isnaini azizah
In an era where business, education, and even casual conversations occur via screens, sound has become a differentiating factor. We obsess over lighting, camera angles, and virtual backgrounds, but how we sound can be just as critical to credibility, trust, and connection. This is the core insight driving Erik Vaveris, vice president of product management and chief marketing officer at Shure, and Brian Scholl, director of the Perception & Cognition Laboratory at Yale University. Both experts see audio as more than a mere technical layer; it’s a profound human factor shaping how people perceive intelligence, trustworthiness, and authority in virtual settings.
"If you’re willing to take a little bit of time with your audio setup, you can really get across the full power of your message and the full power of who you are to your peers, to your employees, your boss, your suppliers, and of course, your customers," emphasizes Vaveris. This sentiment is echoed and scientifically validated by Scholl’s research, which demonstrates that poor audio quality can significantly diminish a speaker’s persuasiveness, their perceived hireability, and even their overall credibility.
Scholl elaborates on this crucial point: "We know that [poor] sound doesn’t reflect the people themselves, but we really just can’t stop ourselves from having those impressions." He highlights an intuitive understanding that difficulty in being understood is detrimental, but many mistakenly believe that as long as the words are decipherable, the audio is adequate. Scholl’s research, however, reveals a surprising and significant truth: this assumption is profoundly incorrect.
For organizations navigating the complexities of hybrid work, virtual training, and digital marketing, the stakes surrounding audio quality have escalated dramatically. Vaveris points to the pandemic as a watershed moment for audio technology. As classrooms, boardrooms, and conferences rapidly transitioned online, demand surged for advanced noise suppression, echo cancellation, and AI-driven processing tools that facilitate seamless virtual interactions. Today, sophisticated machine learning algorithms can effectively strip away distracting sounds like keyboard clicks or reverberation, isolating a speaker’s voice even in noisy environments. This enhanced clarity is fundamental to the accuracy of AI meeting assistants, which now reliably transcribe, summarize, and analyze discussions.
The implications of improved audio are rippling across industries. Clearer audio levels the playing field for remote participants, fostering more inclusive collaboration. It empowers executives and creators alike to produce broadcast-quality content from the convenience of their home offices. Furthermore, it offers companies innovative avenues to build credibility with customers and employees without the substantial overhead associated with traditional production methods. Looking ahead, the convergence of audio innovation and artificial intelligence promises an even more dynamic landscape. This includes real-time captioning in native languages, advanced audio filtering, and smarter meeting tools that capture not only the spoken word but also its nuances, all while technologies become increasingly unobtrusive, amplifying the human voice at the center of communication. "There’s a future out there where this technology can really be something that helps bring people together," Vaveris envisions. "Now that we have so many years of history with the internet, we know there’s usually two sides to the coin of technology, but there’s definitely going to be a positive side to this, and I’m really looking forward to it." In a world increasingly mediated by screens, sound may well emerge as the most powerful connector of all.
This discussion, originating from an episode of MIT Technology Review’s "Business Lab" produced in partnership with Shure, delves into the transformative impact of audio quality. Megan Tatum, host of Business Lab, converses with Erik Vaveris and Brian Scholl about the evolution of audio technology, its psychological effects, and its strategic importance in the modern professional landscape.
Vaveris recounts the dramatic shift brought about by the pandemic, where the immediate pivot to remote work underscored the critical, yet often overlooked, importance of audio quality. He notes that while individuals can readily assess their visual presentation on video calls, they lack the immediate feedback on how their voice is being perceived. The consequence of poor audio is not a polite request to repeat oneself, but rather a silent increase in cognitive load for the listener, leading to fatigue and a diminished comprehension of the message. Conversely, investing in audio setup allows individuals to convey their full message and personal presence effectively. The subsequent acceleration of R&D in audio processing algorithms, including advanced noise reduction and de-reverberation powered by AI, has been a direct result of this realization. The proliferation of unobtrusive microphone arrays and sophisticated signal processing has become the norm, driven by the necessity for seamless communication in hybrid environments.
