Ask remote participants what makes a meeting room bad and they will not mention the camera. They will say they could not hear the person at the end of the table, that the room echoed, that the air-conditioning drowned the speaker, or that they were talked over because the room could not hear them. Audio is where meeting rooms fail, and it is where a modest investment makes the largest difference. This article explains the causes and how Nearity’s soundbars and speakerphones address them.
Why room audio fails
Distance. A microphone picks up sound in proportion to how close it is. A single microphone at one end of a four-metre table hears the near end clearly and the far end faintly, and remote participants hear the difference.
Reverberation. Glass walls, hard floors and bare ceilings reflect sound. Microphones pick up the reflections along with the voice, and the result sounds hollow and distant.
Echo. If the microphone hears the room’s speakers, remote participants hear their own voices returned. Acoustic echo cancellation removes it, but only if the device is designed for the room’s size.
Noise. Air-conditioning, projector fans, keyboards and traffic are all amplified by a microphone that cannot tell them from speech.
Half-duplex behaviour. Cheaper devices mute one direction while the other is active, so participants cannot interrupt or interject naturally.
What a soundbar does
A conference soundbar combines a microphone array, speakers, a DSP and often a camera in one unit under the display. The array uses beam-forming to focus on speech and reject sound from other directions; the DSP applies echo cancellation, noise suppression and automatic gain so that a quiet speaker at the far end and a loud one near the bar sound similar; and full-duplex processing lets both ends talk at once. The speakers are sized to fill the room. One USB cable connects it to the room PC and it works with any platform.
Speakerphones for the table
For rooms with long tables, a tabletop speakerphone places the microphones where the people are. Nearity’s speakerphones can be daisy-chained so that two or three units cover a boardroom table, each with its own array and echo cancellation. For huddle rooms, a single speakerphone with a wide pickup range is usually enough on its own.
Matching the device to the room
| Room | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Huddle (2-6) | Video bar with built-in audio, or camera plus one speakerphone |
| Meeting (6-12) | Soundbar under the display; add a tabletop speakerphone for tables over three metres |
| Boardroom (12+) | Two or three chained speakerphones or ceiling mics with a DSP, plus soundbar or room speakers |
| Training / lecture | Ceiling or presenter microphones, DSP, distributed speakers |
Treating the room
Devices cannot fix everything. A glass box with a tiled floor will reverberate whatever the equipment. Acoustic panels on one or two walls, a rug or carpet, and blinds make a measurable difference and are cheap relative to the equipment. Position the display and soundbar on a short wall, not the long glass one.
Set-up checklist
- Set the soundbar or speakerphone as the default microphone and speaker on the room PC, and lock it.
- Disable the display’s speakers and the PC’s internal microphone.
- Run the device’s room calibration if it has one.
- Test from the far end: join from a laptop outside and listen to a colleague walk the table.
- Update firmware and keep the room PC’s audio drivers current.
Nearity through Zen
Zen Interactive Technologies distributes Nearity’s soundbars, speakerphones, cameras and headsets in the UAE and GCC, with stock in Dubai. We can specify audio for a room by size and layout, and supply it with the camera and display. See the Nearity page.