According to the latest report, during the mixed office event, Microsoft announced new features for Windows 11, including File Explorer tabs and new ways to improve speech intelligibility in apps like Microsoft Teams or Skype.
This feature, called “Voice Clarity”, is currently only available on select PC devices, but is expected to roll out to more hardware in the coming months. One of the most striking new features of Microsoft Teams is its noise reduction. Teams use its AI- and ML-powered noise cancellation to block the sound of the world around them, so users can easily focus on the meeting.
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Microsoft wants to add a similar feature to Windows 11 with speech intelligibility. Unlike noise reduction, which is embedded into the Teams app, Microsoft’s new speech intelligibility feature is available at the operating system level and is designed to capture the entire spectrum of audio at a higher bandwidth.
It also uses advanced echo control to reduce background noise, so people in Teams or Skype can hear each other clearly. Speech intelligibility also relies on hardware to integrate signals from multiple microphones.
During the event, Microsoft said speech intelligibility was only available on the Surface Laptop Studio. However, this advanced processing power may also be available on more PC devices. Right now, it’s only available for Surface Laptop Studio, and it’s rolling out in the latest firmware update.
Unlike other conference-focused features announced during the event, speech intelligibility does not require a neural processing unit (NPU). The Surface Laptop Studio doesn’t have an NPU, so it’s safe to say speech intelligibility will come to more non-NPU devices, but we don’t know when it will come to non-surface products.
In its support document, Microsoft states that “speech intelligibility is exclusive to Windows 11 and *currently available on Surface Laptop Studio.” Of course, users will need updated hardware to take full advantage of the speech intelligibility feature.
Moreover, other features announced at the event, such as a tabbed file explorer, contextual suggestions, and a better focus assistant, also do not require any changes to existing configurations.
However, support for features like eye correction, background blur, and auto-framing will require an NPU and is only available on modern devices like the Lenovo ThinkPad.
