Database Users

Noise Cancellation

I'm leaning on upgrading to the Nexus S from the Nexus One, but have a few questions concerning noise cancellation. In the tech specs, the Nexus S states it has software noise cancellation. So is it safe to assume it uses software to remove background noise as opposed to the Nexus One which used a secondary mic? How is the software based noise cancellation on the Nexus S performing for people? Would love feedback. I work at a manufacturing plant, and being able to hold conversations in and around noisy equipment is a must. Last question is, does the built in VoIP stack on the Nexus S make use of the noise cancellation?
I would really appreciate the feedback.

I don't know, but in another thread someone posted that their new nexus s performed very bad in a noisy environment, unusable actually. So its worth investigating and owners posting their results for now.

I am pretty sure that "software noise cancellation" is bull****. they just didnt want to disappoint existing Nexus One owners. Maybe Gingerbread in general tries to improve sound quality, but it has nothing to do with Nexus S

I haven't been in a "plant" environment, but have been in a noisy office, and it has performed as well as the N1. I also frequently use the google chat voip calling feature that was added to gmail recently. It mentions "software based" noise canceling. If it's the NS uses the same, then it will be awesome.
How does your N1 perform in your plant environment? I'm guessing it also will have problems.

rhca50 said:
How does your N1 perform in your plant environment? I'm guessing it also will have problems.
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The Nexus One performs great when it comes to noise cancellation. Never had anyone complain. I have tested the noise cancellation by leaving myself a voicemail on my work phone standing next to a centrifuge, and was shocked at the results. Not a hint of background noise. My voice was pronounced and clear, albeit a tad "digitized", which I'm sure is a side-effect of the noise cancellation. Only gripe I have is the low earpiece volume. Even on "full" blast, it's still too low in noisy environments.

I am having complaints from people I talk to using my nexus s. They say that it sounds like they are on speaker phone and that the call is nice and quiet until I start talking; which they say has a lot of static and background noise. Any other people getting complaints from people you talk to using your nexus s?
p.s. I work in a loud environment and never had issues using my N1.

I have commented on this in other threads. I've used a N1 since its launch. I returned my NS after having used it for 3 weeks as my primary phone. The main reason that I returned it is the lack of noise canceling, the ear speaker sounds tinny and on a busy street the traffic noise is picked up by the mic and broadcast in my ear. My N1's in call sound quality is far superior to the NS. The noise canceling really does a good job.

given that the Nexus S uses software noise cancellation instead of a secondary mic, is this something that may be able to be fixed with a new ROM or custom kernel?

generalagony said:
given that the Nexus S uses software noise cancellation instead of a secondary mic, is this something that may be able to be fixed with a new ROM or custom kernel?
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I doubt it, for noise canceling to work in an intelligent way, I would think there needs to be more than one mic. All of the noise canceling headsets I've seen have two mics, including my Jawbone bluetooth which has a button that rests on my cheek.

if you work in noisy environment don't buy this phone. I returned it only because of this problem. Every other problem that people complain here on this forum I didn't have and are nothing when it comes to phone calls. The primary function of the phone is the worst ever. Nobody hear me when I made phone calls from my car (driving, not using blue tooth - yes still legal in some countries) and I had to put the phone always on the speaker phone to be able to hear the other callers. Finally give up and returned the phone. Same isuue with my old Samsung i8910, but i was able to tweak the speaker settings in phone service software.
otherwise great phone.

I have found the that the NS works better than my N1 in general as a phone. The call quality is much better and the ear piece is MUCH better than the N1. N1 was hard to hear in anything above an avg room noise. NS I have to turn it down most of the time and much richer sound than the tin sound of the N1. Been in a few coffee shops that are loud and did calls in them. People on the other end said they could hear the background noise but it was very low and I was very loud and clear. Just my 2 cents.

I am going to try an exchange. I bought one of the first units sold at my local best buy on release morning so maybe I got a bad one. Friend of mine who bought just before me exchanged his and said his new one has much better call quality.

I am going to try to put this to the test. Although currently I am unhappy with the results I am getting recording wise.
The situation is that I own a Galaxy S GT-I9000 and often had complaints about sounding muffled. Now a Nexus S and the complaints are gone.
However. It is very difficult to understand an issue OTHER people are hearing, so I am doing some recording tests in different situations and I will be posting the results to http://technocrate.net in the next day or so.

I'm in the same boat with ya. I thought I was the only one. yeah perfect on the N1 now my wife says I sound garbled on the end. I changed the radio thought that would help but didn't. Just upgraded my from the N1 to the NS other wise the phone is great. I guess there's not a fix for this. I'll be returning mine then. even with the newest radio KI1, same way
Edit: Returning my second one, I'm done with this phone. I'm sad to see it go really like it beside the mic problem. Did samsung happen to fix this later on in a rev. batch?

