A barking dog, a lawnmower, colleagues in an open-plan office or the clicking of your keyboard: Microsoft Teams filters that background noise with AI-based noise suppression. In recent versions Teams can even let only your voice through and filter out other voices in the room. This article covers the levels, how to set them before and during a meeting, what voice isolation is and when to turn noise suppression off.
Noise suppression levels
| Setting | What it does | When |
|---|---|---|
| Auto (default) | Teams decides how much noise to suppress | Most situations |
| High | Suppresses all sound that isn't speech | Noisy environments; needs more processing power |
| Low | Only suppresses constant noise, such as a fan or air conditioning | When High distorts your voice too much |
| Off | No suppression | Music, or a professional microphone with its own filtering |
| Voice isolation | Lets only your voice through, even when others talk in the room | At home with housemates, open office, café |
Set it before a meeting
- In Teams, select ... next to your profile picture > Settings.
- Go to Devices > Audio settings.
- Under Noise suppression, choose the level, or turn on Voice isolation if your version shows it.
Make a test call (Make a test call on the same page) to hear how you sound.
Change it during a meeting
Select the arrow next to Mic at the top of the meeting window, or go to More > Settings > Device settings. Choose the noise suppression level there. The change applies immediately.
Voice isolation and your voice profile
Voice isolation needs a voice profile. Go to Settings > Recognition and select Create voice profile. You read a short text aloud, and Teams learns what your voice sounds like. Teams then filters out other voices. Your admin has to allow the feature in the meeting policy. The voice profile is also used to recognize you in captions and transcripts.
Playing music or an instrument
Noise suppression treats music as noise and cuts it out. Teaching music or playing an instrument? Turn on high fidelity music mode under Settings > Devices. During the meeting a Music mode button appears to turn it on temporarily.
Tips
- A headset with a good microphone is still the best solution; noise suppression is an extra.
- Does your voice sound metallic or are words dropped? Choose Low instead of High.
- On older PCs High can be too heavy. Use Auto instead.
- Muting is still needed: noise suppression won't remove a private conversation if your own voice is in it.
Read also
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Use live translated captions in Microsoft Teams meetings
Black screen when sharing your screen in Microsoft Teams: causes and fixes
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