If you’re like me, you probably find background noise distracting especially when you're on important calls. Noise can not only be distracting, but it can be just plain annoying, not to mention how it can affect call quality, and worker productivity.

In order to explore ways to remove noise, it’s important to first better understand the source of noise, and how it affects you, your callers, and your calls.

So let's take a closer look at the different types of noise; where it comes from, and how it puts a drain on productivity.

Noise Comes In Many Forms - Here Are Just A Few

Office Noise. If you work in a busy office, you’ve probably experienced first hand the different noise challenges associated with working around a group of people. Noise can come from background conversations, office equipment sounds, doors closing, HVAC systems running, traffic noise and the list goes on. If you can hear the noise, you may become distracted by it, and your callers as well.

Home Office. For those who work from home, they’re not exempt from noise. Anyone who has children knows they can be distracting. And if you own a four legged friend, most will get enthusiastic if they spot a delivery truck like UPS, FedEx, Amazon or the US Postal Service. Then there’s the comforting sounds of landscape equipment such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers. The perfect touch to help close that deal, right? Of course not!

Hybrid Workers. If you’re someone who has a more nomadic style as to where you do your work, noise is all around you. If you set up shop at the local Starbucks, at the airport or train, you’re well aware of the full complement of noises going on around you. The sounds of dishes and utensils, cars, background conversations, background music, and the list continues. The bottom line is when you work remotely, you face an enormous challenge when it comes to noise.

The Impact That Noise Has On Us

When you think about noise, and how it can affect you while on important calls, it doesn’t take long to conclude that its impact isn’t positive. So with that in mind, what are the specific problems caused by noise? Here are a few of them:

Causes you to lose your concentration. If you’re locked in on a conversation, and paying close attention to details, background noise can interfere with your ability to remain focused. If your focus, and concentration are negatively affected, then you’ll be less likely to accomplish your call objectives.

Distracts your callers. Like you, your callers can become distracted by the noise going on in your background. If this happens, they might miss important information, or misinterpret your message which can create problems and put important deals in jeopardy. That aside, noise can just irritate the heck out of your callers too.

Causes you to appear unprofessional. When noise finds its way into your calls, it’s easy for you to come across as unprofessional, unprepared, and even unworthy of securing a customer’s business. Noise creates an unfavorable impression that can truly derail deals. Impressions matter, and putting a lid on noise should be one of your high priorities.

Brings down worker productivity. In an era where there’s so much data, it’s easy to see who’s productive, and who’s not. These days, you need every advantage you can get, and if noise is an obstacle to being your most productive self, then doesn’t it make sense to address it?

When you get distracted by noise, and your callers get distracted by it, neither of you can perform at your best. Whether this distracts you consciously or unconsciously, noise is a problem, and it shouldn’t be ignored.

So What Can You Do To Tackle Noise?

Here are a few Things You Can Do:

Environmental

This applies to those who work in offices. Offices can be constructed using hard surface materials like glass, marble, granite and others similar materials. It can also incorporate sound absorbing materials like carpet, cubicles, or even acoustic wall and ceiling tiles. 

This may be a workable solution for some, but there are challenges to this including having the required budget to install sound absorbing material. The other drawback to this approach is it won’t filter out all the noise which means nearby conversations, for example, will still be heard. So even though installing cubicles or sound absorbing material is a good idea, it isn’t the total solution.

Seek a quiet spot. Maybe you just relocate to a quiet space whenever you need to get on an important call. That could work, but what if the quiet space isn’t available, or you get an unexpected call when not in a quiet space? Bottom line, this may work in some situations, but taking this approach isn’t the best one available to you as you’ll soon see.

Hardware

Taking this approach, you’ll likely be considering:

• A noise canceling headset
• A noise canceling conference phone
• Earbuds
• A USB Microphone and speakers

Headset. A headset that has a noise canceling microphone is a very good first step. But, keep in mind, a headset’s ability to remove noise varies greatly between model to model, and brand to brand. One thing for sure is no headset removes all background noise which means noise can still be a problem even if your headset is designed to remove it.

Noise canceling conference phone. Even though many conference phones come equipped with multiple noise canceling microphones, noise suppression, and echo cancellation, there remains some inherent shortcomings of this as your weapon against noise.

