Google Meet workplace calls should soon have a lot less echo after a new update to the service.
The company revealed that it is now introducing dereverberation to its video conferencing platform, removing painful echoes from group calls and improving overall sound quality.
The update is now rolling out to all users and is enabled by default, which means Google Meet calls should now be much more enjoyable, especially if you’re using a headset. (opens in new tab) or for those who work at home, where certain surfaces are not conducive to great sound quality.
Google Meet Echoes
On a blog post (opens in new tab) Announcing the update, Google Meet noted how the change would remove reverberations from the sound recorded by the microphone.
He added that the dereverb will automatically filter out echoes created by spaces with hard surfaces, like a basement or a kitchen. All of this should help “ensure optimal audio quality,” the company said.
Users will not need to make any changes to their existing Google Meet setup, although workplace administrators will need to verify that the subscription is supported.
The update is now available for Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Frontline customers. However, Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Nonprofits clients, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business clients are not yet included.
Google Meet previously released several sound quality improvement tools, including background noise filtering in June 2020 (opens in new tab) as it sought to capitalize on user demand for videoconferencing services during the pandemic.
The news comes shortly after Meet rival Microsoft Teams also announced several major updates to the sound quality of your calls. The changes, developed using a machine learning model trained on 30,000 hours of speech samples, include echo cancellation, better audio tuning in poor acoustic environments, and allowing users to speak and listen at the same time without interruption.
The news comes shortly after the company announced that it would bring Google Meet and its more consumer-focused Duo platform together into a single platform.
The move will provide users with “a single, integrated solution for video calling and meetings” as Duo will be renamed to Google Meet in late 2022.