Physical noise reduction does not rely on any circuits or power sources but purely uses physical structures, materials, and design to block and absorb noise. It is also known as “passive noise reduction.”
The directionality of a microphone refers to its sensitivity to sounds from different directions, simply understood as the direction from which it picks up sound sources. There are typically two types of microphones used in customer service headsets: “unidirectional microphones” and “omnidirectional microphones.”
Unidirectional Microphone:
Usually employs a cardioid or supercardioid polar pattern. It primarily picks up sound from a narrow angle in front of the microphone while strongly suppressing sounds from the sides and rear, meaning it has a strong focus on a single direction for sound capture.
Understanding analogy:
Imagine the microphone as a flashlight with a straight barrel. When turned on, it only illuminates the area directly in front, leaving the surroundings dark. This light represents the range of sound that is prominently captured.
Advantages:
Effectively reduces ambient noise, keyboard sounds, conversations, and other background interference, emphasizing the wearer’s voice for clear communication. This enhances call efficiency.
Suitable for slightly noisy open-plan offices, effectively filtering out conversations and keyboard sounds.
Ensures clear voice capture for remote or home office use.
Ideal for professional settings where call clarity is critical.
Omnidirectional Microphone:
Has roughly equal sensitivity to sounds from all directions, picking up sound uniformly from all angles.
Understanding analogy:
Picture the microphone as a bare light bulb. When turned on, the light evenly illuminates the entire room. The sound capture range is broader compared to a unidirectional microphone.
Advantages:
Wide sound pickup range, capturing more ambient sound without needing precise alignment with the mouth.
Disadvantages:
Cannot filter environmental noise, picking up all surrounding sounds (e.g., keyboard taps, air conditioning, others’ conversations), significantly degrading call quality in noisy environments.
Suitable only for quiet private office calls.
Better suited for multi-person meeting environments.
For noisy environments when using a customer service headset, physical noise reduction serves as the first critical line of defense, acoustically rejecting non-frontal sounds. A unidirectional microphone is the superior, more professional choice.
