We are, thankfully, past the era where the predominant medium of professional communication was video calls on Zoom or Google Meet. It made a giant out of platforms such as Zoom, triggered body image and self-consciousness woes for many, and helped us realize the importance of a good-quality webcam and mic.
According to a study conducted by experts at Yale University, a bad microphone and poor audio quality actually have a meaningful impact on a person’s job prospects. It also makes the person on the other end lower the perception of a speaker’s credibility, compared to another candidate with a high fidelity mic delivering clear without any distortion.
“Superficial auditory properties can have surprisingly deep consequences for higher-level social judgments,” says the research paper published in the Proceedings of National Academy of of Sciences journal. As per the study, bad audio quality triggers “decreased judgments of intelligence, hireability, credibility, and romantic desirability.
How the study was conducted?
As part of their experiment, the team simulated the quality of bad mics on voice recordings and assessed the impression on listeners. Across all the tests, it was evident that undesirable audio traits such as tinny sound negatively affect the impression of a speaker, irrespective of how profound and eloquent the actual words are.
The team conducted a total of six experiments. As part of the analysis, participants were made to listen to the same voice recordings in two different variations — one recording with a high-quality mic that deliver clear audio, while the other one simulated the effect of a bad mic that distorted the true sound. The words were clearly discernible in each case, though.
In situations where participants were asked to judge the hiring prospects of a candidate or hearing a sales pitch, participants clearly favored candidates who sent recordings that were clear and resonant in quality. The person behind such clean recordings was deemed well-suited for hiring, intelligent, credible, and overall, more desirable.
It’s time to invest in a better mic
“This is both fascinating and concerning, especially when the sound of your voice is determined not just by your vocal anatomy, but also by the technology you’re using,” notes Brian Scholl, senior author of the research paper and a professor of psychology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
The experts behind the study note that during video calls, especially those where the stakes are high, a candidate can see how they look through the camera feed. However, they don’t know how they sound to other people in the video conference. It is, therefore, advisable to check their mic quality via a voice recording, and if possible, switch to a gear that offers a better microphone.
Alternatively, you can switch the mic input from the computer’s onboard mics to a connected peripheral. For example, you can now use your Android phone as a webcam for video calls with a simple plug-and-play approach. It’s also an opportunity to accordingly switch the audio input channel, preferably to the connected wired or wireless listening gear.