Better audio at Zoom meetings: microphones and speakers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio is an important part of a Zoom meeting. I am a member of two Toastmasters clubs, so I have gradually learned how to use Zoom. A voice goes through a microphone, computer, Zoom software, and a speaker before you hear it. Anthony English has a seven-minute YouTube  video titled Zoom Audio Test (step by step tutorial). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desktop computers typically used modest speakers like the 3” wide ones shown above. But laptops have even smaller, tinnier speakers that only provide half-decent quality. Consider using external speakers.

 

A laptop computer typically has a tiny electret microphone located above the top of the screen, next to the webcam. When you move back from the camera, you also move away from the microphone and then may not be heard clearly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This problem can be solved by instead using a lavalier (lapel) microphone clipped to your shirt, as is shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or you can get a headset with a noise-cancelling microphone and headphones. For $30 I got a Logitech H390 USB headset (shown above). It has an eight foot cord, which gives me room to move around. There also are wireless headsets.     

 

Anyhow, what is a lavalier? I’d heard of musketeers and grenadiers, so a lavalier might be a fierce Hawaiian warrior who throws balls of lava. But lavalier really is a jewelry term for something hung around the neck. It is named for the mistress of the French King Louis XIV – Louise de la Vallière.

 

An image of John Kasich wearing a lavalier microphone, and icons for microphone and speaker all came from Wikimedia Commons.