Very silent microphone when calling

[vipme]

On my girlfriends L535 DS, Win 8.1 Update 1, as of today the microphone became suddenly very silent during calls, I can barely hear what she is saying. The phone did not sustain any physical damage, it did not drop to the ground and was not thrown. A factory reset was performed, but the microphone call sound quality did not improve.

Has anyone had similar experience? Is it a software issue, or hardware defect? Any suggestions how to fix it?

 

[Guytronic]

Might be a dusty or blocked microphone port on the bottom of the screen.
I've had success cleaning debris from the port using the bristles of an old toothbrush.

Good luck there!

 

[vipme]

Right, I'll make her check that tomorrow, she is now in another town, like 300 km away so i can't inspect the phone . Didn't have any issues with the L535 till now, not even with the touch screen. Hope this works out fine. Got the phone for 100USD with 2 yr warranty so it wont be a big deal if its broken, but still i want to skip the hassle of shipping it back.