We live in a world dominated by visual culture, so it makes sense that most conversations about video conferencing and collaboration solutions revolve around image quality. And while it is surely important to see your distant colleagues and clients in crisp high definition, such visual clarity is utterly useless if you can’t clearly hear what they are saying. This isn’t to say conferencing solutions don’t come packaged with great audio. They do. Audio problems often begin and end with the layout and design of the room you’re in. With that in mind, here are some tips and tricks for ensuring a top-notch audio experience.
Identification
So, you are having some audio issues. The first step is obvious: you have to figure out what the heck your problem might be. It’s time to become an audio detective. Is there a pernicious background hum? It could be anything: a copy machine in the next room, a leaf blower down the street, an air conditioner. Does your audio sound like it is being transmitted from the bottom of a well? You might have yourself a sound absorption issue. Carefully assess your sound issues before taking the next steps. There is a pretty simple solution for every problem--you just have to be certain about your problem first.
Absorption
Most meeting rooms are composed primarily of flat surfaces: walls, ceilings, tabletops, windows. This is the nature of rooms. However, these flat surfaces like to bounce sounds around, resulting in a less-than-ideal audio situation--you run the risk of sending an echoing mess into your microphones. You need to mitigate the power of these flat, reflective surfaces. If you have the time and money to do some renovation, consider investing in acoustical ceiling tile and/or hanging baffles that will suck up some of that stray sound. If you’re not ready to take this step, you can cut down on all that reverberation with curtains and pillows and wall-hangings.
Masking
Outside noise poses a far more difficult challenge. Let’s say you have a ground floor meeting room near a busy street. You can’t go outside and ask traffic to keep it down. And just try getting some dude with a leaf blower to stop working while you and your associates conduct a video conference. Not gonna happen. You’ll need to find a way to block that sound. We mentioned curtains as an absorption option, but they are good for blocking those outside sounds as well. If you can afford it, renovate your room with soundproof drywall to eliminate even more sound. There will always be *some* noise that finds its way into your meeting room, however. You can dull the power of this stray sound by masking it with a white noise machine that blankets erratic interruptions with a low, almost inaudible wash of pleasant ambient sound.
Blocking
No matter how much preliminary work you put in to eliminating unwanted sounds, you’ll never eliminate every stray noise. There might be paper rustling during a video conference. Or maybe someone has a cold and can’t stop sniffling. Or maybe Bob brought chips to the meeting and won’t stop fiddling with the bag. Any number of annoying little sound problems can arise during a conference. For such sounds, Polycom has innovated an audio solution called NoiseBlock, which comes packaged with its Group Series and various other collaboration solutions. NoiseBlock manages a nifty trick--it mutes your microphones whenever someone isn’t talking, thereby eradicating all unwanted noise. And once someone starts talking again, it immediately unmutes the mics. Combined with your preparatory efforts, a solution like NoiseBlock can bring you as close to pristine audio as your likely to get.
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