Microphone noise issue is driving our team insane

Posted by Pristine_Finding_745@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 20 comments

(New account because I don't want my colleagues finding my private one, but I've been in this sub for a while)

I'm posting here because we have been struggling with this issue for a few months, and we can't seem to find a solution.

This wasn't an issue we experienced last year - maybe once or twice before Christmas, but since then it's happened more and more.

Has anyone experienced this, and have you found a solution?

Background:

We are a company of 350 or so employees, spread through Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. The issue has not really appeared in Denmark or Finland for some reason, but those countries also have much fewer people dependent on having conversations in noisy environments.
Our sales reps use a VOIP system to call potential customers. They use a mix of Jabra and Yealink headsets (some wired, some wireless, connected by bluetooth dongle). Only a few salesreps have this issue at any given time. Many have never had it, despite having the same headsets, the same browser, the same extensions, and the same laptop model.
The sales areas always have quite loud music playing, and lots of people talking at the same time.
Our laptops (mix of Lenovo ThinkPad E14 G7 and HP Elitebook 840 G7/G8, all on Windows 11) are managed with Intune and set up with Autopilot.

The issue:

Sound recorded by the microphone includes nearby voices. The call goes quiet when the headset-wearer is quiet (except when someone is REALLY loud in the background), and when the wearer speaks again, it picks up the background buzz of salesreps talking in the background. They can be quite loud sometimes, which doesn't sound great for our potential customers. However, the music in the background is almost never picked up by the microphone (or at least, it's filtered out)

What we've tested:

Checked that the VOIP system, the laptop, and Chrome are using the correct microphone device. Chrome often auto-picks the built-in microphone, but that's besides the point.
Tested with just the Sound Recorder app - it sounds the same as being on the other end of the conversation.
Tried having a huddle in Slack to see if the sound was the same - it was the same.
Tried shutting down Slack in case it was causing problems - it made no difference.
Tried uninstalling drivers for the device, then restarting laptop - didn't help.
Tried switching to a different headset model - didn't help.
Ran Windows updates - didn't help.
Downloaded audio drivers from manufacturer website - didn't help.
Switched device driver in Device Manager - actually made a small difference, but still not a solution.
Switched laptop - when we finally had an on-site user with this issue, I tried switching to a different laptop. The first one didn't make a difference, but the second one did - the problem was gone. No background voices whatsoever, just as before.

We cannot for the life of us find the cause of this issue. It seems completely random, comes and goes as it wishes, and causes a great deal of frustration wherever it appears.

I hope that by posting I might find someone who's faced a similar issue so we can at least pray for each other.

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CeC-P@reddit

It'd be cheaper to build a barrier or tell sales to shut the **** up and stop acting like frat bros. Otherwise the dynamic volume adjustment in your software is overriding the hardware/driver's own settings. So just have the person do a voice test, lock it in at 75% average, and turn off the auto-gain.

Or replace all headsets with specifically, legitimate, non-faked in the specs, cardoid mics instead of omni ones. Lots of fakes out there slapping "cardiod" on omni mics though so order one at a time and test.

llDemonll@reddit

Switch headset brands not just models.

Try Poly.

ExceptionEX@reddit

Yeah I mean seems like an environmental problem not a tech one, who the hell play loud music in a space where people are expected to make calls.

certifiedsysadmin@reddit

You have way too many variables happening here.

The biggest variable is you don't know exactly how noisy the environment is at any given time. It's going to change as people talk louder or quieter or more people are on a call. Much the same as a restaurant as it gets busier in the evening.

The easiest variables that you can control are the software settings and hardware used. I'd start by standardizing headsets as well as settings (noise cancellation, audio device settings, VoIP software being used).

Beyond that, you are likely going to need to reduce the noise in the environment by making physical changes to the environment.

One thing to look into is an office-wide noise cancellation system.

Papfox@reddit

Are firmware updates available for the headsets? Do the headset makers offer a utility to customise or configure the noise suppression?

JohnnyricoMC@reddit

Sounds to me this isn't a technical issue, it's an ambient noise issue and people being loud to actually be heard.

