Back in mid-June, we spoke about how Microsoft Teams was about to receive the Collaborative Notes feature for meetings. As for now, the Redmond-based tech giant aims to improve its video calling app even further through the Spatial Audio feature.
Microsoft Teams remains a widely used online communication and collaboration tool for those who work in collective groups, students, and more. The app continues to receive frequent updates to enhance its functionality, especially when it comes to professional settings.
Spatial audio is now available in Microsoft Teams
The latest addition to Teams is support for spatial audio, a technology that replicates the feeling of in-person meetings by separating participants’ voices, resulting in a more captivating listening experience, as XDA reveals. This innovation accurately determines the audio location of each participant from a virtual meeting, even when multiple people are speaking at the same time.
Microsoft claims that spatial audio has the benefit of reducing meeting fatigue and cognitive strain. While this feature is now available for those who use Teams from a laptop or desktop computer, there are certain limitations to consider.
In its official post, Microsoft was very clear regarding the new spatial audio feature for the Teams video calling app:
Experience immersive audio during Teams meetings with spatial audio. When people speak, you’ll hear their voices coming from their relative positions on the meeting screen.
The same post further added:
Listen to your meeting with spatial audio with USB-wired stereo headphones or speakers, or your device’s built-in stereo speakers. Bluetooth audio devices aren’t currently supported for spatial audio.
To experience this effect, the meeting must have more than two participants in gallery view.
The software primarily works with wired stereo headsets and stereo-open speakers, with upcoming Bluetooth standards enabling support in the case of wireless headsets.
Large meetings and specialized modes have certain restrictions, but Microsoft aims to overhaul these aspects in future releases.