Phone Fixed Post above
Well called samsung and they me told to send in my second phone in. I explained the issue about the mic to the tech which said they never heard about that issue. Ok well havent got a chance to make it home yet to test it but they replace more than just the mic:
Original Problem:
TECHNICAL INQUIRY - AUDIO/SPEAKER/SOUND/VIBRATION - SPEAKERPHONE NOT WORKING
Problem found:
RINGERTONE INAUDIBLE/NO ADJUST - CAMERA FAILURE - LOCK UP DURING OPERATION (SW)
Solution:
REPLACED COMPONENT - REPLACED COMPONENT - REPLACED PBA
Til i check it when I get home, just to let you guys know. The problem at the top, there system didn't have an option for the microphone. They replaced a lot of stuff but the mic only problem was the problem? I was liked its not the speaker just the mic to the tech. She said it was in the notes about the problem. I've been very happy with samsung trying to fix this issue. so far til i get home.

problems with the microphone?

I got mine yesterday, everything works fine except its microphone's quality. The other people hear me like I talk from distance away.
Is this common problem or just mine?
Thank you

This is something that I experienced initially when I got my Atrix, I resolved it by moving the phone up closer to my mouth. I tend to let the phone hang from my ear where I hold it near the top and it put's some distance between me and the mic. I'm a former iPhone user and was lazy with where the phone sat on the side of my head, once I made this change though people have said I sound clearer than when I was on my iPhone.

I can't talk closer, the speaker is exactly on my ear. It looks the microphone has very bad sensitivity. Too bad all Motorola cellphones i had in the past they had excellent quality.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Active nooise cancle
I have same problem, I turned off noise cancellation and got some improvement. I'm pretty sure it is a software issue. I also put a clear bra type case on it from some 3m stuff I have, I didn't cut out for the mic on the back. I'm hoping this too helps but have not tried yet.

[Q] For those with their Nexus 4, is the earpiece making a screeching noise?

If I place my Nexus 4 against my ear, I can hear high pitched screeching and some popping coming from the earpiece, even when a call is not taking place. At first I thought it was a heat issue, maybe some capacitors or something getting a bit hot and whistling, so I turned the phone off and the noises stopped instantly.
This is pretty annoying and surely shouldn't be happening

Yes, mine too
losimagic said:
If I place my Nexus 4 against my ear, I can hear high pitched screeching and some popping coming from the earpiece, even when a call is not taking place. At first I thought it was a heat issue, maybe some capacitors or something getting a bit hot and whistling, so I turned the phone off and the noises stopped instantly.
This is pretty annoying and surely shouldn't be happening
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I'm glad you posted that, mine does it too - and I thought I had a faulty phone.
According to support I'm the first to report such a problem, have you called support about it? - 0800 328 6081.
The more of us that call, the better the chance it's sorted (if it's possible).
I can't live with that noise, it's too loud for me as I have sensitive hearing on interference like that.
So it looks like I'm sending mine back for a refund and go buy a S3
It does sound like poor build quality in suppressing electrical interference to the ear speaker, as you say capacitors or even a processor is leaking noise to that speaker in the same way cell/mobile radio causes to external speakers when brought close to them.

WOW so many problems already with this thing!!! I don't know about this phone right now

rshea said:
I'm glad you posted that, mine does it too - and I thought I had a faulty phone.
According to support I'm the first to report such a problem, have you called support about it? - 0800 328 6081.
The more of us that call, the better the chance it's sorted (if it's possible).
I can't live with that noise, it's too loud for me as I have sensitive hearing on interference like that.
So it looks like I'm sending mine back for a refund and go buy a S3
It does sound like poor build quality in suppressing electrical interference to the ear speaker, as you say capacitors or even a processor is leaking noise to that speaker in the same way cell/mobile radio causes to external speakers when brought close to them.
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I returned it to the store for a refund - they refused to swap it for another as they couldn't hear it . I've ordered another which I should get tomorrow, and if that has the same issue I'm not sure what to do - it doesn't really sound like something that can be fixed through software, does it?
I asked on another forum and one person replied saying that there's was ok, but maybe they're ears just aren't as sensitive as ours.
I remember as a kid, I could hear CRT TVs from a long way off (no sound was coming through the speakers) and nobody else could.

losimagic said:
I returned it to the store for a refund - they refused to swap it for another as they couldn't hear it . I've ordered another which I should get tomorrow, and if that has the same issue I'm not sure what to do - it doesn't really sound like something that can be fixed through software, does it?
I asked on another forum and one person replied saying that there's was ok, but maybe they're ears just aren't as sensitive as ours.
I remember as a kid, I could hear CRT TVs from a long way off (no sound was coming through the speakers) and nobody else could.
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I think you're right, I too always heard a CRT working (I still can when I see one working!)
Maybe we're hearing interference the average user is not going to hear.
If anyone else is reading this and owns a Nexus 4, try calling your voicemail (which I assume would be free for you) - during the call wait for a few seconds and listen carefully, it's more obvious when you're not talking and in a call.
The noise is almost like having a small fly trapped between the phone and your ear at times, it also reminds me of the noise a hard drive makes at times and most of us know what that sounds like.