The sales areas always have quite loud music playing

Confer with HR for a new company policy banning that or at least restricting it to a low volume. If it's played loud it's unprofessional and interferes with part of what a sales department should be doing: calls with prospective and existing clients.

People are talking louder to get over that loud music and that in turn is being picked up by the microphones.

If people want to listen to music while they work, they should be using headphones, be they bone-conducting or regular.

Pristine_Finding_745@reddit (OP)

The strange thing here is that the sound level has been the same for years without this being a problem. The sales reps sitting right next to the troubled users, don't have the same problem, despite having just as much noise around them.

Frothyleet@reddit

The sales reps sitting right next to the troubled users, don't have the same problem

Do they have the exact same audio hardware? Are they using the same software? Do the configurations match?

BrentNewland@reddit

When our organization got a new head, and he asked for a headset, we got him a Dell headset that has "AI" enhanced noise cancellation on both the speakers and the microphone. You could consider upgrading the affected people.

Also, it's possible the tone/pitch of their voice is different than the people not having issues (deep vs high voice).

Princess_Fluffypants@reddit

I say this as somebody who spends the vast majority of his day on various zoom and teams calls, sometimes in very noisy environments.

Stop wasting your energy trying to fix this with software, and get a Blue Parrot headset. They are designed for truck drivers and other people working in high noise environments, and they are absolutely unbelievably good. Get one of the better ones, in the $200-$300 range. The XT650 (I think) is top of the line, and it is so fantastically good.

I have taken phone calls in catastrophically loud cafés and cafeterias, next to running airplanes, in noisy data centers, driving on the highway with the windows down, and nobody can tell a thing. It sounds like I’m in a recording studio to everyone else. They are absolutely astonishing and cutting out background noise.

DeifniteProfessional@reddit

This honestly sounds like an issue with your VOIP softphone. I have seen some seriously poor softphone applications before that just shove unfiltered sound directly through. You know why Teams and Slack calls are nice? Software noise filtering. Sound recorder app showing the same issue is likely proof of that.

The switching of the laptop - the only real thing I can think of there is built in audio enhancement settings/software

S4mr4s@reddit

Maybe also take a look into the Jabra Direct for the configuration options for Jabras

mschuster91@reddit

Sound recorded by the microphone includes nearby voices. The call goes quiet when the headset-wearer is quiet (except when someone is REALLY loud in the background), and when the wearer speaks again, it picks up the background buzz of salesreps talking in the background.

This is a common problem amongst ham radio operators as well, I know of it from there. Check if Automatic Gain Control (AGC) is enabled on problematic devices in the system settings and, if your VoIP software has it, there as well.

Technicalor@reddit

We had a weird issue like this in a VDI environment. Correct mic selected but you could hear the background noise clearer than the person speaking with the headset on. We had a webcam with a built in mic, we disabled that webcam mic on the local client so the VDI session couldn’t even see that mic, sorted the issue. Despite the fact the correct mic was selected within Teams , it was clearly taking input from the webcam mic - on both VDI 1.0 and 2.0 Wasn’t a consistent issue either so suspect a bug somewhere in the stack.

WhatAMoroon@reddit

Taking a step back to pose a seemingly obvious question just because I don't think you mentioned it anywhere: have you made sure the Active Noise Canceling function is turned on at the headsets that are picking up noise? Many headsets have ways to turn that on and off, and surprisingly few have it on as a default. As a test, pick one responsive guy who has alot of background noise, get the make and model of his headset, learn how to turn ANC on and off, then get on a call with him and make him turn it on and off and see if you hear a difference.

Unable-Entrance3110@reddit

So, the thing about drivers in Windows is you can't really remove a driver unless you manually delete the .inf files for the hardware in C:\Windows\inf

We had these issues as well, but we resolved them through driver updates.

We run Dells which come with a utility called Dell Command Update. That software has a feature called Advanced Driver Restore. It's not enabled by default. If you enable it and download an entirely new driver layout, it should resolve the problem (if you are running Dells anyway).

Yes, we use HP USB-C docks. With the one on-site issue I had, I tried making a call while not connected to the dock at all - it didn't make a difference.