For starters, this is a handsfree, broadcast device that pushes the far end audio out of the central loudspeaker. By design, those sitting nearby are given the ability to hear, and be heard. But those who aren’t part of the call, but within hearing range of the call can also hear its contents. And if you’re dealing with sensitive information, that’s not ideal.

Like headsets, conference phones aren’t able to remove all the noise which leaves you with the problem, albeit improved, but still present.

Earbuds. Earbuds are an offshoot of headsets, and remain a popular choice for a lot of people. A lot of people use earbuds for business calls, many of which are unaware of the impact of their audio deficiencies. Generally speaking, earbuds are a poor choice for removing unwanted noise because most don’t do a good job, including popular brands like AirPods. 

Microphone audio quality, combined with poor noise cancellation are good reasons to give pause to earbuds for business calls. Beyond this, most earbud style headsets lack battery strength which means they might not be suitable for the talk time you need for a typical, or busy workday.

USB microphone and speakers . This approach represents my least favorite among those listed here. So much depends on the quality of the microphone as to how you’ll sound to your callers, and how much background noise is eliminated. Beyond that uncertainty, you’re back into broadcasting the content of your calls to anyone within hearing distance, and of course unable to leave your desk. Can this work? Of course, but there is a better option, which I’ll detail now.

Software

Recently, a new, advanced Ai based noise cancellation software was released called neep.

Yes, I know, it’s a funny name, but there’s nothing funny about the way it destroys background noise because when it comes to removing unwanted noise, neep is all business.

There are many advantages to using neep noise canceling software. Perhaps the biggest thing is it works with your current audio device such as those listed above, and with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. That makes neep highly versatile thereby avoiding the need to make additional purchases.

neep Performance

neep is designed to do exactly what you want and need, which is to eliminate background noise so you can have better, more professional sounding calls.

Real-Time Noise Reduction: neep utilizes advanced AI algorithms to analyze and remove background noise in real-time, ensuring uninterrupted and crystal-clear communication.

Professional Sound Quality. Sound quality goes far beyond the sound of your voice because sound quality also pertains to the total audio experience your callers hear. So yes, your voice audio quality matters, as does eliminating the noise in the background whether that’s the sound of coworkers, traffic noise, children, dogs or whatever, neep flat out gets the job done.

Isolates and enhances your voice. neep will isolate your voice from the sound of others, and at the same time, it works to improve your voice audio quality. Your callers will hear you loud, clear and professional, and your message will be understood.

Customizable Settings: You can fine-tune the noise reduction settings to suit your specific needs and preferences. Some might want more noise reduction, while others might prefer less. Either way, you can fine tune the settings to meet your specific needs.

Dual-Channel Noise Cancellation: neep not only eliminates noise on your end, but also tackles background noise from the other party's audio feed, leading to a truly clear and focused conversation for everyone. So if your callers don’t have the tools to eliminate background noise, neep takes care of it.

User-Friendly Interface: The intuitive interface makes neep accessible to all users, regardless of technical expertise. Add to that we provide free personal assistance for help with questions, or set up. We even provide video tutorials for those who prefer that approach. Either way, we’re here to help make things easy for you.

Noise reduction for recorded audio files. Rather than using a third party application for enhancing the sound quality on your recorded audio files, neep can take care of that too. No need to use additional software.

Become A Believer - Try neep For Free

Free trial offer. Before committing to a subscription, you can try neep for free. This allows you to experience the benefits firsthand and see how it can improve your audio quality. Even if you use a device that claims to be noise reducing, these devices cannot remove all the noise. And when noise elevates, you need the best tools to eliminate it which is where neep comes in. No matter what audio device you use across Windows, Mac or Linux platforms, neep will dramatically improve the quality of your calls.

To get started with your free trial of neep, just go to neep.com today! 

If you still have questions about neep, you might want to visit our FAQ page for some answers.

Have Questions, Or Need Some Help?

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for some helpful assistance. Whether you have questions about neep software, or need a tailored headset recommendation, we’re here to help. We’ve been assisting customers with their communication needs for 30 years, and I’m sure we can help you too. So don’t hesitate to contact us because our knowledgeable and friendly Advisors are here to help.