Whether you’re negotiating a new contract, communicating with clients, or holding a department meeting, the conference room is one of the most active and vital rooms to many businesses. So it should go without saying that it’s not the sort of place you’d want to experience audio system failures in. If the sound coming out of your conference room speakers sounds anything like this, you’ll need to act fast to fix it. Few things in the business world repel clients quite as efficiently as conference room audio system problems.
As with any hardware, problems are inevitably bound to happen, but, by learning about the most common problems and how to fix them, you can quickly restore order and return your focus to what is important.

LOW VOLUME

There’s nothing worse than giving your presentation or speech and realizing that no one else in the room heard a word you said. Low volume is a common problem in the conference and one that can be easily resolved. By not being able to hear what you are saying, you are creating a negative impression to everyone in the room, leaving room for misunderstanding as well as misinterpretation.
Make sure when setting up for your meeting, you thoroughly test all microphones in the room and set the volume accordingly as well as performing vital sound tests. If, during the meeting, a members microphone is too quiet, subtlety adjust the volume settings accordingly.

DELAYS

Sometimes you might notice there are delays in the audio when a member of the meeting is talking. This can create the impression of slow speech and/or inexperience. Depending on your audio system provider, a variety of platforms incorporate delays to eliminate the risk of feedback and other audio related problems.
It is important to know if your software has these delays and if so, how to set them to the desired delay time. Look to your provider or contact their support desk to find out how to do this before your meeting begins. Make sure to sound check your equipment beforehand to make sure this will not be a problem, and remember to try and use all microphones at once as sometimes delays can be caused by having more people connected than the system can handle.

FEEDBACK AND WHITE NOISE

If you’re in a position where users are experiencing clicking or crackling sounds, not only can this be unpleasant for the listeners, but it also creates a bad impression. Line noise can be created for a number of reasons but it more commonly occurs when two microphones are placed close together.
Ensure you move all microphones a suitable distance apart before the meeting and if feedback occurs halfway through, stop and mute all microphones in turn until the culprit is identified and rectified accordingly.

ECHOES AND HOLLOW SOUNDS

Although still understandable, if you are experiencing a hollow sound or echoes, participants can find this very distracting and important information may be missed. These issues can be caused for a number of reasons such as, two people talking at once, multiple lines active in one room or two or more microphones be close together or next to a speaker.
To eliminate this problem, thoroughly sound test all microphones in the room before the conference. If the problem begins during a meeting, the conference presenter should have the ability to mute all microphones when they are speaking, ensuring you avoid feedback or crossed feeds.
ADDITIONAL READING
Can You Hear Me? What About Now?: How To Pick a Conference Room Microphone
Conference Room Design: A Guide For the Perplexed
Top 10 Conference Room Projectors of 2017