How can I use my phone and my laptop on zoom without a loud echo?

[Meowmee]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Last edited Fri Oct 28, 2022, 02:40 AM - Edit history (1)

I tested it last night and thought that turning the microphone off on the phone solved the problem of loud, screechy interference. But tonight in a class when I was using the phone camera to demonstrate and the laptop to talk to the class there was a bad echo. Also the pic was tiny but someone told me how to make it larger and now I have forgotten how I did that.

[Louis1895]

1. Need more info to trouble shoot

Are you running Zoom on both your phone and laptop? If so, the echo most likely occurs because the mic on your laptop is picking up the audio of the phone and laptop and feeding it back.

If you need to run Zoom on both your phone and laptop for some reason, try muting the audio (output) and mic (input) on one of the devices.

Hope this makes sense and helps!

I do not understand the small picture problem.

[stopdiggin]

2. I'm going w/ the above

try muting your phone first. And if that doesn't work - go the other direction.

[Meowmee]

4. thanks

I did that the previous night when I tested it and it was fine it worked.. I muted the microphone on my phone... and kept it on my laptop and it was good. But during the class when other people were there there was a loud echo when I spoke even though I muted the microphone on the phone again. I did not switch the host to the phone and keep it as the laptop.

I don't understand why it seemed to work when I tested it with just my phone and laptop present at the meeting but then with more people there was a horrible echo.

What I am doing is demonstrating a drawing project using the phone as a camera above a table and still using the computer to run the class and communicate etc. At first when I tested it, there was screeching feed back with the phone mic and laptop mike both on... but when I turned the phone mic off it was ok. My voice was also heard only through the phone.. but with others in attendance the same thing resulted in an echo.

I guess I will have to try to contact zoom support again. I was on chat and phone with them for at least 2 hours before trying it all. It was very frustrating because they kept telling me info entered was not correct, then my account does not have phone support, then it was determined it does have phone support and after shuffling me from sales back to support, the auto menu did the same thing all over again and then hung up on me. lol So I did several live chats and they said they would schedule a call back and no one ever called me back. The support is in other countries as well. The only way I could get a live person was to talk to the sales department. Eventually they agreed that my account, which is through the college, does have phone support but the automated line is having serious issues obviously.

[Meowmee]

6. When I first tried it I muted the microphone

only on the phone.. I can' see any way to mute input in the zoom app on the phone, but it seemed to work. I watched someone's video who said you need to mute the phone, she was doing the same thing. I can't find the video now.

I am demonstrating a drawing and other art projects on a table with my phone as a camera above. And using the laptop to do the rest, like lectures etc. I had set the laptop as the host even when the phone is added in which I didn't do until the meeting 2/3 through.. it asked me this time if I wanted to change the phone to host.. I don't think I can host from the phone so I kept the phone as a participant which is what I think I did when I tested it and it seemed to work then.

When I tested it, (phone microphone only muted) my voice came out very softly through the phone, which was the participant then, with no echo and no screeching.

[LeftInTX]

3. At least one device must have the sound turned off.

Use only one device for audio.

When I use my computer and phone, I turn the audio off on my computer.

[Meowmee]

5. yes I did that and it worked when I tested it

I turned the mic off on my phone on the zoom tool menu and it eliminated the screech but during the class when I also turned the phone mic off there was still a huge echo. Fortunately I already had a pre taped video of the demonstration. But I prefer to show things live during the class if possible. I am wondering if a webcam attached to my laptop would be better.. but the thing is I still want to run the class so I can see what they are doing, they can hold up work if they need help so it mimics what happens in an in person class. if I only have the one camera as the webcam showing what I do I can't do that. And it will be hard to get the webcam in the same position as my phone which shows the whole table.

I saw someone's video on youtube who teaches individual students and she said she sets up two cameras attached to the same meeting like I did. I can't find her video now to see if there was something else she did. She did say you can't talk through the phone.. or something like that, but when I turned off the phone mic and spoke, my voice came out very softly through the phone only which seems like that is what is supposed to happen because the phone is a participant and I am hosting from the laptop.

[Meowmee]

8. so if I turn them both off on the phone will that work?

When I did it the first time with just my laptop and my phone as a participant all I did was mute the microphone on the phone and it worked. I don't understand why it worked the first time and not with the actual class. All I did was turn off the mic in the zoom app on the phone before putting it on its stand and after joining the meeting.

[nilram]

9. Yes, it should. Thinking that the phone output was

Causing the feedback to the computer. If mic and speaker is turned on just one device, then that device knows when to not transmit back to the meeting.

