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 several call participants are in the same physical room.

Google Meet and its Adaptive Audio feature was developed in response to the surge in remote and hybrid work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise in virtual business meetings meant there was a need for high-quality audio, particularly in situations where multiple participants were in the same physical space. Supply chain issues at the time made dedicated meeting room hardware made that difficult, so Google ran many tests to try and get their Adaptive Audio to work similarly.

Google wanted a way to synchronize audio from multiple devices in a shared space without the high performance physically being there. So, the company made Apative Audio work with Google Meet. The feature uses ultrasound technology to detect the presence of other nearby devices and turn those devices into a cohesive audio system. The ultrasound technology operates at a high frequency that is inaudible to humans, so it won’t interfere with the audio being transmitted or received during meetings. This meant users didn’t need to configure audio situations themselves manually, and it prevented interference from other rooms or sources.

The company said in a blog post, “Once Meet detects multiple laptops are present, adaptive audio activates automatically, synchronizing all the laptops’ microphones and speakers without turning any speakers off.”

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

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

Source: Google