Five Steps to Clearer Audio Conferences

At San Francisco's Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, our IT department received constant complaints from our users who tried to conduct audio or video conferences.

Our legal professionals were frustrated by poor audio, low volumes, or static instead of content. How did we resolve these issues?

We established five rules for successful audio conferences, which can apply to the audio portion of video conferences or webinars, as well as the traditional teleconference.

1. Turn off your BlackBerry.

BlackBerrys emit annoying radio frequency interference that is picked up by telephones, microphones and speakers.

They aren't the only guilty party: To some extent cell phones and all wireless devices could be considered co-defendants to this noise complaint.

But BlackBerrys, because they are much more likely to be transmitting information, are most problematic.

Of wireless protocols in use today, Global System for Mobile or GSM -- perhaps the most popular -- is probably the worst offender because of the way it uses the electromagnetic spectrum.

Your conference microphones work by translating sound waves into electromagnetic signals that are then sent to your conferencing system.

Meanwhile, your BlackBerry is sending out pulses of electromagnetism to communicate with its network. These pulses are essentially highjacking the electronics of your microphone and sending those pulses directly through the microphone to your conferencing system. You hear these electromagnetic pulses as that characteristic staccato of buzzes.

If you can't get people to turn off their BlackBerrys, consider investing in shielded microphones and cables.

Audio Technica U.S. Inc. makes a whole line of shielded boundary microphones. We've had great luck with the model U841A. Make sure your cables are also shielded or quad-style.

2. Avoid using a cell phone for audio conferences.

The quality of cell phone calls is poor and often filled with static. One cell phone on the call can create enough noise to ruin a conference for the other callers. If you absolutely have no other choice, please mute your cell phone during the call.

3. Don't use your office speakerphone.

High-end Polycom Inc. speakerphones and built-in conferencing systems offer duplex voice transmission.

This means that two people can talk at the same time without attenuating or diminishing the volume of one another. Although your office phone is capable of duplex voice transmission, your office speakerphone is not.

4. Mute your microphone when not talking.

Microphones will indiscriminately pick up the slightest of movement, breathing, rustling of papers or side conversations. In order for the group to hear the speaker, background noise must be kept to a minimum.

5. Locate the microphone, speak clearly into it and keep everything else away from it.

In order to be heard, you must be within three feet of the microphone and speak directly into it. You must also keep rustling papers, tapping pencils -- as well as noisy laptops and projectors -- as far away from the microphone as possible.

High-end conference rooms often have the microphones built into the table top, which makes their location easy to ignore or cover with papers or lunch.
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