Google explains how it improved Meet call quality

Google recently revealed how it created Google Meet’s Adaptive Audio feature, which attempts to reduce echo and other audio issues when multiple call participants are in the same physical room.

Google Meet and the Adaptive Audio feature was developed in response to the increase in remote and hybrid work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise of virtual business meetings created a need for high-quality audio, especially in situations where multiple participants were in the same physical space. Supply chain issues at the time made dedicated meeting room hardware difficult, so Google ran a lot of testing to try to get their Adaptive Audio to work the same way.

Google wanted a way to sync audio from multiple devices in a shared space without the high performance being physically present. That’s why the company let Apative Audio work with Google Meet. The feature uses ultrasound technology to detect the presence of other devices nearby and converts these devices into a coherent audio system. The ultrasonic technology operates at a high frequency that is inaudible to humans, ensuring no interference with the audio sent or received during meetings. This meant users didn’t have to manually set up audio situations themselves and prevented interference from other rooms or sources.

The company said in a blog post: “Once Meet detects that multiple laptops are present, adaptive audio is automatically activated, syncing all laptop microphones and speakers without disabling any speakers.”

Adaptive audio is one of those high-tech features that not many users are aware of because it runs in the background. Adaptive Audio automatically syncs microphones and speakers between connected devices. It switches between microphones based on who is speaking, reducing feedback and echo. Google Meet also uses backend processing and cloud-based noise reduction techniques to ensure the audio remains effective. These features remove background noise and improve the overall clarity of the audio sent to other meeting participants.

Adaptive audio in Google Meet is only available to Google Workspace customers with a Gemini for Workspace add-on.

Source: Googling