Google Meet’s New Update Shows How Noisy Your Background Environment Really Is

Whether you happen to be working from home or from your office space, one thing is for sure. You’re bound to be surrounded by plenty of background noise. And that’s exactly where noise cancellation apps come into play.

Keeping that theme in mind, Google Meet has recently updated its UI to help users gauge how noisy their background environment really is and how active their current noise cancellation features are working.

In case you didn’t know, Google has the capability to filter all sorts of typing sound effects, construction noise, chatter in your background, and also other sounds that aren’t really your voice.

This way, it ensures video calls by users are super productive as they bar out all distractions that may be present.

The company announced a range of new features that are innovative, to say the least. They entail a ring circulating around the blue voice mark for the app, which shows how much sound was canceled out.

Remember, when you’ve got the noise cancellation feature up and running, you’re dealing with three different outcomes.

For starters, a voice indicator tells if the voice is coming from you. Secondly, it could delineate how a loud burst of sound gets filtered out whenever you are talking. This way, only the participants get to hear what you have to say. And it’s usually activated once each meeting.

The third scenario could be when you’ve been left in a situation where you’re constantly surrounded by noise. Hence, it keeps on getting filtered as you speak so others may hear just your voice.

The level of noise gets delineated by the size of the ring shown. Obviously, the greater the noise, the bigger the ring size and vice versa.

For those interested, the visual voice indicator is going to be launched as early as today and in the next few weeks. So we definitely recommend keeping an eye out for that.

To be specific, the company has outlined a schedule on who can expect what and when. So we’ll just get that out there for you all too.

The product isn’t going to be up for grabs to users having personal accounts on Google. At the same time, it’s not for those with Workspace Essentials on Google, Non-profit organizations, and Business Starter Groups. That includes those with G Suite Basic accounts.

But those with Business Plus, Education Plus, Business Standard, and Workplace Individuals can surely attain it soon.

Read next: Google Collaborated With A Notable Researcher To Discuss The Attitudes That Different Age Groups Hold Towards Online Misinformation
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World