Traditional voice conferencing systems are pretty average, but Dolby is applying its audio quality tech to this seldom-acknowledged problem.
Conventional conference calls can be a less than satisfactory experience. Background noise from each location tends to add up, volume levels from different phones or computers often vary widely, and keeping track of who is talking can sometimes be a challenge.
Dolby - well known for its home and cinema audio technology - has turned its attention to these problems and come up with Dolby Voice.
This technology provides noise suppression, high-quality audio, volume equalisation, and puts participants' voices on a virtual stereo stage to provide an additional clue about who is currently speaking.
Software is available for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android, or you can use the Dolby Conference Phone, which also works as an IP phone in conjunction with Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Conference traffic flows across the internet or - if you have one - your private IP network.
For now, Dolby Voice is exclusively available on BT's MeetMe conferencing service, which also works with ordinary fixed and mobile phones. A free trial is available .
In a constantly connected world, the whole idea of Dolby Voice is to make conferencing across continents no more difficult than speaking to someone across a room. We'll bring you a more detailed assessment of the service after we've placed a few call of our own...
