Surface 2 headset noise suppression is not working when you are not speaking

Äännevaara, Juho 0 Reputation points
2026-08-28T11:32:34.77+00:00

It is rather odd that all the background noise comes through in Teams calls unless I'm talking. I have all the settings (I am allowed to change) in a suppression on etc. on in order to have no background noise coming from the open office area but no, just doesn't work and I get all the time feedback that there is a huge noise from my side on the background. How can I get this thing working or is this just a feature and the product is "within the specs" like a Tesla?

Surface | Surface Headphones | Settings
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  1. AI answer

    2026-08-28T11:32:50.8+00:00

    Teams noise suppression is on by default, but it can be changed in Teams > Settings and more > Settings > Devices and by turning on Noise suppression. It can also be turned on during a meeting from More actions > Audio settings.

    If voice isolation is available, it is the stronger option for the scenario described because it uses a voice profile so Teams keeps the speaker’s voice and filters surrounding noise and other nearby speakers. To set it up:

    1. In Teams, go to Settings and more > Settings.
    2. Select Recognition.
    3. Select Create voice profile.
    4. Choose the microphone being used.
    5. Select Start voice capture, read the provided text, then select Stop voice capture.
    6. Select Close.

    After the voice profile is added, voice isolation is active in calls and meetings. If Recognition does not appear in Teams settings, that feature must be enabled by the IT admin.

    If voice isolation is already configured or cannot be enabled, use these supported checks:

    1. Reconnect the microphone or try a different microphone.
    2. Restart Teams.
    3. Check Teams for updates.
    4. If using voice isolation, delete and recreate the voice profile.
    5. In Teams, confirm the correct audio device is selected under Settings > Devices.

    For Surface Headphones 2+, in Teams under Settings > Devices > Audio devices, confirm the headset is selected correctly:

    • Bluetooth: select Surface Headphones and confirm both Speaker and Microphone are set to it. For Speaker, the name should include (Bluetooth).
    • Microsoft Surface USB Link: select Microsoft Surface USB Link and confirm both Speaker and Microphone are set to it.

    Surface Headphones 2+ is a Certified for Microsoft Teams device on Windows 11 over Bluetooth or with the included Surface USB Link. On Mac, certification applies when using the included Surface USB Link.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Äännevaara, Juho 0 Reputation points
    2026-08-28T11:43:20.91+00:00

    My company does not allow the voice Recognition function. I also am not able to change the microphone from the Microphone Array (2-Intel Smart Sound Technology for Digital Microphones).

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  3. S.Sengupta 32,351 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-08-29T09:50:57.8433333+00:00

    Short answer: it's not really "within spec" like a Tesla — it's a real, documented gap in Teams' standard noise suppression, and the actual fix is exactly the feature your company has turned off.

    Here's what's going on. Teams has two different things people mix up under "noise suppression":

    The regular one (Auto/High/Low/Off) is only trained to strip out non-human noise — typing, fan hum, that kind of thing. It's deliberately cautious about anything voice-shaped, because early versions got dinged for clipping people's actual speech. So, your coworkers' voices in the background get treated as "might be someone talking, leave it alone" instead of getting cut.

    Voice Isolation is the one that would actually fix this. It builds a personal voice profile from your voice and uses that to strip out everything that doesn't match — including other people's voices. That's almost certainly the "voice recognition" thing your IT has locked down, since turning it on means Microsoft is processing your pitch, inflection, and speech patterns to build that profile. A lot of companies block it for exactly that biometric-data reason, not to make your life harder specifically.

    So, without that profile, Teams literally can't tell your voice apart from a coworker's three desks away — it's just guessing off generic acoustic cleanup. No setting you toggle is going to get past that.

    The mic situation isn't helping either. You're stuck on the laptop's built-in array mic instead of the one on your Surface Headphones, and that matters a lot — an array mic picks up the whole room, while a mic sitting near your mouth has a way better signal-to-noise ratio. Even bad noise suppression works decently with a headset mic; it just can't with a room mic.

    If it turns out the headphone mic isn't available for a real reason (not a policy block, just not showing up), a cheap wired USB headset is worth trying — it skips the Bluetooth profile mess entirely and Windows almost always picks it up cleanly.

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