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Guide

Fix echo in a conference room

Summary

Most meeting room echo comes from one of three things: two devices in the room with live audio, a speaker turned up too loud for its echo canceller, or a hard, bare room. Check them in that order. The first two cost nothing to fix. This guide is for small offices that run their own rooms. It is based on Zoom, Microsoft and Logitech documentation. We found no named reviews on this topic, so it uses maker documentation only. CrimsonBot has not tested these fixes.

Step 1: Find out who is causing the echo

If remote people hear themselves, the echo is usually coming from your room, not theirs.

Zoom lists three common causes (Zoom, Managing audio echo):

  1. Someone has both computer audio and phone audio active.
  2. Two people's computer or phone speakers are too close to each other.
  3. Several computers with active audio are in the same conference room.

Zoom also names speakers that are too loud (such as a TV or soundbar), failed echo cancellation and a bad microphone. To find the source, mute attendees one at a time (Zoom).

Step 2: One device with audio per room

When people bring laptops into a room that already has a video bar or speakerphone, have them join without computer audio, or disconnect it. Zoom's note: "Muting is not enough as you mute the mic, but the speaker is still on" (Zoom).

Who this fits: any room where people join on their own laptops. Make it a house rule and post it in the room.

Step 3: Let the room's own mic and speaker do the echo cancelling

All-in-one mic and speaker units have their own processor, and in most cases the unit "must function as both for it to work properly." In small huddle rooms, Zoom says an all-in-one soundbar that combines the mic and camera works well (Zoom, Acoustics and audio concepts).

  • Speaker volume. On Logitech Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini, "By default, the camera's speaker volume is set at an appropriate level for the echo canceler." Only in Speaker Boost Mode, which turns the bar's internal mics off when external mic pods are connected, can the volume go up by 3 dB "without creating echo" (Logitech Rally Mic Pod Placement Guide).
  • Zoom Rooms. For mics without their own audio processing, the Zoom Room can manage noise suppression, which includes echo cancellation, noise reduction and automatic gain control. It needs Zoom Rooms 5.13.0 or higher and Zoom Rooms for controller 5.13.0 or higher. On the controller: Settings > Microphone > Noise Suppression, with Off, Auto (default) or High for noisy rooms (Zoom, Using noise suppression). Zoom says this does not interfere with hardware that has built-in processing, "unless you are using Yealink A10, A20, or A30 devices." Zoom AI denoise is not supported on first-generation Zoom Rooms Appliances (Zoom).
  • Teams Rooms on Windows. Microsoft uses its own noise suppression by default along with the mic maker's processing. When a certified DSP is connected, Microsoft turns off its service-side echo cancellation and relies on the DSP. On Teams Rooms on Android, audio processing is handled by the device maker's firmware (Microsoft Learn, Teams Rooms operations).

Who this fits: rooms with a dedicated video bar, speakerphone or room system. If a room was set up by an installer with a DSP, ask them before changing anything.

Before you change settings on a live room system (controller settings, DSP or firmware), have the person who owns the room review the change first, and write down the old setting so you can put it back.

Step 4: Check it every day without thinking about it

Zoom Rooms can test audio automatically each morning between 2 AM and 4 AM local time. It uses the speaker and microphone to check for echo and shows an alert on the controller if it finds any. Turn it on in the Zoom web portal under Room Management > Zoom Rooms, Meeting tab, "Audio Device Daily Auto Testing." For a manual test: Settings (unlock with the passcode) > Start Audio Echo Test (Zoom, daily audio testing).

Step 5: Get mics close to people, and speakers away from mics

  • Match mics and speakers to the room size, and check the mic pickup range covers every seat. Larger rooms can add mic expansion (Logitech room design guide).
  • Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini built-in mics "support a mic pickup range up to 23 ft (7 m)." With Rally Mic Pods, Logitech's default layout puts the first pod 12 ft (3.7 m) from the bar, each pod covers a 15 ft (4.6 m) diameter, and extra pods go 8 ft (2.4 m) apart. Table and ceiling pods perform about the same if spaced the same way and the ceiling is 10 ft or lower (Logitech).
  • For a rectangular table, Microsoft says to "Place at least two microphones on the conference table so that no participants are more than a few feet from one," with overlapping coverage. With ceiling speakers, keep them apart from ceiling mics (Microsoft Learn, room design).

Logitech's own advice: "As room acoustics can vary, testing the configuration is recommended" (Logitech). Run a test call after each change.

Step 6: Soften the room

If steps 1 to 5 don't fix it, the room itself is probably too live.

  • Target. Zoom's rule of thumb is no more than half a second of reverb time (RT60). Above that, Zoom's example for a room with an average ceiling height is to treat 40% of the floor's square footage with sound-dampening materials and/or keep it free of hard surfaces (Zoom).
  • Walls and floor. For Microsoft's Signature Teams Rooms design, "At least two walls in a room of this type should be acoustically treated," and the floor "should be carpeted or otherwise acoustically treated" (Microsoft Learn).
  • Materials. Logitech says to avoid metal, stone, glass and similar hard surfaces, which increase reflection; to consider acoustic ceiling tiles or hanging panels, "both of which absorb sound and reduce echo and reverb"; and to use carpet rather than tile or hardwood (Logitech room design guide).
  • Cheap soft things. Zoom lists bookcases, overflow soft seating, carpeting, canvas artwork and plants (Zoom).
  • Noise, too. Zoom's ideal noise floor is no louder than 40 dB SPL A-weighted, against a normal speaking voice of about 70 dB, a 30 dB signal-to-noise ratio. HVAC, elevators, open offices, traffic, trains and planes all raise it (Zoom).

Who this fits: glass-walled rooms, bare drywall and hard floors. Panel and treatment prices are not covered here yet. A cost guide, What a room costs: DIY vs installer, is on the way.

When to call an installer

If the room has a DSP, ceiling mics or speakers, or the echo comes back after steps 1 to 6, get the person who set up the room to look at it. More room guides are on the Meeting rooms hub.

Unverified / not covered

  • Zoom Rooms Audio Guidelines (KB0062327) could not be read, so Zoom Rooms echo-cancellation settings beyond the noise-suppression article are not covered.
  • HP/Poly's Video Room Preparation Guide was not captured from an official URL, so Poly-specific guidance is not included.
  • No acoustic panel or treatment prices.

Affiliate disclosure (FTC)

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Sources (all checked 2026-11-12)

  • Zoom, Managing audio echo in a meeting: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0061720
  • Zoom, Acoustics and audio concepts: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0065508
  • Zoom Rooms, Using noise suppression: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0064159
  • Zoom Rooms, daily audio testing: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0060280
  • Logitech, Setting Up a Video Meeting Space (room design guide): https://www.logitech.com/content/dam/logitech/en/video-collaboration/pdf/logitech-room-design-guide.pdf
  • Logitech, Rally Mic Pod Placement Guide: https://www.logitech.com/content/dam/logitech/en/video-collaboration/pdf/rally-mic-pod-placement-guide.pdf
  • Microsoft Learn, Design and build a Signature Teams Rooms meeting space: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/hybrid-meetings-room-design
  • Microsoft Learn, Teams Rooms maintenance and operations: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/rooms/rooms-operations

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Logitech, Rally, Poly and Yealink are trademarks of their owners. CrimsonBot is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.