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hilton committed Dec 19, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -3,85 +3,79 @@ title: Upgrade online meeting audio
description: the easiest way to improve meetings when working remote
layout: hh
tags: remote productivity
image: call-centre.jpg
---

<!-- 584 -->
![A woman wearing a headset at a desk in an office](call-centre.jpg)

When I first worked remote,
I had the worst part of the experience in meetings with a group of people in a meeting room.
Table-top microphones made it difficult to understand people talking,
and half the time, the presenter failed to connect it leaving me with a laptop microphone that couldn’t hear anyone else.
[alanclarkdesign](https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanclarkdesign/2486109368/){:.photocredit}
[CC BY-ND 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0//){:.license}

## Online meetings
When I first worked remote, I hated the hybrid meetings.
The meeting room’s table-top microphone barely worked,
and half of the people couldn’t tell (or didn’t care) that they’d failed to connect it.
Unsurprisingly, laptop microphones don’t work for a room full of people.

Most people already find it too hard to run meetings effectively, and barely try.
Better meetings, especially online, require effort, discipline or both.
By comparison, better audio upgrades the online meeting experience more easily than anything else.
After all, what you can hear defines the meeting experience more than what you can see.
## Online meetings

Listing to people speaking requires more concentration when you have low-quality audio,
much like how listening to a someone speaking a foreign language makes you tired more quickly,
or even your own native language but with an accent.
Following a discussion takes more effort when you have low-quality audio,
much like listening to speech with a strong accent (or not in your native language).
Online meetings in tech typically feature both, for most attendees.

Most people don’t make the effort to use effective meeting techniques.
By comparison, improving online meeting audio has a big impact for little effort.
After all, what you can hear defines the meeting experience more than what you can see.

## Hybrid meetings

Hybrid meetings make audio problems worse,
because you have to combine remote attendees with whole-room audio.
When some participants share a speaker and microphone in a meeting room,
preventing these problems requires expensive equipment.
The rest of this article focuses on fully-remote meetings, in which all participants connect individually.
Hybrid meetings exacerbate audio problems,
by combining remote attendees with participants who share a speaker and microphone.
Fixing this requires expensive equipment.
This article focuses on fully-remote meetings, in which all participants connect individually.

## Wear headphones

First, wear headphones to prevent your microphone picking up other meeting attendees’ audio,
when you unmute yourself.
Online meeting software can filter out meeting audio from a nearby speaker,
Wear headphones so your microphone doesn’t pick up meeting audio.
Online meeting software filters out meeting audio from your microphone,
but at a cost to how clear you sound.
Even then, it sometimes fails, causing echo or audio feedback that disrupts the meeting.
And it sometimes fails, causing echo or audio feedback that disrupts the meeting.

## Start with a cheap headset
## Use a headset

While working remote for the first time, I once had an online meeting with a customer in another country,
with clearer and louder audio than any of my colleagues.
I emailed him after the meeting, to ask what equipment he had,
In my first remote job, I had an online meeting with a customer who had clearer audio than any of my colleagues.
After the meeting, I asked what equipment he used,
and he replied that he _only had a cheap headset_ – a
[Sennheiser PC-8](https://www.eposaudio.com/en/nl/products/pc-8-usb-voice-over-ip-headset-1000432)
(now branded as _Epos_).
(now _Epos_).
I immediately ordered my own.

You drastically improve your audio by positioning your microphone a few centimetres from your mouth.
Headsets like the PC-8 use a microphone boom (arm) to position the microphone just in front of the corner of your mouth.
And for less than €30, you don’t have any _good_ reasons for not making sure everyone on your team has audio at least this good.
Headsets use a microphone boom (arm) to position the microphone near the corner of your mouth.
And for less than €30, everyone on your team should have audio at least this good.

## Avoid wireless

When I switched to my cheap PC-8 headset, I discovered unexpected benefits:
When I got my own headset, I discovered unexpected benefits:

1. its cheap lightweight plastic construction make it comfortable, and not too hot in summer
2. the wired USB connection meant that I never had Bluetooth connection issues or interference
3. the headset didn’t have batteries to run out at inconvenient times.
1. its lightweight construction make it comfortable in long meetings, and not too hot in summer
2. the wired USB connection meant that I never had Bluetooth issues
3. the headset didn’t use batteries that could run out.

I enjoy Bluetooth’s convenience away from my desk,
but reliable always-connected audio at my desk felt like a revelation.
I never had to worry about joining a meeting, and having to wait for an audio connection,
or batteries running out.
I enjoy Bluetooth’s convenience on the move, but always-connected audio at my desk felt like a revelation.
I never worried about connection issues or dead batteries when joining a meeting.
For regular online meetings at your desk, use wired headphones and microphone.

Bluetooth audio quality drops when you switch from the profile for listing to music,
to the profile that supports two-way audio with a microphone.
Bluetooth headphones with a built-in microphone suffer twice:
they position the microphone too far from your mouth, and their low-bandwidth audio lacks clarity
(and gets worse with occasional interference).
Bluetooth audio quality drops when you switch from the profile for listing to music, to using a microphone,
and occasional interference makes it worse.
Bluetooth headphones also degrade audio by positioning microphone too far from your mouth.

## Value empathy and inclusion
## Express empathy and inclusion

When you have a bad microphone in online meetings,
you give other people a bad experience, especially when not talking in their native language.
Upgrading your audio in meetings shows empathy for your colleagues,
because it improves their meeting experience, not yours.
Using a bad microphone in online meetings degrades other people’s experience.
Upgrading your audio in meetings shows empathy for your colleagues, and makes your team more effective.
You should all do it.

If your employer doesn’t give everyone a basic headset,
you have opportunity to start bottom-up, in your own team.
And if you have a generous office equipment budget and care about each other you can go further,
like the fully-remote team with the love language of _excellent audio_.🎙️
If your employer doesn’t give everyone a basic headset, start bottom-up, in your own team.
And if you have a home office budget and care about each other you can go further,
like the fully-remote team with two love languages:
[reaction emoji](reaction-emoji) and _excellent audio_. 🎙️

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