Voice Quality Issues
Before You Begin
- If the problem is related to volume, first try adjusting the volume by clicking the Volume button on Cisco IP Communicator.
- Try to determine if the source of the problem lies with your Cisco IP Communicator or with the remote phone by calling additional parties. If you suspect that the problem lies with the other phone, adjust the volume on Cisco IP Communicator, but avoid modifying settings through the Audio Tuning Wizard because these modifications might not be broadly applicable.
- Your system administrator might ask you to enable logging to capture detailed information for troubleshooting purposes.
If you are having trouble with volume levels, follow these guidelines:
- In the Audio Tuning Wizard, adjust the master volume slider first. Because this setting affects all applications that play sound, test the setting against other applications (such as Microsoft Windows Media Player and RealPlayer) to ensure that volume levels are appropriate.
- In the Audio Tuning Wizard, adjust the wave volume slider to a comfortable level for phone calls after adjusting the master volume.
- If you have changed the volume settings from Microsoft Windows, run the Audio Tuning Wizard again (according to these guidelines) to retune the master and wave volume settings.
Related Topics
Problem The other party sounds too loud.
Solution
Problem The other party reports that you sound too loud.
Solution
- Move the microphone boom slightly away from your mouth and toward your chin if you are using a headset.
- If the problem persists, launch the Audio Tuning Wizard and decrease the microphone volume for the current audio device.
- If you still sound too loud to the other party, disable the Microphone Boost feature, if it is enabled for that device, from the Audio Tuning Wizard.
Problem The other party sounds too quiet.
Solution
Problem The other party reports that you sound too quiet.
Solution
- If you are using a headset, make sure that Cisco IP Communicator is operating in headset mode and not in speakerphone mode. Headset mode is operating if the Headset button is lit. If it is unlit, click it.
- Make sure that the microphone boom is positioned correctly if you are using a headset.
- If the problem persists, launch the Audio Tuning Wizard, and increase the microphone volume for the current audio device. Before you tune an audio device that has its own volume adjustor, such as a USB headset with volume controls on the wire, increase the device volume level to the highest setting.
- If you still sound too quiet, enable the Microphone Boost feature for the audio device from the Audio Tuning Wizard.
Problem The other party sounds muffled.
Solution
- If you are using Cisco IP Communicator remotely, enable Optimize for Low Bandwidth (right-click > Preferences > Audio tab).
- If you are not using Cisco IP Communicator over a remote connection, disable the low-bandwidth option.
- Ask the other party to decrease his or her microphone volume, if possible.
Related Topics
Problem The other party reports that you sound muffled.
Solution
Problem The other party sounds distant or unnatural.
Solution If you are using a headset, make sure that Cisco IP Communicator is operating in headset mode and not in speakerphone mode. (The Headset button should be lit.)
Problem The other party reports that you sound distant or unnatural.
Solution Enable Optimize for Low Bandwidth (right-click > Preferences > Audio tab).
Related Topics
Problem The voice of the other party is disrupted by unintended silences or sounds jittery.
Solution
- Close any unnecessary applications. Be aware that launching applications and performing network-intensive tasks such as sending e-mail might affect audio quality.
- Verify that you are not on speakerphone.
- Try choosing a different audio setting through Preferences > Audio tab > Advanced button.
- If you are using Cisco IP Communicator over a remote connection (for example, on a VPN connection from home or a hotel), voice quality is probably suffering from insufficient bandwidth. Enable the Optimize for Low Bandwidth feature (right-click > Preferences > Audio tab.
- Verify that your sound cards and audio drivers are correctly installed.
Note You might hear occasional pops, clicks, or broken audio when the network is experiencing congestion or data traffic problems.
Problem Background noise is making it difficult to hear the voice of the speaker.
Solution Ask the speaker to:
If in a conference call, ask other participants to mute their phones if they are not speaking.
Problem You hear echo.
Solution
- Ask the other party to decrease their microphone or speaker volume, if possible.
- If the other party is using Cisco IP Communicator as a speakerphone, ask him or her to make sure that the Speaker button is lit.
- Make sure that your sound card is not feeding back audio from the speaker to the microphone. Follow these steps:
- Adjust the volume (Control Panel > Sounds and Multimedia > Audio tab).
- Click the Sound Playback Volume button.
- Choose Options > Properties > Playback, and make sure that all the check boxes in the lower part of the window are selected, and click OK.
- In the Volume Control window, make sure that Mute is selected for the Microphone column. Some sound devices have multiple microphone inputs (for example, internal and external) that can pick up sound from the speaker device and introduce feedback.
Problem The other party hears echo.
Solution
- Launch the Audio Tuning Wizard, and reduce the microphone volume for the current audio device. Make sure that Microphone Boost is disabled. Then, confirm the new volume setting by calling another party.
- If you are using your computer as a speakerphone, keep the Speaker button lit.
- As a last resort, change your audio device.
- If you are using a laptop with no headset or handset, all three modes are mapped to the sound card, which causes all three modes to act like speakerphones. Put the device in speakerphone mode.
Problem The other party cannot hear you at all (but you can hear him/her).
Solution
- Make sure that you have not enabled Mute from controls on the headset wire or on the USB handset.
- Make sure that your speaker and microphone plugs are inserted into the correct audio jacks on your computer.
- Make sure that no other application (such as a sound recorder or another software-based phone) is using your microphone.
Problem The other party can hear you, but you cannot hear any audio.
Solution
- Make sure that your speaker and microphone plugs are inserted into the correct audio jacks on your computer.
- Check the volume and mute settings of the system sound devices through the Control Panel.
- Check the volume setting of Cisco IP Communicator (both the Volume button and the Audio Tuning Wizard).
Problem Simultaneous speaking fails.
Solution Make sure that you are using a full-duplex sound card.
Problem You cannot hear any audio, not even a dial tone.
Solution
Problem Voice quality is degraded when IP Communicator is used while Windows is starting up.
Solution Verify that Windows has completed its startup process and that no other applications are still loading before using IP Communicator.
Problem Voice quality is degraded when workstation physical memory becomes low.
Solution IP Communicator is recommended to operate with approximately 60MB of available physical memory - this is different from minimum required workstation memory as other applications will be consuming workstation memory. By ensuring other applications - including the operating system - have left enough available memory for IP Communicator will reduce sound distortions based on low-available RAM conditions. If you are experiencing this condition, you may want to close some applications when running IP Communicator or increase the RAM in your PC.
Problem Voice quality is degraded when using IP Communicator with other applications that consume available bandwidth.
Solution Minimize the use of applications that consume large amounts of bandwidth (examples: applications that transfer large files, send or receive video, perform "screen sharing" operations, etc.) while on an active call.
Problem Voice quality is degraded when the laptop is physically moved.
Solution Some computer manufacturers have introduced a feature called "HDD Protection" which prevents damage to the computer's hard drive when the laptop experiences movement. This feature may also temporarily affect applications which are currently running on the workstation. Recommendation is to not physically move a computer enabled with this feature while on an active call.
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