rshea said:
I think you're right, I too always heard a CRT working (I still can when I see one working!)
Maybe we're hearing interference the average user is not going to hear.
If anyone else is reading this and owns a Nexus 4, try calling your voicemail (which I assume would be free for you) - during the call wait for a few seconds and listen carefully, it's more obvious when you're not talking and in a call.
The noise is almost like having a small fly trapped between the phone and your ear at times, it also reminds me of the noise a hard drive makes at times and most of us know what that sounds like.
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I got it even when I wasn't on a call - a few seconds after powering up the phone and it was there

You guys are nerds
No, I can feel your pain! Hopefully you guys can sort this out and this is in general not a common problem with the N4.

i don't have this issue

It seems to be an issue with the electromagnetic shielding. I get this problem when I am next to my sound system and amplifier. Those things arent shielded. Now in school where theres basically nothing else here my earpiece is completely clean. Not even a hiss.

does it also emit a sound when it is swithced on, but the screen is off? i remember i had sth. like this (high-pitched sound) on my first google nexus s, but it was clearly coming from the screen rather than the earpiece.

Received a replacement today - it's A LOT better. There's still a very feint buzz, but it's barely noticeable.

Hallucinogen775 said:
does it also emit a sound when it is swithced on, but the screen is off? i remember i had sth. like this (high-pitched sound) on my first google nexus s, but it was clearly coming from the screen rather than the earpiece.
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Yes, even did it without a simcard inside. Definitely coming from the earpiece, if I moved my ear down the phone it was quieter/silent.

What about in airplane mode?

jacklebott said:
What about in airplane mode?
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Didn't test the previous one in airplane mode, but just tried this one and it's the same.

Definitely getting the same issue with my N4; screen on or off. Can't imagine this being fixed by firmware, sounds like a bad hardware design.
I'm also once of these people who gets irritated by the sound of DVD Players/VCR/TV etc. But two other people I have shown seem to think its an issue too.

It's good to read a replacement was better, that's made my day.
The problem is certainly a electromagnetic shielding issue with the earpiece, I can stand in a middle of a field and it has that sound you often get from PC or Hi-Fi speakers when you stand close to them.
But with the earpiece you can't move it of course - so clearly a design flaw, and hopefully only on a batch?
That said, it does seem to be an intermittent fault, I've also noticed it doesn't happen within the first 10-30 seconds of a call. I wonder if the phone stops all background processes during the start of a call, but then later kicks in which causes those noises.

losimagic said:
I remember as a kid, I could hear CRT TVs from a long way off (no sound was coming through the speakers) and nobody else could.
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I can hear the high pitched noise from a CRT from, like, 100'. Can a lot of other people really not hear them? Also, deer/dog/insect deterrents that people use in their homes and yard give me an instant headache from the sound. Great. This does not bode well. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it.

Same here

estallings15 said:
I can hear the high pitched noise from a CRT from, like, 100'. Can a lot of other people really not hear them? Also, deer/dog/insect deterrents that people use in their homes and yard give me an instant headache from the sound. Great. This does not bode well. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it.
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Exactly that, those who can't hear those audible repellents for pets, or not hear the Apps available which also emit very annoying high pitch sounds - then would not be bothered by the noise we mention here.
I'm certain if I took my N4 into a shop, the typical response from staff would be "we can't hear it"

I have this issue with my phone as well. Screen on or off. Charging or not. Noise is still present.

Using shoulder to hold phone on call

Anyone else use their shoulder to hold their phone while on a call? People say they can't hear me and I'm cutting out. This really sucks because I'm usually using both hands when talking on the phone.

That's crazy that you mention that. I've been having the exact same thing happen on my Nexus 6.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I'd assume if you're not holding the phone a certain way, noise cancellation thinks your voice is a background voice and blocks you out. If you're at home or in quieter environments, turning off noise cancellation to fix this shouldn't be much of a problem.

mosincredible said:
I'd assume if you're not holding the phone a certain way, noise cancellation thinks your voice is a background voice and blocks you out. If you're at home or in quieter environments, turning off noise cancellation to fix this shouldn't be much of a problem.
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There's a setting for this?

