Voice isolation in Microsoft Teams calls and meetings

How It Works

Voice isolation operates using advanced AI algorithms within the Teams platform. When a user enrolls their voice profile, the feature analyzes audio input in real-time to identify the user's voice amidst background noise and other voices. Once isolated, voice isolation employs adaptive filtering techniques to suppress interfering speakers and extraneous noise, ensuring that only the user's voice is transmitted to other participants.  

Getting Started 

1. To enable voice isolation for your Teams calls or meetings, you must have a voice profile setup. To setup your voice profile, go to Settings and more > Settings > Recognition. From there, select Create voice profile.
   
   

   Note: If you don't see Recognition as a settings menu item, the feature may not be enabled for your organization. Refer to Overview of voice and face enrollment or reach out to your IT admin for more information. 

2. Select Start voice capture and read the text.
   

3. When you're done reading, select Stop voice capture. On the final screen, select Close.

4. By default, the noise suppression toggle is enabled for everyone in Teams. Once you complete the setup of your voice profile, the voice isolation option will then be automatically selected for you. To verify, proceed to your Audio settings in your Teams meeting and scroll down to the Noise suppression toggle. Turn on the toggle next to Noise suppression if it's not already enabled, and you should see the voice isolation sub-option available.
   
   
   
   

How to use

After enabling the voice isolation feature, you will see some changes to your Teams meeting to inform you when and how the feature is working. See the table below for an explanation of the changes. 

User interface changes	What this means
	The voice isolation feature is enabled and ready for your Teams call or meeting.
	If you enter into the meeting with your Audio muted, you will see the Mute icon next to the banner.
	Just your name is displayed. No unwanted audio is detected, Voice isolation is in Ready state​.
	Unwanted audio is detected, filtering of unwanted noise and voices is in progress.
	You will receive this notification if someone nearby is detected (e.g., you and a colleague are sharing your laptop for the current meeting). If you would like them to be heard, select the “Turn off voice isolation” option.

Troubleshooting 

We know voice isolation is important in ensuring the quality of your Teams calling and meeting audio. While rare, should there be any issues, Teams will alert you immediately to inform and advise you on how to resolve.  

To use the voice isolation feature, users will need to enroll their voice profile first. Users can enroll their voice and face profile under Settings > Recognition in the Microsoft Teams Desktop app as long as the enrollment policy is enabled for their organization. If you are experiencing any issues with enrolling your voice, please ensure you are in a relatively quiet environment or try changing your connected microphone to improve the quality of your audio. To learn more, see Use Microsoft Teams Intelligent Speakers to identify in-room participants in a meeting transcription.

Alert	What this means
	There is an issue with turning on the voice isolation option for your Teams meeting. Shut down and restart Teams and the voice isolation feature will reload.
	Your desktop computer is experiencing performance issues and cannot support running advanced noise suppression models on Teams at this moment.  To resolve, terminate the other apps running on your desktop computer. Re-enable the voice isolation option from the Audio dropdown or Audio settings.

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