Continuous vocal interference.

Hi @guy akins 

I understand that during your 8‑person Teams call you experienced a large amount of background voices that sounded like other Teams meetings bleeding into the conversation, and you’ve already confirmed it was not caused by any of your group’s devices (PC audio or external microphones). 

To help you have a better experience next time, here are some practical steps that typically make the biggest difference: 

1) Best practices for your next call 

• Use headsets where possible (USB/wired preferred) to minimize room pickup and cross-talk 
• Avoid joining the same meeting from multiple devices with audio enabled (e.g., laptop + phone) 
• Ask participants to leave/close any other meetings or calls before joining 

2) Improve audio quality using Teams settings (before the meeting) 

In Teams: Go to Settings > Choose Devices 

• Confirm the correct Microphone and Speaker are selected 
• Turn Noise suppression to High (or the highest available option) 
• Run a quick Test call to validate microphone/speaker behavior 

You can find more detail here: 

• Reduce background noise in Microsoft Teams meetings 
• Manage audio settings in Microsoft Teams meetings 
• Manage your device settings in Microsoft Teams 

3) If it happens again during the meeting (fast isolation steps) 

• Have everyone mute, then unmute one-by-one to identify whether a specific endpoint triggers it 
• If a participant seems to trigger the noise, ask them to: 
  • switch to a headset, 
  • change mic/speaker device in Teams, and 
  • leave and rejoin the meeting 
• If anyone is presenting, confirm “Include computer sound” is only enabled when intentionally needed 

Note: Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.  

I hope this information is useful. As other users will also be searching for guidance in this community, clicking “Accept Answer” would be a wonderful way to amplify your impact. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".      

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Thank you again for your time and for raising this important usability concern. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

I look forward to your thoughts on this. 

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To improve the experience and reduce interference from other conversations in future Teams meetings, use the built-in audio controls and noise reduction features before and during the call:

1. Turn on noise suppression for everyone
   • In the Teams desktop app, go to Settings and more (⋯) > Settings > Devices.
   • Turn on the Noise suppression toggle.
   • In the new Teams app, this is also under Settings > Devices > Noise suppression.
   • This helps block background sounds like other people talking nearby, office noise, or other meetings in the same space.
2. Adjust noise suppression level on mobile (if participants join from iOS)
   • In the Teams iOS app, tap the profile picture.
   • Go to Settings > Calling > Noise suppression.
   • Choose:
     • Auto (default) for most situations, or
     • High to suppress all background sound that is not speech.
   • Ask mobile participants in noisy environments to use High.
3. Use in-meeting audio settings
   • During the meeting, select More actions (⋯) > Audio settings.
   • Ensure Noise suppression is turned on there as well.
   • Remind participants to mute when not speaking using the mic button in the meeting controls.
4. Encourage good audio practices
   • Use headsets instead of open speakers to avoid room noise and echo.
   • Avoid having multiple people in the same physical room joined with their own mics and speakers; if they must, have all but one device join without audio.
5. Consider accessibility features to help understanding
   • Turn on live captions so that speech is easier to follow when there is some unavoidable background noise. This is especially useful for participants with noisy environments or weaker connections.

These steps will significantly reduce background conversations and environmental noise bleeding into the meeting and make voices clearer for all participants.

References:

• Reduce background noise in Microsoft Teams meetings
• What's new in the new Teams app
• Make meetings and related content accessible for all in Microsoft Teams