640k said:
There's a setting for this?
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Hell if I know. I've been pending for like 18 days. I just know on my current phone, noise cancellation is very aggressive and gets in the way sometimes. Does the 6P have a setting for noise cancellation?

motox502 said:
Anyone else use their shoulder to hold their phone while on a call? People say they can't hear me and I'm cutting out. This really sucks because I'm usually using both hands when talking on the phone.
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Headphones? Or perhaps Bluetooth ear piece?
Sent from a phone that is not a 128GB Frost Nexus 6P

Or speakerphone?
Sent from my LG-v410 using Tapatalk

I vaguely remember having this issue with my N6. It might be related to how stock Android does noise cancellation. I made the switch to a wired headset. So much easier/consistent.

Antenna is up in that glass near the camera. If you grab that part with your hand signal will drop. I imagine if it's pressed your shoulder same thing will happen. Not sure if that is the cause of the issue just something I noticed

motox502 said:
Anyone else use their shoulder to hold their phone while on a call? People say they can't hear me and I'm cutting out. This really sucks because I'm usually using both hands when talking on the phone.
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Othoric said:
That's crazy that you mention that. I've been having the exact same thing happen on my Nexus 6.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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daewond3r said:
I vaguely remember having this issue with my N6. It might be related to how stock Android does noise cancellation. I made the switch to a wired headset. So much easier/consistent.
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My nexus 6 has the same problem. Haven't been able to find a fix. Was hoping it wouldn't be an issue on 6p

Othoric said:
That's crazy that you mention that. I've been having the exact same thing happen on my Nexus 6.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
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I had the problem with the Nexus 6 but haven't experienced the issue with my 6P.

daewond3r said:
I vaguely remember having this issue with my N6. It might be related to how stock Android does noise cancellation. I made the switch to a wired headset. So much easier/consistent.
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Noise cancellation is not a feature of Android, it's part of the electronics of the phone itself.
The 6P probalby uses Qualcomm's Fluence noise cancellation, which is built into Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets. Other phones have a separate chip for noise cancellation, like in the Nexus One, which used the Audience chip (now called Earsmart)--Audience is much superior to Fluence, but people are using it less and less (probably to avoid licensing feeds). The Nexus 6 uses Motorola's Crystal Talk (also better than Fluence). In any case, active noise cancellation is a hardware feature and has nothing to do with Android per se. Even Apple once used the Audience chip (in the iPhone 4)--now Apple uses it's own in-house and very much inferior solution (being cheap is universal).
In any case, the 6P has three microphones, two of which are used for noise cancellation. One of them is clearly right below the camera hump, on the back. You can easily see the hole. If you block that hole, you probably can cause problems with how the microphones are supposed to work in conjunction with each other. Given that holding the phone between your shoulder and your ear is going to press your shoulder against and cover up the top of the back of the phone, it seems probable that the microphone below the camera hump is being blocked.
The main mic that you speak into on the 6P is probably in the bottom speaker grill. I can't really figure out where the third mic is. In theory, three microphones, instead of two, should improve noise cancellation, but I haven't see anyone do a good review of this yet on the 6P (reviews pretty much ignore this feature these days, even AnandTech that used to do a nice test on it with new phones and post recordings for people to hear the differences).
The Nexus 6 has four microphones, so it would be even easier, I suppose to block a microphone on that phone and mess things up.

interesting thought. i wonder if there's a difference between "disabling" a mic and "blocking" a mic. if you think about it, your shoulder on the rear mic is probably louder than the one you're talking in to as you are rubbing against it.
Could someone test covering that mic with your finger and reporting the results?

cb474 said:
Noise cancellation is not a feature of Android, it's part of the electronics of the phone itself.
The 6P probalby uses Qualcomm's Fluence noise cancellation, which is built into Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets. Other phones have a separate chip for noise cancellation, like in the Nexus One, which used the Audience chip (now called Earsmart)--Audience is much superior to Fluence, but people are using it less and less (probably to avoid licensing feeds). The Nexus 6 uses Motorola's Crystal Talk (also better than Fluence). In any case, active noise cancellation is a hardware feature and has nothing to do with Android per se. Even Apple once used the Audience chip (in the iPhone 4)--now Apple uses it's own in-house and very much inferior solution (being cheap is universal).
In any case, the 6P has three microphones, two of which are used for noise cancellation. One of them is clearly right below the camera hump, on the back. You can easily see the hole. If you block that hole, you probably can cause problems with how the microphones are supposed to work in conjunction with each other. Given that holding the phone between your shoulder and your ear is going to press your shoulder against and cover up the top of the back of the phone, it seems probable that the microphone below the camera hump is being blocked.
The main mic that you speak into on the 6P is probably in the bottom speaker grill. I can't really figure out where the third mic is. In theory, three microphones, instead of two, should improve noise cancellation, but I haven't see anyone do a good review of this yet on the 6P (reviews pretty much ignore this feature these days, even AnandTech that used to do a nice test on it with new phones and post recordings for people to hear the differences).
The Nexus 6 has four microphones, so it would be even easier, I suppose to block a microphone on that phone and mess things up.
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Thanks for the info! I also had a feeling that, at least on the 6P, the mic hole on the back could cause issues if covered.

