StreamLive ProEcho cancellation and noise suppression explained
Echo cancellation removes your speakers from your microphone; noise suppression removes background sound. What each does, its limits, and the StreamLive Pro settings.
Echo cancellation and noise suppression both clean a microphone signal, but they remove different things. Echo cancellation removes the sound that comes out of your own speakers and goes back into your microphone, so the people you talk to do not hear themselves a second later. Noise suppression removes steady or sudden background sound that is not speech: a fan, traffic, keyboard clicks, a television in the next room. A third tool often sits next to them, automatic gain control, which keeps your voice at an even level.
MDN, the web developer reference, describes echo cancellation as reducing or eliminating "crosstalk between the user's input and output devices", for example by negating the sound produced by the speakers in the microphone's input (MDN: echoCancellation, checked 5 November 2026).
Side by side
| Feature | Echo cancellation | Noise suppression | Auto level (gain control) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Removes | Your speakers' sound coming back into your mic | Background sound that is not speech | Nothing; it changes the level |
| Needed when | Someone listens on speakers during a call | The room is not quiet | Your voice gets louder and softer |
| Side effects when pushed | Can clip the start of words when both sides talk at once | Can make a voice sound thin or "underwater" | Can raise room noise in pauses |
| Cannot fix | Two open microphones in the same room | A voice that is drowned by the noise | A recording that is distorted |
Where echo really comes from
In a call or a live with guests, echo nearly always has an acoustic source: a guest listens on laptop speakers, the microphone picks the sound up, and it is sent back. Echo cancellation reduces this, but the most reliable fix is headphones. A second source is a live stream left playing in another tab or on a TV: the delayed broadcast goes back into the microphone, seconds late.
StreamLive Pro also gives each guest their own audio mix without their own voice (mix-minus), so the classic loop of hearing yourself through the host is avoided by design. Finding and fixing echo in a live: Echo during a live stream with guests.
Noise suppression levels
Noise suppression is a trade-off. Light settings keep the natural sound of the room and remove only steady hum. Strong settings remove more, at the cost of a slightly processed voice. Voice isolation goes further and tries to keep only the main speaker, removing other voices too, which is what you want against a crying baby or a television, and not what you want for two people sharing one microphone.
The settings in the StreamLive Pro browser studio
In the browser studio, the Noise button in the studio bar opens the Audio quality panel. Its settings apply to your microphone before it goes on air and are remembered in that browser.
| Setting in the panel | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Noise suppression: Basic (browser built-in) | Uses only the browser's own processing | |
| Noise suppression: Low, keeps room tone | Removes steady background noise, keeps the room's character | |
| Noise suppression: High, removes background noise | Removes most non-speech sound | |
| Noise suppression: Voice isolation, babies / TV | Keeps the main voice, removes other voices and sounds | Selected for the host |
| Studio voice (rumble filter, de-esser, compressor) | Removes low rumble, softens harsh "s" sounds, evens the voice | On |
| Auto level (-16 LUFS) | Raises a quiet voice and lowers a loud one while you speak | On |
| Duck media/music under speech | Lowers media and music in the studio when you speak | On |
Under the switches, a live line shows In, Out and Gain in decibels, so you can see what the processing is doing. What -16 LUFS means: What is LUFS? Loudness for video and podcasts.
Three limits worth knowing:
- Safari and every browser on iPhone and iPad use their own built-in voice processing. The panel says "This browser uses its built-in suppression", and the levels above do not apply there.
- Sound cards with more than two inputs are opened without the browser's voice processing, including echo cancellation, so each input can be routed on its own. Monitor on headphones with such interfaces.
- If the processing cannot start on a computer, the studio uses the raw microphone rather than losing your audio. The broadcast continues with unprocessed sound.
Guests who join by link get noise suppression as well, set to High, on browsers that support it; on Safari and iPhone their browser's own processing is used. How guests join: Guest join options: camera, microphone or listen only. Mixer and levels in the studio: Sound in the browser studio: levels, mute and noise filter.
Choosing settings for your situation
| Situation | Suggested setting |
|---|---|
| Quiet room, good microphone | Low, or Basic if you want the most natural sound |
| Home office with a fan or air conditioner | High |
| Children, a TV or other voices nearby | Voice isolation |
| Music performance or a choir | Basic; strong suppression treats instruments as noise |
| Two people sharing one microphone | Low or High; switch away from the default Voice isolation |
| Guests on speakers and you hear echo | Ask them to use headphones; settings alone will not fully solve it |
Common mistakes
- Expecting software to remove echo when a guest sits next to a loud speaker. Headphones solve it.
- Using Voice isolation for music. It is built for speech and will cut instruments.
- Leaving the live stream open in another tab during the broadcast.
- Raising the microphone gain to the maximum and relying on noise suppression to clean it. Start with a healthy level at the source.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between echo cancellation and noise suppression?
Echo cancellation removes your own speakers' sound from your microphone. Noise suppression removes background sound that is not speech, such as a fan or traffic.
Does noise suppression remove echo?
Not reliably. Echo is the other person's voice coming back through your speakers, and it sounds like speech. Headphones are the dependable fix.
Where do I change noise suppression in StreamLive Pro?
In the browser studio, click the Noise button in the studio bar. The Audio quality panel opens with the levels and switches.
Why can't I choose the levels on my iPhone?
Safari and iPhone browsers apply their own voice processing, so StreamLive Pro keeps the microphone as the browser delivers it there.
Should I use Voice isolation for a podcast with two hosts?
Only if each host has their own microphone. With two people on one microphone, Voice isolation may treat the second voice as noise.
Keep reading
What is mix-minus: a sound feed for each remote guest with everyone except their own voice. Why it prevents echo, how it works, and how StreamLive Pro builds it.
I cannot hear my guest in the live streamCan't hear a guest in your live? Usually the guest arrived muted, joined without a microphone, or picked the wrong mic. The checks for host and guest, in order.
Echo during a live stream with guestsEcho in a live with guests usually comes from someone using speakers instead of headphones, or watching the live in another tab. How to find who and fix it.
Podcast recording app: record a video podcast with guestsA podcast recording app for video: record in the browser with remote guests and phone cameras, go live at the same time, publish by RSS and cut Shorts.
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