Voice chat and spatial audio
Empower your users to speak their minds. Read on for more information about Breakroom's spatial audio features, as well as step-by-step instructions for accessing or disabling voice chat.
Voice chat is enabled on a zone-by-zone basis, depending on the location of your avatar. If voice chat is available in your current location, you will see the Microphone button appear in full color in the conference controls.
The location of the Microphone button. Voice chat is available, and so the button appears in full color.
The Microphone button's appearance reflects how you are currently interacting with voice chat. If your microphone is disabled or muted, the button will say "Microphone Off." If your microphone is turned on, the button will say "Microphone On," and the icon will be highlighted in green.
Here the Microphone button is active. Notice that the button text now says "Microphone On," and that the microphone icon is highlighted.
To give the conferencing system permission to access your microphone and speak on voice chat, follow these steps.
- 1.Navigate your avatar to a breakout area or voice zone where voice chat is enabled. The Microphone button will appear in full color.
- 2.Click the Microphone button. A confirmation pop-up will appear. To grant Breakroom permission to access your microphone, click the Enable button.
3. Once activated, the Microphone button icon will turn green and the button text will change to "Microphone On." This indicates that your microphone is live, and that others can hear you in voice chat. To mute your microphone, click the Microphone button again.
The Video, Screenshare, and Screen appearance buttons will only appear if the functions they control are available. For example, if you cannot stream video in a particular voice zone, you will not see the Video button appear at the top of your screen.
You can also control your microphone using the toolbar located in the bottom right corner of your screen. Click the Microphone icon to turn your microphone on, and you'll see a checkmark appear to indicate that your microphone is live. Click the icon again to turn your microphone off.
You can disable voice chat on a region-wide basis, or disable voice chat in an individual breakout area or voice zone.
VOIP options available through the Region Information window.
To disable voice chat entirely for a particular region, follow these steps.
- 1.Log in to your Breakroom world and navigate your avatar to the region you would like to mute.
- 2.Click the Region Information button in the top right corner of the screen. (This button will be labeled with the region's name.) This will launch the Region Information window.
- 3.In the Region Information window, locate and click the Edit button.
- 4.Scroll down to the section titled VOIP. Check the box next to the "VOIP is disabled in this region" option.
- 5.Scroll down and click the Save button.
To restore voice chat to a muted region, repeat the steps above and check the box next to the "VOIP is enabled for everyone by default" option.
Muting voice chat through the Region Information window will not remove the Microphone button from the conference controls. However, the button will no longer work if clicked.
To disable all media sharing options in a voice zone (including voice chat, webcam, and screen sharing), follow the steps below.
The RoomFurniture component for a Breakroom Workshop object, with the Zone Type property highlighted.
- 1.Log in to your Breakroom world and navigate your avatar to the region you would like to edit.
- 2.Open the Region Editor by clicking the Edit Region button at the bottom of your screen.
- 3.
- 4.In the Objects window, locate the Breakroom Breakout Area or Breakroom Voice Zone object you want to edit. (Tip: You can use the search field at the top of the window to search for a specific object.) Click on the object name to launch the Inspector window.
- 5.In the Inspector window, locate the RoomFurniture component. Expand this component by clicking the > arrow located to the left of its name.
- 6.In the Zone Type field, enter the word "silent."
- 7.Click the Save button to store your changes.
- 8.Click the Reset Zones button to reset the conferencing system.
After you have closed the Region Editor, leave the voice zone and then return to it. You will see that most of the media buttons are gone, and that the Microphone button is grayed out to indicate that it is inaccessible.
There are additional ways to mute and/or quiet a particular voice zone, including editing the Zone Voice RoomFurniture property and using the Quiet button located in the moderator controls. Please refer to the linked documentation for more details.
Global zone areas have spatial audio set up by default. This means that a crowded virtual event will sound much like a similar event in "real life"—you'll be able to easily hear the people standing right next to you, while you may not be able to hear someone standing on the other side of the room. In a virtual world like Breakroom, this can initially confuse some users.
If you're having trouble hearing someone in voice chat even though you can see their avatar, make sure that you're both standing in the same voice zone. (If someone is standing in an auditorium voice zone, for example, and someone else is standing just outside of it, they will not be able to hear each other.) If you're both in the same voice zone, try moving closer together.
If you're still having trouble using voice chat, please consult our troubleshooting tips. If you want to edit the spatial distance for a specific breakout area or voice zone, or turn off spatial audio altogether, please consult our RoomFurniture component documentation.
Last modified 8mo ago