Hmmmwell sounds like there isn't a fix for this issue. VERY annoying.

motox502 said:
Hmmmwell sounds like there isn't a fix for this issue. VERY annoying.
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Yes I'm having the same issue. I'm sure it's the noise cancelling feature because if I adjust the phone upwards then the problem is gone. However, it's not easy to shoulder the phone like that.

motox502 said:
Anyone else use their shoulder to hold their phone while on a call? People say they can't hear me and I'm cutting out. This really sucks because I'm usually using both hands when talking on the phone.
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You should stop doing that. You will mess up your neck/spine. Get a bluetooth.

Never use bent neck/shoulder. Prefer Speaker phone.

Call quality is a bit disappointing

Anyone else think this? Everyone sounds muffled

abraxo said:
Anyone else think this? Everyone sounds muffled
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IIRC, this is a common issue with some Nexus devices. I saw somewhere that a 6P owner fixed the issue on their device by changing a line in the build.prop, as done here on the Nexus 5. Apparently you have to change the value of "persist.audio.influence.voicecall" from "true" to "false". Of course, you have to be rooted to modify the build.prop, and I think modifying the build.prop breaks OTA updates because of system block verifications.
Edit - apparently the muffled sound issue is a result of the noise cancellation microphone picking up your voice as background noise, meaning it attempts to reduce the volume of your voice. It's probably some sort of design flaw, but I don't think it's worth RMAing when it can be fixed with a simple software modification to the build.prop. Alternatively, you should be able to fix the issue by covering whichever microphone is the noise-cancelling microphone on the Nexus 6P (for the Nexus 5, I read that it was the top microphone)

Codename13 said:
IIRC, this is a common issue with some Nexus devices. I saw somewhere that a 6P owner fixed the issue on their device by changing a line in the build.prop, as done here on the Nexus 5. Apparently you have to change the value of "persist.audio.influence.voicecall" from "true" to "false". Of course, you have to be rooted to modify the build.prop, and I think modifying the build.prop breaks OTA updates because of system block verifications.
Edit - apparently the muffled sound issue is a result of the noise cancellation microphone picking up your voice as background noise, meaning it attempts to reduce the volume of your voice. It's probably some sort of design flaw, but I don't think it's worth RMAing when it can be fixed with a simple software modification to the build.prop. Alternatively, you should be able to fix the issue by covering whichever microphone is the noise-cancelling microphone on the Nexus 6P (for the Nexus 5, I read that it was the top microphone)
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Thanks, I'll definitely check those fixes out. I don't think losing ota updates are too big a deal since you can't use otas when you're rooted anyway

abraxo said:
Thanks, I'll definitely check those fixes out. I don't think losing ota updates are too big a deal since you can't use otas when you're rooted anyway
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Here you go: I'd go ahead and post here to add to the "pile" of people confirming this as a legitimate issue. Someone from Google confirmed earlier they were looking into it. https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/nexus/g70qCHkqLA4
(Also, the desktop view looks WAY better)

Yes it's weird. Also I am surprised other party cannot hear if you place the phone on the table. What is up with that...

Google can't seem to get noise cancellation right. I remember the issue with my N5. I left myself a voicemail back then and was surprised how muffled I sounded. After that, I understood fully why people would keep asking me to repeat things while on a call. I'm still subscribed to the threads on Google Product Forums and it seems they never actually fixed it.
I suggest calling your Google Voice number or something and leaving a message to test.

Yeah, noise cancellation is kinda funk though I've actually been pretty pleased with it on the 6p. I do notice times with both the 6p and the 6s+ that sound gets muffled and I assumed noise cancellation was the cause.

