Do we still need noise cancelling software?
Perhaps our audio quality has gotten as good as it needs to be
Think back a few years to the first wave of the pandemic. Do you remember the sheer panic when everything had to move online? Many people were opening up Zoom for the first time and conducting video calls for both business and pleasure. It was really the only way for people to connect.
And with everyone working remotely, our home offices got quite chaotic. There were children screaming in the background. There were yappy dogs in need of attention. In many cases there were also roommates and family members taking their own video calls in the vicinity. Basically, video calls were noisy. People were always muting and unmuting and doing their best to keep quiet.
In 2020, I became moderately obsessed with finding the best audio solution so I could take these work calls from anywhere without worrying about the sounds of my often annoying dog or infant daughter. I never wanted to be the guy who had a barking dog in the background of an important call. The thought of being "that guy" really bothered me.
Sure, you may say that everyone has a life on the other side of that Zoom call and it's ok for life to sometimes be audible. But no, I wanted to ensure that my setup was always pristine. I needed clear audio that would sound even better than if I were in a traditional office space. How would I achieve this?
Well, I quickly ponied up some cash to subscribe to a service called Krisp. Krisp is a small piece of software that runs on your computer and helps you eliminate background sounds while on calls. Back in 2020, it was quite amazing. When I chose Krisp's virtual microphone as my input device in a meeting, I could have my dog barking right next to me and no one was the wiser! Sure, I could typically still hear it and be annoyed by it, but that's less of a problem than foisting the disturbance onto my colleagues. Plus, I typically wear noise-cancelling headphones anyway to drown things out.
Krisp felt like a superpower. I regularly received compliments on how clear my audio sounded. Yes, I also upgraded to a nice external microphone, but a lot of the heavy lifting was done by the Krisp software. What's even better is that Krisp can also filter the audio that you are receiving in a meeting. So if one of your colleagues has a barking dog or screaming kid on their audio feed, you can personally filter it out. We've all been on those calls where the other person is having audio issues and this setting is highly underrated.
So let's jump ahead three years. I've been using Krisp on nearly every single call taken on my computer. I should note that they had a short-lived mobile app too. Sometimes I still feel the need for a software solution when taking mobile calls in a loud area, but most calls take place on a computer so it's not a huge deal.
And I've re-upped my Krisp subscription each year without really thinking about it. It's been absolutely worth every penny. But with another annual subscription coming up for renewal, I'm starting to question if I need it anymore.
It's not that Krisp isn't an amazing piece of software. And I also love that it's a local company out of Berkeley, CA rather than a huge global brand. It's just that the big players like Zoom, Google, and Microsoft have all ramped up the noise-cancellation capabilities that are natively built into their meeting platforms.
In some instances it just happened without any fanfare. Some pieces of software still require you to go into the settings to opt-in to the virtual noise-cancellation. It's gotten pretty impressive. It's as if the software knows your voice and just filters out all other background sounds and voices. It's that same magic feeling when I first used Krisp, but now everyone just gets it when they use the software they've been using for years.
A rising tide lifts all ships right? If these big platforms are improving audio quality, it makes meetings better for everyone. So what about small innovative companies like Krisp? Well, I still want to support them. And to its credit, Krisp has since added an automatic meeting transcription service to its offerings.
It's ambitious but still not super helpful for me personally. I don't know how many of you have been using AI transcription services as they've gotten popular this year, but I still think there is something missing there. Or maybe I just pay attention too much in meetings and don't need to re-read the transcript later? I'm sure there are people who benefit from this, but I think the application still needs some work.
I suppose I'm just asking what the next innovation will be for these meetings. What small company will develop something that the big platforms will later integrate directly into their settings? Have we reached peak audio fidelity on calls? Is background noise a thing of the past? Should I save some money and cancel my Krisp subscription?
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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