Microsoft Teams Now Uses AI to Prevent Unwanted Echo During Calls

Microsoft detailed today how it’s using AI and machine learning to improve calls and meetings in Microsoft Teams. Echo cancellation and de-reverberation are two new AI-powered features that have started rolling out in Microsoft Teams, where they will join the existing background noise suppression feature.

Echo cancellation addresses the unwanted echo effect that can result from meeting participants having their microphone too close to their speaker. “Now, Microsoft Teams uses AI to recognize the difference between sound from a speaker and the user’s voice, eliminating the echo without suppressing speech or inhibiting the ability of multiple parties to speak at the same time, explained Nicole Herskowitz, VP of  Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is also using AI to reduce sound reverberation. The feature will let users feel as if they’re speaking into a headset microphone, even when they’re using Teams in a large room with poor acoustics.

Lastly, Microsoft Teams now supports full-duplex transmission audio to let meeting participants speak and listen at the same time. This should really help to make conversations on Teams feel more natural, and the app uses a machine learning model to remove echo while maintaining full-duplex audio.

These new AI-based features are now rolling out on the Teams desktop app, and they will be available on mobile soon. “In addition to bringing new features and capabilities to Teams, we’ll continue to explore new ways to use technology to make online calling and meeting experiences more natural, resilient, and efficient,” Herskowitz said today.