coolguy949 said:
Google can't seem to get noise cancellation right. I remember the issue with my N5. I left myself a voicemail back then and was surprised how muffled I sounded. After that, I understood fully why people would keep asking me to repeat things while on a call. I'm still subscribed to the threads on Google Product Forums and it seems they never actually fixed it.
I suggest calling your Google Voice number or something and leaving a message to test.
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Ironically, Google once had the best noise cancellation there ever was and was possibly the first to put it in a smartphone. The Nexus One used the Audience chip (now called Earsmart). It was amazing. People regularly thought I was at home when i was in a noisy cafe or out on the street. Subsequently Apple put the Audience chip in the iPhone 4 and it also got rave reviews for noise cancellation.
But it's been downhill since the Nexus One. The Nexus S had no (!) noise cancellation. The Galaxy Nexus had something crappy that I have never figured out what it was. Then the Nexus 4 turned to what is now the default in most phones, Qualcomm's Fluence--it's built into their chipsets; Fluence is pretty medicore and tends to have a lot of issues, compared to the Audience chip. The Nexus 5 also uses Fluence and has had a lot of issues cutting off the beginning and end of people's statements. The Nexus 6 uses Motorola's Crystal Talk and has four microphones (instead of two) for noise cancellation; it seems to be a step up from Fluence, but nothing like the Audience chip. And now I assume with the Snapdragon 810 chipset in the Nexus 6P Google has gone back to Fluence; however the 6P has three microphones, which is interesting; I read at least one person saying it's better than the Nexus 6.
Anyway, probably people should blame Qualcomm, rather than Google. As their chipsets have become more and more common, Fluence has become the default noise cancellation on many phones and it's never been that great.
Strangely, Apple dropped the great Audience chip in the iPhone 5, and people noticed that was a real step backwards. And Samsung, which used to put in in all the Galaxy S and Note phones has now dropped it with the S6. So for whatever reason (probably companies not wanting to pay licensing fees) the Audience chip seems to almost be unused these days, even though it is the best and was a pioneer in the field. Noise cancellation started out great and has only gone down hill ever since.
*
For those experiencing muffled voices, it's possible that the way you're holding the 6P is blocking one of the noise cancelling mics. There is a whole under the camera hump on the back that is one of the mics. I'm assuming the main mic is in the speaker at the bottom of the front of the phone. I'm not sure where the third mic is.
If you block one of the mics that can create issues with call quality. So you might try moving your hand around to see if that improves call quality.
If you take the advice above to disable noise cancellation in the build.prop, your voice will be more clear in quiet places, but you will have no noise cancellation at all and in noisy places it could really suck--every tiny little background sound will probably be picked up and overamplified, for your caller.

cb474 said:
Ironically, Google once had the best noise cancellation there ever was and was possibly the first to put it in a smartphone. The Nexus One used the Audience chip (now called Earsmart). It was amazing. People regularly thought I was at home when i was in a noisy cafe or out on the street. Subsequently Apple put the Audience chip in the iPhone 4 and it also got rave reviews for noise cancellation.
But it's been downhill since the Nexus One. The Nexus S had no (!) noise cancellation. The Galaxy Nexus had something crappy that I have never figured out what it was. Then the Nexus 4 turned to what is now the default in most phones, Qualcomm's Fluence--it's built into their chipsets; Fluence is pretty medicore and tends to have a lot of issues, compared to the Audience chip. The Nexus 5 also uses Fluence and has had a lot of issues cutting off the beginning and end of people's statements. The Nexus 6 uses Motorola's Crystal Talk and has four microphones (instead of two) for noise cancellation; it seems to be a step up from Fluence, but nothing like the Audience chip. And now I assume with the Snapdragon 810 chipset in the Nexus 6P Google has gone back to Fluence; however the 6P has three microphones, which is interesting; I read at least one person saying it's better than the Nexus 6.
Anyway, probably people should blame Qualcomm, rather than Google. As their chipsets have become more and more common, Fluence has become the default noise cancellation on many phones and it's never been that great.
Strangely, Apple dropped the great Audience chip in the iPhone 5, and people noticed that was a real step backwards. And Samsung, which used to put in in all the Galaxy S and Note phones has now dropped it with the S6. So for whatever reason (probably companies not wanting to pay licensing fees) the Audience chip seems to almost be unused these days, even though it is the best and was a pioneer in the field. Noise cancellation started out great and has only gone down hill ever since.
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For those experiencing muffled voices, it's possible that the way you're holding the 6P is blocking one of the noise cancelling mics. There is a whole under the camera hump on the back that is one of the mics. I'm assuming the main mic is in the speaker at the bottom of the front of the phone. I'm not sure where the third mic is.
If you block one of the mics that can create issues with call quality. So you might try moving your hand around to see if that improves call quality.
If you take the advice above to disable noise cancellation in the build.prop, your voice will be more clear in quiet places, but you will have no noise cancellation at all and in noisy places it could really suck--every tiny little background sound will probably be picked up and overamplified, for your caller.
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I bet the main microphone is the one in the back and that is ****ed up choice by whoever made this phone. You cannot have a vonference call and lay the phone on the table while speaking because microphones get muted.

anglerstock said:
I bet the main microphone is the one in the back and that is ****ed up choice by whoever made this phone. You cannot have a vonference call and lay the phone on the table while speaking because microphones get muted.
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The main microphone is absolutely not the one on the back. The main microphone is always the one positioned closet to the mouth, when you hold the phone to your head. There is no other way noise cancellation could work. The back of the phone is a very typical place for a secondary, noise cancellation, microphone. There is nothing wrong with that position. It needs to be faced away from the source of your voice (your mouth) and towards an other external sound surrounding you (the rest of the room, space around you, etc.). Otherwise, there would be no way to distinguish what's background noise, from what's your voice, and filter the background noise out. What matters is the hardware chip that does the signal processing. Some (e.g. the Audience chip) are much better than others (e.g. Fluence).

