Instructor audio

Audio quality, and balance between instructors, is absolutely critical to good online work, especially teaching. Consider the following:

• Can you adjust your microphone volume from very low to higher-than-needed? Make sure your dynamic range is larger than “barely working”, so that you have some room to adjust for later.

• Do you have a high-quality headset? A headset with microphone is the most reliable, but if you can get a desktop setup working well, that can be good too. Always have a high-quality headset for backup anyway.

• If you have a bluetooth headset, consider:

  • Bluetooth headsets have significant latency compared to wired or purpose-built wireless protocols like gaming headsets have.

  • The microphone might not have enough bandwidth (if it’s part of the same headset).

  • Bluetooth 5 is much better in both latency and quality.

  • Consider investing (or getting your work to invest in) some high-quality headset or desktop audio gear.

  • Recommendation: Don’t use a bluetooth headset. Tell your employer you need something for meetings.

• “Ducking” is when the first words are silenced/quieted by noise cancellation, until it detects speaking. To avoid this, don’t use “high” noise cancellation (as low as possible is better, reduce environmental noise / use headset mic instead). If you need high cancellation because of background noise, switch to your headset.

• Set your microphone’s hardware volume to something relatively high - and control via the software.