Low level of voice

Hello guys! We are developing a VR application for Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 based on Unity and we are using photon for online voice chat. The trouble we faced is about low level of voice in Quest and QUest 2 (tested both of them).

While we were checking it through the PC and headset - the voice was good, when we started testing through combination headset - headset - the level became very low. We tried to increase the volume on headsets to maximum but it's not enough still. Otherwise, when we open any other application with maximum volume it's too loud and almost impossible to listen to any kind of music.

We are using XR toolkit from Unity.

We tried that advice with no success:
1. use Photon microphone type
2. add WebRtcAudioDsp component next to the Recorder component (at compile time or at runtime before recorder is started) being used and enable "AGC" (Automatic Gain Control)
3. add MicAmplifier component next to the Recorder component (at compile time or at runtime before recorder is started) being used and tweak its values.

Please help, as it's really crucial for our project. If any information is needed I can provide it, just write.

Thanks in advance,
Tim

Comments

  • JohnTube
    JohnTube ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hi @TimProVR,

    Thank you for choosing Photon!

    Unfortunately we don't have any other solution other than those 3 points you already tried.
    But maybe you did not give those options enough time.

    For instance using WebRtcAudioDsp with Unity microphone type, did you try different values of "AGC Compression Gain" (of course "AGC" enabled)? you should give it enough time to adjust.

    The issue in the combination you describe (headset - headset) maybe the headset's microphone input is low (or the microphone is far from the mouth) or the headset's speakers are just not so loud.
    Otherwise, when we open any other application with maximum volume it's too loud and almost impossible to listen to any kind of music.
    In any case I doubt that the headset's microphone could be tested by just playing music. You need to try voice chat volume via same headset using another app that makes use of the microphone made with Unity or not.

    The 3rd option, MicAmplifier while it's a last resort that we don't highly recommend unless necessary, should work as it amplifies the signal and you can test using huge values initially.
  • Skinzart
    Skinzart
    edited February 2021

    I also have the same problem (only on Oculus Quest), as I remember this problem appeared after I updated photon to the last version...
    Because in the previous version of my application everything worked fine, there was no problem with the volume

  • JohnTube
    JohnTube ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hi @Skinzart,

    What Photon Voice version did you have before updating to the latest?
    What microphone type do you use?
  • Thank you guys, I will check and come back with results
  • Hello to everybody!

    @JohnTube We found a very strange behavior in our app. After the application is launched according to the information from the Editor, WebRtcAudioDsp component is becoming disabled.

    Can it be the issue? How can we adjust it not to disabling? We are developing our app in Unity for Oculus Quest 2.




  • JohnTube
    JohnTube ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hi @TimProVR,

    You should see error log when WebRtcAudioDsp is automatically disabled.
    This should happen if:
    - no Recorder is found on the same GameObject (check is inside Awake)
    - if no AudioListener component was found (check is inside Awake)
    - mic/stream is not mono (channels > 1) (check is inside PhotonVoiceCreated)
    - audio frames are not of type short (check is inside PhotonVoiceCreated) should not happen
  • @JohnTube We enabled WebRtcAudiDsp and unfortunately nothing at all was changed. Are there any special options that should be set up? Do you have any suggestions regarding indicators?

    I will really appreciate any help.
  • JohnTube
    JohnTube ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021
    Hi @TimProVR,

    Did you make sure this is not about 3D settings in AudioSource (audioSource.spatialBlend, etc.) that causes the audio played by remote client to be low because of the distance between avatars/players?

    Otherwise, not sure what's the problem exactly as we don't have solutions other than those you have quoted before.

    What does your recorder.LevelMeter values show?
  • @JohnTube
    Sorry, we didn't understand about 3D settings in AudioSource. What do you mean?

    And for levelmeter. Is it some simple way to get the values?
  • @JohnTube

    Guys, I had a thought that the problem is in our code so I downloaded the space hub in order to check the volume of the speech.
    Unfortunately, the volume was exactly the same low as I had in our solution. The testing chain was Oculus - Oculus Quest 2. But I saw such Warning in the app
    https://prnt.sc/104ufh0

    Could you help with solving that? Are there any opportunities to fix it?

  • JohnTube
    JohnTube ✭✭✭✭✭
    I downloaded the space hub
    I invite you to ask on discord then to see if there are other users who had the same issue and how they solved it.
    But I saw such Warning in the app
    Could you help with solving that? Are there any opportunities to fix it?
    No this warning is harmless and could be ignored.