How to Reduce Echo in a Conference Room (Reverb Fixes)

Echo in a conference room is caused by sound bouncing off hard, flat surfaces: glass walls, bare drywall, hard ceilings, wood or tile floors, and a large table. To reduce it, add soft, absorbent material: a rug, acoustic wall panels on at least two walls (covering roughly 15-25% of the wall area), an acoustic ceiling, and fabric furniture. Then move the microphones closer to the people talking.

Room echo vs call echo

Two different problems get called "echo":

If remote people hear themselves, see how to fix echo on a conference call. This page covers room reverb, which also makes call echo worse because echo cancellers struggle in lively rooms.

What causes echo in a room

• Parallel hard walls create flutter echo, a fast ringing between surfaces.
• Glass (windows, glass walls, whiteboards) reflects almost all sound.
• Hard ceilings (drywall instead of acoustic tile) reflect sound back to the table.
• Bare floors add reflections and footstep noise.
• Empty rooms. Few furnishings means nothing to absorb sound. New or minimalist rooms are the worst.

A quick test: clap once, loudly. If you hear a ringing tail or a "zing," the room needs treatment.

Quick fixes (no construction)

1. Add a large rug under the table. It absorbs floor reflections and footsteps.
2. Hang acoustic panels on the walls opposite each other, especially behind seated people and on the wall facing the display.
3. Add soft furniture: upholstered chairs, a fabric-covered credenza, curtains over glass.
4. Cover glass with fabric blinds or curtains when the room is in use.
5. Fill bookshelves or add plants; irregular surfaces scatter sound.
6. Use a tablecloth or felt runner for a temporary fix on a big hard table.

How much acoustic treatment do you need?

Use panels at least 1-2 inches (25-50 mm) thick; thin foam does little below the higher frequencies. Spread panels around the room rather than clustering them on one wall. Details: acoustic panels: placement and quantity and conference room acoustics.

Build-out fixes

• Install an acoustic ceiling (tile or spray) with a good NRC rating.
• Angle or splay walls in new construction to avoid parallel surfaces.
• Specify carpet or carpet tile instead of hard flooring.
• See conference room acoustic requirements and soundproofing. Soundproofing (keeping sound in or out) is different from reducing echo.

Microphones that cope better with echo

Closer mics capture more of the voice and less of the room:

• Table mics near each group of seats: Logitech Rally Mic Pod for Rally systems, Poly Studio A2 Table Microphone.
• Speakerphone in the middle of the table in small rooms: Jabra Speak2 75.
• Ceiling arrays with DSP in treated rooms: AVer FONE700. Ceiling mics are farther from mouths, so they need a reasonably quiet, damped room.
• Video bar mics work well in small, treated rooms; in long or echoey rooms, add expansion mics.

Software noise suppression and dereverberation in Teams and Zoom help, but they can't fully fix a very live room. See Teams Rooms audio and conference room audio guide.

Room still echoing? Tell us the room size and surfaces and we'll suggest panels and mics that fit.

Related guides

• Conference Room Audio Guide: Mics, Speakers and Echo
• Conference Room Acoustics: Design and Treatment Guide
• Best Conference Room Audio and Sound Systems by Room Size
• Large Conference Room Audio and Microphone Systems
• Best Conference Room Microphones for Teams and Zoom
• Hollow Square and Herringbone Meeting Room Setups

All room planning →