verify that: Your camera, microphone and screenshare were shared for the duration of your evaluation."

Two consequences follow. The microphone is a required permission, so a muted or missing mic blocks setup at the "Check Camera & Microphone" step. And an interruption during the test is itself a verification failure, independent of anything said.

CodeSignal's technical requirements list "Camera, microphone, and screen sharing abilities" as baseline hardware for an assessment.

What the audio is used for

CodeSignal does not publish what reviewers listen for. The rules you acknowledge at setup suggest the purpose: "I am alone in the room" and "I will not consult or copy content from any external source, such as a website, book, or other person." The documented rejection reason "Test-taker was not alone in the room during the assessment" is the kind of finding audio supports when the camera frame is narrow. This is editorial inference from the rules and rejection reasons, not a CodeSignal statement about how audio is reviewed.

What the documentation does not describe is any automated audio analysis, keyword detection, or transcription. The review is a person.

Who hears it and for how long

"Identification and proctoring data is reviewed by CodeSignal only and is stored and deleted within 15 days. It will not be shared with the company who requested your coding report." The employer gets a score and Coding Report, which contain an editor replay but no audio or video.

Headphones

The assessment documentation does not mention headphones. CodeSignal's interview setup documentation does: with proctoring on, an employer can "Specify whether headphones or sunglasses are permitted," and CodeSignal recommends restricting them. If an interview link has that setting, expect to remove them. For an assessment, the safe reading is that anything not listed as permitted in your acknowledgements is not permitted.

How to check before you start

• The "Check Camera & Microphone" setup step is the tell. If it appears, audio is recorded. If setup skips straight to terms, it is not.
• Chrome and Firefox show a recording indicator in the tab while the microphone is live; CodeSignal recommends both browsers.
• Use a microphone the browser can see. CodeSignal's third-party device article says "any application is recognizable by the browser will work," including phone-as-microphone apps.

How this compares to other platforms

HackerRank's Proctor Mode requests webcam and screen share and lists no microphone; CodeSignal requests all three. The cross-platform table, and what a permission prompt can and cannot tell you, is in which coding assessments record audio. CodeSignal's AI Interviewer is a conversation, so audio there is the interview itself; that format is covered in what CodeSignal's AI Interviewer records.

What this means for candidates

Take a proctored CodeSignal test in a quiet room with nobody else present, with a working microphone the browser recognizes, and do not mute or unplug it until you submit. Do not talk through the problem out loud with anyone. If a housemate interrupts, stay in frame and keep working; leaving the seat is a separate rejection reason. The camera side of the same step is in when CodeSignal uses your webcam, and the full inventory is in what CodeSignal proctoring records.