Dialing into a Google Meet call from your phone is about to become a bit less of a struggle: The video communication service is finally rolling out background noise cancellation to phone calls.
Users on desktop or mobile apps have long been able to filter out pesky background noises like typing, car horns, or dog barks. But until now, users dialing directly in from a cell or landline would still need to suffer through those disruptions.
The update is part of a raft of features that Google is rolling out for its Workspace software suite, ensuring that the tech giant keeps up its reputation for constantly adding new features.
How Google Meet Background Noise Cancellation Works
The update is listed among a myriad of brand-new features that also includes improvements to Google Sheet filters and better Google Drive labels.
“Participants who dial in by phone will have background noise removed from their audio,” the update explains. The function can be toggled on or off by the admin for an organization: If your organization has the feature turned on, it will automatically filter noise when you dial in by phone.
This makes sense: Google recently expanded the same cancellation tool, making it available for users on their personal Google Accounts across many Android mobile devices, while also enabling it as a default for any third-party devices using video-tech platform Pexip.
There are a few catches to know about the tool:
- It won't work for those who dial out to add a phone participant to a meeting in progress.
- It's not recommended for anyone speaking with the use of an electrolarynx.
- It won't affect audio capture from screen sharing.
- Voices from TV or people talking at the same time won’t be filtered out — this is because the tool is intended solely to filter out non-human voices.
- The tool also adjusts total volume, to avoid harshly loud or quiet voices.
The new expansion of noise cancellation to phone participants will arrive for “select Google Workspace editions,” specifically: Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Frontline users.
Picking Out a Video Call Service
With a large swath of the working world relying heavily on hybrid or fully remote work environments for convenience, flexibility, and health needs, call conferencing services are now a key business software. If you're looking to Google Meet as your solution, you'll be guaranteed a background-noise free experience.
That's also true for many of the top conferencing tools, from Zoom to Microsoft Teams. RingCentral might be the best for longer meetings, however, due to its custom features and low price.
We've done the research, so you don't have to: Check out our full review page of all the top web conferencing platforms for the full story about all the pros, cons, and prices to expect from the cream of the crop.