(Sorry, deleted my message because I’d replied to the wrong conversation.)

[Meowmee]

10. Ok

I will try again tomorrow as a test.. I don't understand why it worked the first time when I only turned the mic off.. very odd. Thank you. I will hopefully get this figured out before the next class.

[Louis1895]

11. A couple of other thoughts

1. Check to make sure you are using the latest versions of Zoom on your phone and laptop.

2. Use headphones or ear buds so your microphone only picks audio from your voice, not anything coming from your phone or laptop.

3. The problem may not be on your end. Ask students to mute their microphones unless they are talking. When classes and meetings went online at the beginning of the pandemic, feedback was a big issue for my Zoom conferences. With time people learned to mute themselves and I think the software got better. One or more of your students may not have updated software or may need to mute their mics. As host, you can set your software to mute participants when they log on. Also, as host you can mute them from your end if someone has a live mic causing feedback. I used to host a seminar series at my university and I constantly monitored the participants list to shut off the mics of people on the conference. You can also designate someone to be a co-host to handle those duties if you are the speaker.

[Meowmee]

12. Thanks

I will try all of those. I do have it set to mute people when they enter the class and I let them in from the waiting room. I guess it’s possible some of the students might’ve had their mic turned on it’s hard for me to say for sure because there are 22 people in the class and I can only see a few in the list of people, so I would have to scroll through all of the participants to make sure. I guess that’s possible that could’ve been what caused this issue this time. It’s just me, I’m doing everything.

I was doing similar things at the beginning of the pandemic in blackboard collaborate, but not with the phone over a table etc. Overall I had no problems with that, it was perfect for what I needed to do then. I really prefer bbc. But for some reason the college changed to another system now, and I decided to try zoom because the program they have for live classes isn’t part of the new system, I don’t know if it’s completely working yet, and it has a time limit of only one hour.

[Sympthsical]

13. It sounds like another person

They may have an open mic/not using push to talk.

So your voice is looping back through a microphone on their end.

[Meowmee]

14. Yes maybe that is it.

I will make an announcement about it before the next class meeting. By an open mic do you mean they’re not using the microphone on their computer? I don’t know what push to talk is- you mean they unmute themselves. because that’s generally what we do when in a zoom meeting… you just click unmute so you can speak and most of the time I leave it on mute if I’m in a meeting.

But I have never been in a meeting where they were using another device to show some thing like a drawing.

I thought I posted this in the the lounge or the forum help community not the general discussion lol. 😹

[Sympthsical]

18. Yeah, they're unmuted and may not realize it

Every new semester, there's always one person in online classes who leaves their mic open until the professor makes an announcement.

A lot of the time it happens when someone's zooming on their phone and don't realize they have to turn their mic off (or that such a thing is even possible).

[Meowmee]

20. Thanks

Hopefully it will be something simple like that and I can just tell them. But if they have to remain muted while I’m using the phone and the computer I don’t know how they’re going to ask me questions if they need help with something without that awful echo…oh well hopefully someone can figure out a solution to it.

[Sympthsical]

21. There's a push to talk function on zoom

If they're on their computer, they have to hold down a keyboard button in order to speak. If they're not actively holding down the button, they're muted. (This is usually what you want users to have as a default in a meeting, so only the person leading the meeting has an open mic).

On the phone, you can just flick the microphone on and off.

[Meowmee]

22. I read that about the keyboard

when I have been in meetings I just press on the microphone image to unmute. I will see if this helps, hopefully.. I don't know what devices everyone is using.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. That's My Guess

I've seen it happening when subbing during COVID, when lots of kids were online.
One class there's a bad echo, the next nothing.
However, I've experienced the echo when every attendee was muted.
Perhaps the platform is not as seamless as advertised.

[Sympthsical]

19. With work, we learned not to use cameras

And not to share screen on personal PCs.

"Are you shopping at Home Depot in the middle of this meeting?"

"Might be."

[whistler162]

15. How many people where

Physically in the class using a device to watch your Zoom session? Have in class students turn off their mic's.

[Meowmee]

16. Well there are about 22 now but it may get larger.

The first class there were about 12-14 people there. Yes I do have it set up so they are muted when they come into the class, but they could turn on their microphone without me realizing it.

[JudyM]

23. Locking

We received a wrong forum alert on this because the subject doesn’t fall within the SOP’s “politics, issues and current events.” Feel free to repost it in the Computer Help and Support group, though.