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Collaboration, Voice & AV · Foundational

Audio Noise Floor

The level of background noise in a system or room when no intended signal is present.

Definition

Electronic noise floor comes from components and interference, while acoustic noise floor comes from HVAC, traffic and equipment. The difference between signal and noise floor is the signal-to-noise ratio. Conference rooms should keep background noise low, commonly targeted around NC-30 to NC-35 or lower, to protect speech intelligibility.

Example

HVAC raises a room's acoustic noise floor to 48 dBA, degrading conference audio.

Exam tip

Raising gain raises the noise floor equally; you cannot fix poor SNR with more gain later in the chain.

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