Analysis: here are some ways to make your next video call less boring and
tiring for all involved
By <https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-hines-910284> Andrew Hines,
<https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-college-dublin-1365>
University College Dublin and
<https://theconversation.com/profiles/pheobe-sun-1056493> Pheobe Sun,
<https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-college-dublin-1365>
University College Dublin
Many new phrases have entered our vocabulary as a result of the
<http://rte.ie/brainstorm/coronavirus> Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. "
<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-zoom-fatigue
-is-taxing-the-brain-here-is-why-that-happens/> Zoom fatigue" refers to the
mental exhaustion associated with online video conferencing. We can change
<https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-e
xhausting> how we interact on video calls with adapted
<https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/a-theory-of-zoom-fatigue> social
behaviours such as scheduling shorter meetings. But theories from audio and
sound research tell us that a lot of what determines how fatigued you become
is based on what you are listening to.
The voices transmitted through the internet in real time are unedited and
therefore crude to our ears. That is why we can wile away an hour listening
to a podcast interview but feel drained after a video meeting - even if we
didn't have to contribute.
The good news is each one of us can contribute to reducing Zoom fatigue. You
can change some simple things to improve everyone's video meeting
experience.
How do I sound?
Unnatural, unexpected and annoying
<https://www.livescience.com/57106-why-fingernails-on-chalkboard-hurts.html>
sounds invoke a response in our brains and force us to concentrate on them.
In a conference call or video meeting, your voice is transformed by the
microphone. High pitch frequencies will be amplified, resulting in a
<https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/10/cover-your-ears> squeaky, "Mickey
Mouse" effect. Subtle sounds such as key tapping and swallowing sounds will
be captured and amplified through the system. Squeaky chairs, eating crunchy
snacks and slurping coffee can sound to the listeners as if you are chewing
in their ears.
If you want to limit the negative effect your voice might be having on other
callers, the problem is you don't know what it actually sounds like on their
devices. Face to face we can hear ourselves in the same environment as our
audience hears us and we adjust accordingly but that's not possible online.
Step into your listener's shoes: record a meeting on your own and listen
back to understand how others hear you. Something as simple as
<http://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/mic-technique-podcasting> adjusting the
position, distance, or direction of your microphone could make a big
difference. Switching from a laptop's built-in microphone to a headphone
microphone can mask a lot of environmental noises such as keyboard clicking
or room echo.
Ill communication
While the content and topics of our video conversations may remain the same,
we are constrained by the technology. Listening to group chats can be
exhausting because we have lost the ways we
<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-in-society/article/on-the-
structure-of-speakerauditor-interaction-during-speaking-turns1/9F50C811558B3
395570D2907F7177FE4> use "back-channel" sounds to give
<https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01919/full>
turn-taking feedback.
This nuanced "
<https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/s
unday-review/zoom-video-conference.amp.html> meta-communication" involves
using verbal and
<https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137345868_5> non-verbal
sounds, such as "yeah" or "uh-huh", that show attention, understanding, or
agreement, distracts and interrupts the flow in a group conversation.
Network delays can confuse things, even more when the talker's speech and
the back-channel response
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167639314000302>
arrives out of synch or with long delays and can completely stall the
conversation flow.
Did you turn it off and turn it on again?
Network problems can also impact speech clarity. Data loss in the audio feed
can cause unnatural sounding voices and missing sounds. Our brain needs to
do extra work to
<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2124214-your-brain-fills-gaps-in-your-
hearing-without-you-realising/> fill in the gaps. We use energy
concentrating on unnatural voice changes that divert our concentration from
understanding the message.
We must acknowledge the
<https://telnyx.com/resources/the-internet-was-not-made-for-real-time-commun
ication> technical limits of video chats and adapt by cultivating new
conversation etiquettes. Mute your microphones after saying hello and using
text chat to interject or raise questions in group conversations. Articulate
your own speech clearly (don't mumble) and turn on
<https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-difference-between-open-and-closed-cap
tioning> closed captions to aid your comprehension. And make sure someone
else in the house is not consuming all the bandwidth for Netflix while you
are having a video conference.
Arrange your space
Conversations in a household environment bring background noises as well as
echoes and reverberation due to
<https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190729-how-the-sound-in-your-office-af
fects-your-mood> room acoustics. Typical background conversations in
open-plan offices can easily be filtered out subconsciously by our brain due
to its ability to separate sounds by their location or direction.
These <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23527271> spatial cues allow us
to focus on a single speaker in a crowded room. This is one reason why
side-conversations held in parallel to the main discussion do not work on a
video conference. Without the aid of directional information background
noises and speech become a lot more intrusive. Rooms at home can
<http://www.hearingreview.com/hearing-products/testing-equipment/using-de-re
verberation-program-improve-speech-intelligibility-reduce-perceived-listenin
g-effort> produce reverberations that can reduce your ability to understand
speech.
Just like social distancing, improving the quality of your video call
experience relies on a community effort
To make your home video environment more accommodating, close the door to at
least keep pets out, even if it cannot stop kids interrupting. You may not
want to convert your living room into a recording studio by putting egg
cartons all over the wall but you can make the acoustic environment more
"voice friendly" by
<https://usabilitygeek.com/improve-sound-understanding-room-acoustics/>
reducing reverberation and echoes with soft furnishings like blankets or
pillows instead of plain walls. The <https://twitter.com/bcredibility>
bookcase in the background is not just a pretty prop, but also a good
acoustic baffle.
Just like social distancing, improving the quality of your video call
experience relies on a community effort. As many of us won't be going back
into the office for a long time, we must all work to reduce Zoom fatigue and
make calls less of a strain for everyone.
<https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-hines-910284> Andrew Hines is
Assistant Professor at
<https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-college-dublin-1365>
University College Dublin.
<https://theconversation.com/profiles/pheobe-sun-1056493> Pheobe Sun is a
PhD candidate in Computer Science at
<https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-college-dublin-1365>
University College Dublin
This article is republished from <https://theconversation.com/> The
Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the
<https://theconversation.com/zoom-fatigue-how-to-make-video-calls-less-tirin
g-137861> original article.
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