16 01732 759725 Poor audio also increases cognitive load. When people strain to hear, their brains work harder just to decode speech. “Good audio lightens that cognitive load,” Juillard explained. “It keeps people engaged and it levels the playing field.” The result is less friction, fewer delays, and more productive meetings. enables organisations to better achieve their objectives. When communication is clear, teams move faster, decisions stick, and innovation follows. But clarity doesn’t come from sharper cameras or bigger screens alone. In hybrid work, the foundation of connection is intelligible sound. When audio is difficult to follow, people expend energy decoding words instead of contributing ideas. Over the course of a day, that friction becomes fatigue, disengagement, and missed opportunities. Why audio is the gatekeeper of meaning in digital transformation If video drops, most meetings continue. If audio drops, the meeting effectively ends. That reality reveals the true hierarchy between sound and visuals. This audio-video imbalance matters even more as AI becomes embedded in daily workflows. Transcription, summarisation, real time translation, and speaker attribution all depend on clean audio inputs. Juillard cautioned that “bad audio can sabotage AI transcription tools.” If speech isn’t captured clearly, AI outputs become unreliable – turning powerful technologies into sources of error rather than insight. Simply put, if organisations want AI to deliver value, audio quality must come first. What the CEOs say: insights you can take to clients One of the biggest blind spots organisations face is treating audio as a commodity. Juillard pointed to research showing that poor microphone quality doesn’t just affect clarity, but also perception, noting that listeners can “literally perceive you as less intelligent and less trustworthy” when audio quality is poor. It’s a lesson many organisations learn only after the fact: while first time buyers often prioritise price, repeat buyers tend to shift their focus to quality once they experience the real cost of getting it wrong. Clear audio builds trust, accelerates decisions, and enables effective hybrid work. Trust begins with audio Workplace transformation efforts often fail not because of technology, but because they overlook the human element. Trust depends on clear communication. In hybrid work, while video may help people feel connected, nothing matters more than the ability to hear – and understand – what everyone has to say. In their discussion with MIT Technology Review Business Lab podcast, Chris Schyvinck, President and CEO of Shure, and Genevieve Juillard, former CEO of IDC, underscored why audio has become foundational to effective collaboration – particularly in hybrid environments. “We now know from research that audio quality matters more than video quality for meeting outcomes,” Juillard explained. “You can run a meeting without video, but you can’t run a meeting without clear audio. Audio is the gatekeeper of meaning.” IDC research reinforces this reality, ranking communication as the number one workplace factor driving technology ROI. Yet audio is often the most overlooked aspect of communication, frequently deprioritised in favor of speed, cost savings, or visual upgrades. As Schyvinck notes, this dynamic has long been understood in performance settings – and now it’s impossible to ignore in workplaces as well. “We’ve always… understood that clean, clear, crisp audio is what is needed in any setting,” she said. The difference today is scale: hybrid work has made audio quality central to participation and inclusion. The hidden cost of neglecting audio is diminished collaboration – when people struggle to understand one another, trust erodes and progress slows. The power of human connection in the workplace Improving human-to-human connection The overlooked driver of digital transformation: how clear audio unlocks adoption BUSINESS BRIEFING Based on MIT Technology Review’s Business Lab – Episode 1 Sponsored by
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