Problem with bluetooth echo
 

This is not a "my bluetooth is cutting out" problem or a "can I stream audio via bluetooth" thread, which is pretty much all that turned up in my search.

Basically the problem I'm having is on my end everything sounds and works great, but on the other caller's end, they get a bad echo from feedback. So they say something and two seconds later they hear their own voice, apparently because the microphone is picking up the sound from the speakers. I tested this with a friend and it happens all the way until I get the volume really low, like 8, but at that point I can't even hear the other person when I'm on a highway. If I have the volume at a comfortable level for me, the other caller can easily hear an echo and then there are communication problems when I try to talk and they hear an echo at the same time as I talk.

Is there any way I can fix this issue? Anyone else have this problem? Surely I can't be the only one. Maybe I need to re-pair my phone and just talk louder when I'm setting it up so that it lowers the microphone gain? I guess I could try that but I'm not optimistic.

*edit* This is on a touring non-nav (bose) system.

Nobody?

are you sure it is not a problem with the phone? I read somewhere that specifically the iphone3g has a lot of echo problems, but I'm sure there are other phones that have problems too...if you have access to someone else's phone just try theirs to rule it out

It's a Samsung Galaxy S (verizon). Could be my phone but I haven't had problems in the past. I'll google it.

Also I am not that familiar with the stock BT but there may be a sensitivity setting for the mic somewhere.

I’m kind of going though the same thing with an aftermarket head unit. As I see it I have three options.

1. Take my calls directly on my phone.
2. Try a new microphone.
3. Try the sound proofing material for the Z (seen it in another post)

I’ve looked at option 2 and really don’t see anything that stands out to me. If anyone has experience with an upper end mic that’s better quality then the typically included free mic, I’d love to hear it.

I’m not sure this is important enough for me to consider option 3. I’ve got a roadster and driving usually means an open top. So that’s not really conducive to calls anyway.

I like idea that bigaudiofanat brought up of checking the head unit for settings. Again with an aftermarket, I may have options.

Just thought I would share what I’ve contemplated but haven’t acted on just yet

okay, i'll give it a shot..

so bluetooth echo is not really a sensitivity issue; it's a time delay issue where the caller ends up hearing his own voice echoed back to him from the car's speakers. turning down speakers or moving the mic further from the speakers may help to a certain extent because it will cut down on the mic's pickup of the speaker.

a real fix has more to do with minimizing delay between the caller's speaking and the car's playback. too much delay ruins the bluetooth unit's echo cancellation.. bluetooth modules and nicer speaker phones use an algorithm that cancels out incoming mic noise based on what it knows should be playing out of the speakers. too much delay throws off the cancellation and echo comes back. so i'm guessing there's added delay somewhere during your call (maybe caused by your handset?) that's resulting in echo. i wish i had a solution for you to go along with my guess.

just out of curiosity, maybe you can try fading to only rear speakers when you're on your bluetooth. see if that cuts down on the echo?

people with active processors get a lot of bluetooth echo due to the delay introduced by the processor.

Thanks, that's good info (and repped). Is there any way to automatically fade when a call comes on or would I have to manually do that every time? I'll try it out and see if it even improves quality.

not sure about any auto-fading..

a few other things:

-check whether your phone has any bluetooth settings. i read on google someone fixed via phone settings because they had echo cancel off in the handset's functions.

-there may be a TSB out; try googling around for TSB ITB07036. seems that infiniti owners are having this problem, too.

-google around nicoclub.com forums; there are a number of posts about bluetooth echo there. not sure if they found a solution, but it looks like at least a few of them had it handled under TSB, which involves mic relocation and replacement of something or other.

gluck man

http://www.the370z.com/370z-technica...on-issues.html

Or up a level and see if there is another TSB.

My phone (android) has a setting called "voice privacy" in the call settings menu. It's enabled by default and apparently it adds additional encryption to your outgoing voice. I'm wondering if this has any effect on the bluetooth echo. I'm going to experiment with it tonight.