cb474 said:
The main microphone is absolutely not the one on the back. The main microphone is always the one positioned closet to the mouth, when you hold the phone to your head. There is no other way noise cancellation could work. The back of the phone is a very typical place for a secondary, noise cancellation, microphone. There is nothing wrong with that position. It needs to be faced away from the source of your voice (your mouth) and towards an other external sound surrounding you (the rest of the room, space around you, etc.). Otherwise, there would be no way to distinguish what's background noise, from what's your voice, and filter the background noise out. What matters is the hardware chip that does the signal processing. Some (e.g. the Audience chip) are much better than others (e.g. Fluence).
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Main microphone is on the back. Put your phone on a desk and make a call. Good luck having other party hear you

anglerstock said:
Main microphone is on the back. Put your phone on a desk and make a call. Good luck having other party hear you
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You are just completely wrong about this and do not understand how noise cancellation and microphones on cell phones work. The reason placing the phone on the desk may interfere with call quality, is because it may block the secondary noise cancellation microphone on the back and cause the noise cancellation to improperly filter out your voice (as if it were background noise), because it can't tell what is background noise when this secondary mic is blocked.

cb474 said:
The main microphone is absolutely not the one on the back. The main microphone is always the one positioned closet to the mouth, when you hold the phone to your head. There is no other way noise cancellation could work. The back of the phone is a very typical place for a secondary, noise cancellation, microphone. There is nothing wrong with that position. It needs to be faced away from the source of your voice (your mouth) and towards an other external sound surrounding you (the rest of the room, space around you, etc.). Otherwise, there would be no way to distinguish what's background noise, from what's your voice, and filter the background noise out. What matters is the hardware chip that does the signal processing. Some (e.g. the Audience chip) are much better than others (e.g. Fluence).
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cb474 said:
You are just completely wrong about this and do not understand how noise cancellation and microphones on cell phones work. The reason placing the phone on the desk may interfere with call quality, is because it may block the secondary noise cancellation microphone on the back and cause the noise cancellation to improperly filter out your voice (as if it were background noise), because it can't tell what is background noise when this secondary mic is blocked.
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Thank you for clearing that up, I've seen the same ignorance on different forums besides XDA from people who made a big deal out of this and blew it way out of proportion. This is as ridiculous as one post I saw that demanded there be an LED notification on the back so he can place his phone face down.

cb474 said:
You are just completely wrong about this and do not understand how noise cancellation and microphones on cell phones work. The reason placing the phone on the desk may interfere with call quality, is because it may block the secondary noise cancellation microphone on the back and cause the noise cancellation to improperly filter out your voice (as if it were background noise), because it can't tell what is background noise when this secondary mic is blocked.
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In any case, some basic uses like putting phone on table and holding between ear and shoulder results in no mic/voice capture. This is a serious issue. I have experienced at least the latter on more than one occasion and it was extremely frustrating.

omnius1 said:
Thank you for clearing that up, I've seen the same ignorance on different forums besides XDA from people who made a big deal out of this and blew it way out of proportion. This is as ridiculous as one post I saw that demanded there be an LED notification on the back so he can place his phone face down.
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If you use your phone for phone calls maybe you would understand

subhani said:
In any case, some basic uses like putting phone on table and holding between ear and shoulder results in no mic/voice capture. This is a serious issue. I have experienced at least the latter on more than one occasion and it was extremely frustrating.
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I didn't say it wasn't an issue. I was just clarifying what and where the different microphones are, since some people have complete misunderstandings about this.
Given that one of the two noise cancellation microphones is on the back of the phone, just below the camera visor, and given that covering a noise cancellation microphone will always disrupt call quality, obviously holding the phone between your ear and shoulder (which blocks this microphone) is going to be a problem. Complaining about it isn't going to change it, because the only solution would be for Huawei to redesign the phone. I wouldn't hold your breath for that to happen. If holding the phone that way is a crucial functionality for you, then obviously the 6P is not the right phone for you (though frankly, really? this is important to people?).
On the other hand, it is reasonable to expect the phone to work properly when placed on a table in speakerphone mode. So if that is a problem with the 6P (no everyone is reporting this), then that is a true design flaw. But still, I wouldn't hold my breath for a fix, because there may be no software solution for this (other than disabling the noise cancellation, as some have done--but then of course, you have no noise cancellation, which isn't great either).

