Room Experience

At Cisco we want to make the whole meeting experience as great as possible.

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  Sound and Acoustics

  Microphones

  It is important to be aware of the location of the video system’s microphones. They should not be covered or placed too far away from meeting participants. Your room’s reverberation time and noise levels define how well far-end participants hear you.

  For a given room, the distance between the microphone and the talking participant determines the ratio of direct sound to reverberant sound. A microphone closer to the participant receives a higher level of direct sound relative to reverberant sound, which is preferable.

  There is a recommended limit for the maximum tolerable distance between a participant and the closest microphone depending on the room volume, noise levels, reverberation time and the type of microphone used.

  For omnidirectional microphones in well-treated rooms (Lp,A,T < 30dB, 0.3s < RT60 < 0.4s), a maximum distance of 1 meter is recommended. For directional microphones under the same conditions, the distance between the talking participant and the microphone can be up to 1.5meter.

  In poorly-treated rooms, or where these distances are exceeded, sound quality will be negatively impacted.
  

  Acoustics

  The acoustic conditions of your room play an important role for both video calls and local meetings.

  The three primary acoustic factors for the meeting experience are:

  • Reverberation in the room (RT60)

  • Noise levels (background noise)

  • Sound insulation between the room and the surrounding environment

  In a video conferencing room, the acoustic experience depends on the combined effect of the above-mentioned factors of your room and the other meeting participants' room.
  Consequently, acoustic requirements for video conferencing are stricter than for other rooms. What makes the acoustic experience more difficult to evaluate during a video call, is that some aspects of the acoustic experience caused by your room may only be apparent to the far-end meeting participants.
  
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  Lighting

  Light sources

  To make video meeting participants have the best appearance, they should be lit with light coming from both the front (fill), top (key) and back. The top light is the main illumination of the subject. The front light is added to avoid dark shadows over participants eyes and improves eye contact. Back light makes the subjects stand out from the background and gives depth to the scene. To achieve this, use a glare-free luminary with a beam angle of 90° or wider, as it will serve as both key light, as well as fill and back light, when distributed evenly throughout the room.

  Tips

  The recommended light intensity for faces is 400‑500 lux, measured vertically. We recommend 700‑900 lux on horizontal work surfaces. The lighting in the room should be even, with little variance between light and dark areas. A light color temperature of 4000 K often works well, but there are different user preferences around the globe. Avoid blending light sources with different color temperatures. In order to render skin tones and room interior with correct colors, it is important to have a color rendering index (CRI) of 85 or better.
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  Interior

  Background

  A busy background can be disturbing when using video and makes it harder to focus. Back to back seating may allow video participants to see the screens of colleagues and this might introduce som privacy issues. A thin privacy screen may be placed or hanged between rows to maintain a calmer background.

  Furniture

  Good furniture can be essential in a good meeting experience. We recommend using a slightly slanted table when there are three or more participants seated on the long side of a table. It should be wider on the end closest to the system so that everyone can see the screen and be seen on camera. For seating, we recommend fabric finishes on chairs to enhance sound and acoustic quality.