Scholl shares his personal experience of this paradigm shift, detailing how academia, like other sectors, was thrust into a fully remote setting. He describes the unexpected benefit of virtual seminars, which allowed students to engage with world-leading experts who might otherwise have been inaccessible due to logistical and financial constraints. This anecdote underscores the democratizing potential of virtual interaction, even amidst technological challenges.
The conversation then pivots to Scholl’s research, which was directly motivated by his observations of perceived differences in credibility and persuasiveness during early pandemic-era virtual meetings. His study involved playing participants audio clips with varying levels of quality, simulating both high-fidelity and distorted audio through subtle technical manipulation. The results were striking: even when participants could fully understand the words spoken, those who heard the lower-quality audio rated the speaker as approximately 8% less hirable, 8% less intelligent, and 8% less credible in a scenario describing a car accident. These findings underscore the deeply ingrained, often subconscious, perceptual biases that audio quality triggers, irrespective of the actual content or the speaker’s true attributes.
Vaveris expresses gratification for Scholl’s research, seeing it as validation for Shure’s long-standing emphasis on audio quality. He notes that while audio professionals intuitively understand these principles, scientific evidence is crucial for broader industry adoption. The challenge, however, lies in making advanced audio technology accessible and user-friendly, overcoming the cost barriers and simplifying deployment and management for IT teams and end-users alike. The increasing integration of familiar user interfaces and seamless connectivity across devices is streamlining the meeting experience.
Significant technological advancements, particularly in AI-powered digital signal processing (DSP), are revolutionizing audio. Machine learning is enhancing noise reduction, echo cancellation, and de-reverberation, producing cleaner audio with fewer artifacts. New features like Microsoft’s voice print in Teams can isolate a speaker’s voice even in highly noisy environments. Furthermore, the emergence of AI agents for meeting summarization and action item generation highlights a new consumer of audio: AI itself. For these agents to function effectively, accurate and clear transcriptions are paramount, necessitating a higher standard of audio input.
Scholl emphasizes that the goal of these technologies is often invisibility – seamless communication where the technology recedes into the background. He notes the intriguing paradox that as audio becomes more technologically mediated, the more it can ideally mimic direct, unadulterated human interaction.
The discussion extends to the impact of high-quality audio on content creation for marketing and internal training. Vaveris explains how accessible technology has democratized the production of compelling content, allowing influencers and businesses to create professional-sounding materials without extensive resources. This trend, amplified by the advent of podcasts, allows for more authentic and relatable content. The ability for individuals, including CEOs, to record high-quality messages from their desks using simple USB microphones signifies a profound shift in how internal communications and marketing materials are produced.
Regarding return on investment (ROI), Vaveris cites a study with IDC Research, which found that the benefits of improved audio and collaboration technology manifest in shorter, more productive meetings, faster decision-making, and stronger teamwork. Quantifying these benefits across an enterprise can be complex but is increasingly recognized as crucial for justifying investments. The universal use of collaboration tools by all levels of an organization, including finance departments, facilitates a clearer understanding of their value.
Scholl, from a purely academic perspective, expresses fascination with the multi-dimensional nature of audio signals and the potential for AI to manipulate them in ways that influence perception beyond mere clarity. He speculates on how variations in bass, treble, and other sonic characteristics could subtly alter impressions, a frontier his lab is eager to explore.
Looking forward, both experts envision a future where audio technology fosters deeper connection and understanding. Vaveris anticipates advancements in real-time translation, where not only captions but also synthesized voices in one’s native language become commonplace, breaking down linguistic barriers and enabling more profound cross-cultural communication. He acknowledges the dual nature of technological progress but remains optimistic about the unifying potential of these emerging audio capabilities. Scholl draws parallels to the ubiquitous use of filters in visual media, suggesting a similar trend for audio is on the horizon, potentially leading to new forms of self-expression and impression management in the virtual realm. The power of sound, it seems, will continue to shape our virtual realities, forging connections and influencing perceptions in increasingly sophisticated ways.
