Joining a Microsoft Teams call could soon be a much more enjoyable experience, at least sound-wise, with the news of a significant audio boost coming to the video conferencing service.
Microsoft has revealed that it is working on adding spatial audio to Microsoft Teams, significantly improving the platform’s sound capabilities, which should make meetings less sterile and more interactive.
Spatial audio has become a catch-all term for the more immersive sound formats (such as Dolby Atmos) that are quickly being embraced by many consumers around the world for their enhanced quality and detail, taking the audio experience to new dimensions and making you feel like you are in the middle of the action.
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How much the technologies in the home theater domain will translate to your work meetings remains to be seen, but Microsoft says the update will bring “next-gen spatial audio” to Teams, giving the impression that users “can meet as you are there together”.
There are few details about the exact specs or even approaches Microsoft Teams will take with spatial audio, with the mention on the Microsoft 365 roadmap (opens in new tab) currently very light in content.
“This intelligent audio technology makes the meeting experience more natural, inclusive and focused for everyone,” is all that’s being said for now – however, Microsoft has been working hard lately to improve overall audio quality for Teams users everywhere.
In June 2022, the company revealed the launch of a Microsoft AI and machine learning model to improve the audio quality of video calls. Trained on 30,000 hours of speech samples, the model includes enhancements such as echo cancellation, better adaptation of audio in poor acoustic environments, and enabling users to speak and hear simultaneously without interruptions.
Microsoft says its AI can now detect the difference between a speaker’s sound and the user’s voice, solving a common problem when a microphone is too close to a speaker and causes a feedback loop that manifests as an echo.