{"id":620,"date":"2020-05-11T16:57:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T16:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qxlab.ucd.ie\/?p=620"},"modified":"2020-05-11T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T16:57:45","slug":"zoom-fatigue-how-to-make-video-calls-less-tiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qxlab.ucd.ie\/index.php\/2020\/05\/11\/zoom-fatigue-how-to-make-video-calls-less-tiring\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoom fatigue: how to make video calls less tiring"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dean Drobot\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andrew Hines<\/a>, University College Dublin<\/a><\/em> and Pheobe Sun<\/a>, University College Dublin<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Many new phrases have entered our vocabulary as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. \u201cZoom fatigue<\/a>\u201d refers to the mental exhaustion associated with online video conferencing.<\/p>\n

We can change how we interact on video calls<\/a> with adapted social behaviours<\/a> such as scheduling shorter meetings. But theories from audio and sound research tell us that a lot of what determines how fatigued you become is based on what you are listening to.<\/p>\n

The voices transmitted through the internet in real time are unedited and therefore crude to our ears. That is why we can wile away an hour listening to a podcast interview but feel drained after a video meeting \u2013 even if we didn\u2019t have to contribute.<\/p>\n

The good news is each one of us can contribute to reducing Zoom fatigue. You can change some simple things to improve everyone\u2019s video meeting experience.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t tap<\/h2>\n

Unnatural, unexpected and annoying sounds invoke a response in our brains<\/a> and force us to concentrate on them. In a conference call or video meeting, your voice is transformed by the microphone. High pitch frequencies will be amplified, resulting in a squeaky, \u201cMickey Mouse\u201d effect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Subtle sounds such as key tapping and swallowing sounds will be captured and amplified through the system. Squeaky chairs, eating crunchy snacks and slurping coffee can sound to the listeners as if you are chewing in their ears.<\/p>\n

If you want to limit the negative effect your voice might be having on other callers, the problem is you don\u2019t know what it actually sounds like on their devices. Face to face we can hear ourselves in the same environment as our audience hears us and we adjust accordingly but that\u2019s not possible online.<\/p>\n

Step into your listener\u2019s shoes: record a meeting on your own and listen back to understand how others hear you. Something as simple as adjusting the position, distance, or direction of your microphone<\/a> could make a big difference. Switching from a laptop\u2019s built-in microphone to a headphone microphone can mask a lot of environmental noises such as keyboard clicking or room echo.<\/p>\n

Your new social space<\/h2>\n

While the content and topics of our video conversations may remain the same, we are constrained by the technology. Listening to group chats can be exhausting because we have lost the ways we use \u201cback-channel\u201d sounds<\/a> to give turn-taking<\/a> feedback.<\/p>\n

This nuanced \u201cmeta-communication<\/a>\u201d involves using verbal and non-verbal sounds<\/a>, such as \u201cyeah\u201d or \u201cuh-huh\u201d, that show attention, understanding, or agreement, distracts and interrupts the flow in a group conversation. Network delays can confuse things even more when the talker\u2019s speech and the back-channel response arrives out of synch or with long delays<\/a> and can completely stall the conversation flow.<\/p>\n

Network problems can also impact speech clarity. Data loss in the audio feed can cause unnatural sounding voices and missing sounds. Our brain needs to do extra work to fill in the gaps<\/a>. We use energy concentrating on unnatural voice changes that divert our concentration from understanding the message.<\/p>\n

We must acknowledge the technical limits<\/a> of video chats and adapt by cultivating new conversation etiquettes. Mute your microphones after saying hello and using text chat to interject or raise questions in group conversations. Articulate your own speech clearly (don\u2019t mumble) and turn on closed captions<\/a> to aid your comprehension. And make sure someone else in the house is not consuming all the bandwidth for Netflix while you are having a video conference.<\/p>\n

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Soft furnishings can improve your sound.<\/span>
\nBroggi Production\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arrange your space<\/h2>\n

Conversations in a household environment bring background noises as well as echoes and reverberation due to room acoustics<\/a>. Typical background conversations in open-plan offices can easily be filtered out subconsciously by our brain due to its ability to separate sounds by their location or direction.<\/p>\n

These spatial cues<\/a> allow us to focus on a single speaker in a crowded room. This is one reason why side-conversations held in parallel to the main discussion do not work on a video conference. Without the aid of directional information background noises and speech become a lot more intrusive. Rooms at home can produce reverberations that can reduce your ability to understand speech.<\/a><\/p>\n

To make your home video environment more accommodating, close the door to at least keep pets out, even if it cannot stop kids interrupting. You may not want to convert your living room into a recording studio by putting egg cartons all over the wall but you can make the acoustic environment more \u201cvoice friendly\u201d by reducing reverberation and echoes<\/a> with soft furnishings like blankets or pillows instead of plain walls. The bookcase in the background is not just a pretty prop<\/a> but also a good acoustic baffle.<\/p>\n

Just like social distancing, improving the quality of your video call experience relies on a community effort. As many of us won\u2019t be going back into the office for a long time, we must all work to reduce Zoom fatigue and make calls less of a strain for everyone.\"The<\/p>\n

Andrew Hines<\/a>, Assistant Professor, University College Dublin<\/a><\/em> and Pheobe Sun<\/a>, PhD Candidate in Computer Science, University College Dublin<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.
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