anglerstock said:
If you use your phone for phone calls maybe you would understand
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I do, the NC mic is located way at the top back of a quite tall phone. It's nearly impossible to grip a phone to your head and have your hand be anywhere near that mic unless your hands are literally half a foot or more wide. So that leaves sitting it on a table in speakerphone or shouldering it. I don't shoulder phones, but I have used it on a table in speaker without any issues. And it's not happening to that many people anyway.

abraxo said:
Anyone else think this? Everyone sounds muffled
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I think everyone in this thread misunderstood your question. From your question I take it you are the one using the Nexus 6p and you are the one who hears everyone else muffled. Which would not have anything to do with your mic but everything to do with the top speaker.
I don't know about you but I personally think this phone is the best sounding phone for calls I've ever owned when it comes to hearing people on the other end. Whether they can hear me OK or not, I don't know. I haven't heard complaints.

cb474 said:
I didn't say it wasn't an issue. I was just clarifying what and where the different microphones are, since some people have complete misunderstandings about this.
Given that one of the two noise cancellation microphones is on the back of the phone, just below the camera visor, and given that covering a noise cancellation microphone will always disrupt call quality, obviously holding the phone between your ear and shoulder (which blocks this microphone) is going to be a problem. Complaining about it isn't going to change it, because the only solution would be for Huawei to redesign the phone. I wouldn't hold your breath for that to happen. If holding the phone that way is a crucial functionality for you, then obviously the 6P is not the right phone for you (though frankly, really? this is important to people?).
On the other hand, it is reasonable to expect the phone to work properly when placed on a table in speakerphone mode. So if that is a problem with the 6P (no everyone is reporting this), then that is a true design flaw. But still, I wouldn't hold my breath for a fix, because there may be no software solution for this (other than disabling the noise cancellation, as some have done--but then of course, you have no noise cancellation, which isn't great either).
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That was an answer straight out of Steve Jobs' mouth . Jokes aside. If there are faults, one shouldn't dismiss them simply out of the view that it may need a HW revision, when the solution may be simpler. One certainly mustn't assume that a phone with one stated defect is simply not for me, since really that is for me to decide and at no point have I given the impression that this is a deal breaker for me.
TLDR; it IS an issue for some. Is there any solution? How widespread is the problem? Nothing too complicated guys. This IS the 'Help' section of the forum.

subhani said:
That was an answer straight out of Steve Jobs' mouth . Jokes aside. If there are faults, one shouldn't dismiss them simply out of the view that it may need a HW revision, when the solution may be simpler. One certainly mustn't assume that a phone with one stated defect is simply not for me, since really that is for me to decide and at no point have I given the impression that this is a deal breaker for me.
TLDR; it IS an issue for some. Is there any solution? How widespread is the problem? Nothing too complicated guys. This IS the 'Help' section of the forum.
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Yes, I thought of making a steve Jobs joke when I wrote that. But if ever there was a case of don't hold it that way, this is it. With the iPhone 4, the problem was you couldn't hold the phone in the most normal way, during calls, that almost anyone would do. Whereas shouldering the phone to your head, especially with cell phones that are so thin and not conducive to this, is a pretty limited use case.
Sure, it could be a deal breaker for some people, but I don't really see this as a design flaw. That noise cancelling mic needs to be on the back of the phone and as far away from the mouth as possible, for noise cancellation to work. The position it is in makes a lot of sense. There aren't a lot of other good places for it, where it wouldn't be more likely to be covered by a finger (like on the side of the phone). If the trade off for functional noise cancellation is you can't shoulder the phone, that's a pretty sensible trade off, I think. You can't please everybody and catering to a very small use case scenario doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, if the phone doesn't work properly in speakerphone mode when sitting non a table, an incrediby common and normal use case scenario, then that to me seems more like a legitimate design flaw.
That aside, part of my point is also, whatever people think of the design and whether it works for them. If they are hoping that mic on the back is going to be repositioned in a revision of the phone, so people can shoulder it, they are deluding themselves. This is not an issue that's going to be addressed. But other noise cancellation issues, that might have to do with the algorithm might get addressed, although it would require more than an update to Android, since the noise cancellation is built into Qualcomm's chipset. I don't even know if it can be updated. So again, whatever one thinks, you probably should take it as a point for deciding whether you want the phone, because I think it's pretty unlikey there will be a "fix" for these "issues."
The most likely thing that might get fixed is just if there are quality control issues, having to do with the position of the microphone inside the phone and the gaskets between them and the holes in the body of the phone. Tiny misalignments can be surprisingly detrimental to the performance of both mics and speakers. That's something Huawei could correct, without having to physically redesign the phone.
So it's prefectly okay to hate the 6P for having these issues and not want the phone. But I think people should set there expectations pretty low if they think they will be fixed. It's much more complicated than as simple update to Android.
TLDR: Don't hold it that way. And now may be the time to lose all hope. (But by the way, some people report the call quality on the 6P is great and it would be nice to hear more from those people.)