There are a number of factors that can affect the sound quality in a videoconference. Review the lists below to understand some of the more common factors.
You hear background noise.
- Ask the person to move to a quieter location.
- Ask the person to move closer to their microphone when they speak, and to mute when they are not speaking.
- Use a headset or a speakerphone with echo-cancellation. Built-in equipment is more likely to pick up background noise.
You hear the sound at a very low volume.
- Use your computer’s Audio Controls to increase your computer’s speaker volume.
- If it is a specific participant you can’t hear well, ask them to use their computer’s Sound > Recording controls to increase the volume of their microphone.
You are sharing a video but other people cannot hear the video's sound.
When you are sharing a video (e.g., YouTube) using a Chrome or Edge browser, to allow other people to hear the sound you need to turn on the “also share audio” option.
Note: Sharing sound is supported only by:
- Chrome and Edge browsers.
- The share "Tab" and "Entire screen" options. (The share "Window" option does not support sound.)
After selecting the “Share” button, in the “Choose what to share” pop-up:
- If you are sharing a browser tab, click the Also share tab audio option.
- If you are sharing an entire screen, click the Also share system audio option.
There are dropped or cut-off words.
- Your CPU may be intermittently working on other tasks.
- To free-up your CPU, close all applications except those necessary for your videoconference. (For example, shut down Outlook which can use a lot of bandwidth and CPU if it is downloading large attachments.)
- Your internet connection may be poor or highly variable.
- If you share a connection with others, another application or another computer streaming video or file downloading might be consuming bandwidth.
- If you are connected via a wireless connection, you can improve the quality in most cases by using a wired connection.
- Check your internet connection’s bandwidth. If the videoconference is trying to use more bandwidth than your connection allows, there might be sound issues.