Spatial audio in Microsoft Teams meetings

Experience immersive spatial audio in Teams during a voice and video meeting or inside immersive events. Note that your spatial audio experience will be different inside and outside the Teams screen share area for immersive events - see details below.

In Teams immersive events, spatial audio can help you connect with and spatially locate others in the 3D immersive space
In voice and video meetings: When people speak, you'll hear their voices coming from their relative positions on the meeting screen.

Spatial audio in immersive events

Spatial audio can help you connect with and spatially locate others in 3D space. In the immersive event, you'll hear other meeting participants’ voices depending on their distance and spatial orientation. Use your avatar to move closer to the location where a conversation is taking place to hear it more clearly.

For more information about spatial audio in immersive events, see how to fix audio issues.

Tip: Use a wired headset to get the full spatial audio experience.

In immersive events in Teams, every participant is represented as an avatar. These events use spatial audio to create natural, location-based conversation across the entire environment.

Spatial audio and spotlight audio

With spatial audio, voices sound louder as you move closer and softer as you move away, just like in real life. For example, if an avatar is to your right, you'll hear them from the right.

Spotlight audio: When an organizer or presenter speaks in spotlight mode, their voice spans the entire event, reaching all rooms regardless of where avatars are located. This enables organizers and co-organizers to present content, along with the hand raise feature which allows any attendee to be spotlit and share their voice across the entire event.

Multiple conversations

Spatial audio makes it possible to have multiple discussions simultaneously in different parts of the room without overwhelming attendees. Join a focused conversation or move between groups seamlessly.

Side conversations and social areas

Immersive events encourage networking and informal chats. Move to quieter zones for specific discussions with others. Other attendees won't hear you unless their avatars are nearby.

Even during side chats, you'll sense when the main event is active through presenter audio because presenter(s) will be spotlight. When no one is speaking, the space will be calm and silent, so you'll always know what's happening without leaving your conversation.

Spatial audio in voice and video meetings

Compatibility requirements

Listen to your meeting with spatial audio with USB-wired stereo headphones or speakers, or your device’s built-in stereo speakers. Bluetooth audio devices aren’t currently supported for spatial audio.

To experience this effect, the meeting must have more than two participants in gallery view.

Notes:

To preserve audio quality, Teams will turn off spatial audio if your network's bandwidth or computer memory is low.
One-on-one calls and large meetings with more than 100 attendees are not yet supported.

Enable spatial audio

You can enable spatial audio before and during a Teams meeting.

Tips:

If you turn on spatial audio in a meeting with live interpretation, you'll hear the original and translated audio at the same volume. Turn off spatial audio and rejoin the meeting to hear the interpreter's voice clearly with reduced original voice.
If you turn on spatial audio in a meeting with music mode enabled, you won't receive high-fidelity audio. Turn off spatial audio and then rejoin the meeting to enjoy full-band audio.

Before the meeting

In Teams, select Settings and more > Settings .
Select Devices .
In Audio Settings > Speaker, select your compatible device from the dropdown menu.
Turn on the Spatial audio toggle.