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Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

workspaceupdates.googleblog.com

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Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#81

Post by crazygringo »

madisp wrote: post #15

Sadly this is feature-gated behind Gemini :/ > Available for Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Business, Gemini Education, Gemini Education Premium, and the AI Meetings and Messaging add-on.

Not if you pay attention to that last one:

> and the AI Meetings and Messaging add-on

This might actually be using a decent amount of data center processing to handle the merged audio performantly.

If that's the case, it could make sense that it belongs to a higher tier.

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#82

Post by Groxx »

stavros wrote: post #7
foreigner wrote: post #3

Do any of the video call services support full duplex audio? It feels so stifling to have to be perfectly silent while others are speaking, compared to the give and take of a normal conversation.

Yes, all of them. Wear headphones.

To +1 this, yes, every single one AFAIK.

What you're running into is almost certainly noise cancelling. It's turning off your incoming audio so it doesn't intrude on your microphone picking up your voice.

Disabling or tweaking noise cancelling or audio modes (i.e. to "headset") on basically every meeting software will eventually get you a combination that doesn't do this. It's sometimes a bit hidden though, and many have chosen to just say "everyone gets maximum noise cancelling" rather than trying to guess based on your audio device(s) so it doesn't always do it automatically or obviously.

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#83

Post by crazygringo »

foreigner wrote: post #3

Do any of the video call services support full duplex audio? It feels so stifling to have to be perfectly silent while others are speaking, compared to the give and take of a normal conversation.

Pretty sure literally all of them do, but generally only full duplex.

Not triplex or quadruplex etc.

In other words, if you're having a 1-1 video call, both of you have your audio working at all times.

But as you go to 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 participants, it generally continues to be just max 2 simultaneous audio streams, determined by whoever has been the loudest recently.

Unless you turn on special features like music mode etc.

This is a feature, not a bug, because otherwise background noise and sounds would start adding up to become intolerable. (Why we usually try to intentionally stay on mute anyways, so we don't accidentally become even just that second audio stream.)

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#84

Post by iandanforth »

crazygringo wrote: post #77

I just want to say that this is really actually kind of mind-blowing from an audio engineering perspective. Outputting audio from multiple laptops in the same room is easy. Perfectly syncing it is harder. Implementing echo cancellation across all of that is quite a bit trickier than regular single-device echo cancellation. But then treating all the laptop microphones as a kind of microphone array, having to deal with…

Do you think they are using some kind of inaudible-to-humans signal to coordinate this or is the unmodified audio good enough?

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#85

Post by Groxx »

mattlondon wrote: post #59
andai wrote: post #52

Sounds imprrssive, but also overengineered? Don't headphones solve the same problem? Though I guess in a hybrid meeting they'd make it harder to hear the people in the room. (But you'd hear them through the laptop, normally? I guess there would be an uncanny delay...)

No because your voice is not constrained to headphones.

No problem, just get everyone a Mutalk. Think of all the savings when you no longer need meeting rooms!

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#86

Post by crazygringo »

sharts wrote: post #67

It took this many years to get echo cancellation implemented? Many other services had this like a decade ago.

No.

Meet has had echo cancellation from the start.

This is multi-device adaptive audio merging, as the title says. Completely different, and far far more impressive.

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#87

Post by matsemann »

stavros wrote: post #48
CitrusFruits wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I feel like with a couple UI tweaks or options Meet would be the best by far. It's just so much more convenient and accessible than the others.

I definitely agree, needs no installation, things just work, quality is good, has nice features like push-to-talk, etc. It's great, there are just some tiny UX niggles that could be solved very easily but haven't been, yet.

It's horrible slow on some computers/browser combos, which is my main gripe with it. Video quality is also much worse, but doesn't matter too much to me. And as with all Google stuff the UX is kinda weird and non-intuitive. What does all the different join options do? When should I use what? Why must all presentations be so small if I also want to see the presenter? Zoom is much better here.

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#89

Post by vineyardmike »

iandanforth wrote: post #84
crazygringo wrote: post #77

I just want to say that this is really actually kind of mind-blowing from an audio engineering perspective. Outputting audio from multiple laptops in the same room is easy. Perfectly syncing it is harder. Implementing echo cancellation across all of that is quite a bit trickier than regular single-device echo cancellation. But then treating all the laptop microphones as a kind of microphone array, having to deal with…

Do you think they are using some kind of inaudible-to-humans signal to coordinate this or is the unmodified audio good enough?

Unmodified audio is good enough, but using some signaling sound would improve coordination.

Re: Google Meet rolls out multi-device adaptive audio merging

#90

Post by crazygringo »

bagels wrote: post #64
parpfish wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean audio feedback, or just one user that complains a lot?

I'm talking about when I hear my own voice. It happens when the person I am talking to is using speakers and a microphone, and my voice is picked up by their speakers and transmitted back to me. I didn't know this was controversial.

FYI, that's echo, not feedback.

It can happen on any service and it means the echo cancellation on their end got confused -- it's an adaptive algorithm but occasionally adapts wrong.

Best way to fix it is to mute yourself for ~5 seconds and then unmute, which should reset their echo cancellation algorithm.

If that doesn't fix it, then have both of you pause and not talk for ~5 seconds. This should absolutely reset it, as the echo cancellation algorithm has now definitively learned what silence is supposed to sound like.

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