Stop Unwanted Noise from Ruining Conference Calls
Conference calls are a routine part of business life, but they can be maddening when background noises intrude on the call or the speaker's voice drops out at regular intervals.
There are any number of causes for these kinds of audio annoyances, but there's one easy solution:
Mute your phone when you're not talking.
This is especially important if you're using a speakerphone, which I think most people do to avoid cradling a headset for long periods. The mic will almost certainly pick up unwanted ambient sounds: keyboards clicking, papers shuffling, dogs barking (if you work from home), and so on.
Trust me: Noises like these will annoy the hell out of the other callers, and potentially prevent your voice (or another speaker's) from being heard.
Most cell phones and smartphones have a mute button you can tap to knock out the audio coming from your end (while still allowing you to hear others). If not, most conference-call services offer a mute function, which is usually accessible by pressing *7 or something similar.
Obviously the only hitch here is remembering to unmute yourself when it's your turn to talk. But once you get in the practice of muting and unmuting, it should seem like second nature.
What are your thoughts on improving conference-call audio? Personally, I think the conference leader should insist that everyone mute their phones until they need to speak -- but that's just me. Photo by tdenham.
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