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Telehealth - Client is hearing an echo (of their own voice)

Answered

Comments

44 comments

  • Official comment
    Marlina

    Hi Mitchell,

     

    I can definitely investigate your Telehealth feature to make sure you and your clients have a seamless Telehealth experience, but to do that I'll need some more information. I've reached out to you directly so that we can troubleshoot this together.

     

    In the meantime, here are a couple of our Telehealth guides: 

     

    Telehealth FAQs for clients

    Telehealth FAQs

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  • Mitchell Greene, Ph.D.

    Resolved, thank you.

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  • Erik Newman

    I'd love to know how you resolved this because I have yet to have a video session that doesn't involve either an echo, audio not working, or 2-3 second delay in audio.

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  • Mitchell Greene, Ph.D.

    I switched to using Google Chrome - that seems to be working. 

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  • Roy E. Hutton

    I have echo making Telehealth unusable.  Chrome with not work at all.

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  • Gillian

    Hi Roy and Erik, have you considered using headphones or a headset? Often, echoing in Telehealth sessions can come from client's computer speakers creating feedback. 

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  • Erik Newman

    Yes, I use headphones more often than not, but I still get an echo most of the time.

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  • Gillian

    Erik, is your client also using headphones?

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  • Erik Newman

    Usually not. Why should that matter though? I have a MacBook Pro, and I use FaceTime and Zoom all the time. On those platforms, my audio is always crystal clear, perfectly synced with the video, and no echo. It seems like there must be something different about the SimplePractice platform that causes these problems when no other platforms do.

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  • Gillian

    Erik, I suspect that the clients you're working with are working with you on their computers with the volume up, which would case an echo. However, if you feel that this is not the case, please reach out through the ? bubble so the Success team can investigate.

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  • Erik Newman

    Would it be their microphone volume or their speaker volume?

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  • Gillian

    Erik, it would be their speaker volume. 

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  • Cathy S S. Harris

    Arrrgghhh...I am on a test call with a friend. We both have REALLY BAD echo

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  • Cathy S S. Harris

    Wow, really bad experience, first time using this. The sound was bad on both ends,lots of echo and we both sounded like our heads were in a fish bowl.

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  • Gillian

    Cathy, are you and the test client both using headphones? 

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  • Cathy S S. Harris

    NO, one of us was, and one wasn't ...Then we tried without. The echo got better but we both sounded like our heads were in a fishbowl.

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  • Gillian

    Cathy, got it. Have you tried the Pre-Call Tool to test your connection and check for audio issues? https://tokbox.com/developer/tools/precall/

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  • Erik Newman

    I just got off a session and it worked well about 95% of the time. However, the other 5% were frozen screens, pixel lotions, and audio fades. I made sure I only had chrome open on my computer, and I cleared the cache right before the session. This is just a very touchy platform compared to FaceTime and Zoom. It’s fine in a pinch, but I don’t think I would be happy with it if I did telehealth on any sort of regular basis.

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  • Gillian

    Hi Erik, I would definitely recommend that you and your clients run the Pre-Call Tool to ensure that their connections can handle SimplePractice's Telehealth platform. Here's a link: https://tokbox.com/developer/tools/precall/

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  • Cathy S S. Harris

    Just ran the pre-call tool. It indicates everything is working fine. Does it correct problems that I had on the test call with my friend? Otherwise, I don't think it helped.

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  • Gillian

    Hi Cathy, the Pre-Call tool is a diagnostic tool to help you understand what might need to be changed. Did your friend also run it to confirm that the issue wasn't on their end?

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  • Barbara B. Martin

    Tried 4 different calls today and all the clients had a echo.  What's up?  It has worked in the past.

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  • Gillian

    Hi Barbara, if your clients are hearing an echo, we recommend using headphones with a mic. If you are hearing an echo of your client's voices, the same rule applies - try using headphones with a mic so that your client's voice doesn't cause feedback. 

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  • Erik Newman

    Hi Gillian, I've already run the Pre-Call tool, and it came back perfect. I don't know that I feel comfortable asking all my clients to run the test on their computers, as it's the same set of issues every time regardless of who the client is. I hope that, at some point, Simple Practice will decide that the telehealth platform needs some upgrading if so many people are running into the same issues. I get that there are ways to improve the connection, but if everything has to be "just so" every time...using Chrome, clearing cache, closing out all other windows, using a headphone/mic on both sides, running the Pre-call tool...ultimately, there's something wrong with the platform. As I've said before, FaceTime and Zoom don't have these issues, and I can run those with a million windows open, with no headset or mic, and with no clearing the cache ever. Those other platforms work perfectly 99.9% of the time. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate all the suggestions on how to troubleshoot these issues, but at the end of the day, the platform just seems very unstable compared to many others out there.

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  • Gillian

    Hi Eric, thank you for your feedback. Despite a massive influx of Telehealth appointments on our platform, we have not seen a meaningful increase in error rates - do keep in mind that you're more likely to see reports of issues in our Community Forum because this is where our customers come to troubleshoot. The vast, silent majority of our customers are using SimplePractice's Telehealth platform without the issues you might see on the Forum. Let me know if you have any additional questions about this, or anything else SimplePractice. I'm here to help.  

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  • Fred Ingham

    My clients also experience echos on more telehealth sessions than not.  When I use other platforms (Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom) there are no problems.  This is NOT simply a headset/mic problem.  I've tried all the variations with both parties using SP trying with and without headsets.  The client still gets an echo.  No other platforms are showing this issue in my experience.

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  • Gillian

    Hi Fred, have you had a chance to reach out to the SimplePractice Success team directly to troubleshoot this? 

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  • Fred Ingham

    I have not.  It's not a consistent problem and I don't have time to deal with it.  What I typically do is try to start the call on SP, and if there's an echo present I have an alternate platform ready to go and I shift the client to that.  The SP platform just needs an upgrade as far as I can tell, because no other platform has the problem.

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  • Gillian

    Got it, Fred. If you'd like to address this issue, we do ask that you reach out so we can run through some troubleshooting steps with you privately and learn more about your device and connection speed. As I mentioned in my comment above, SimplePractice's Telehealth platform is not experiencing widespread issues related to yours, and we're standing by to help if you do find the time to reach out. 

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  • Fred Ingham

    I appreciate that.  If I get a chance to spend time troubleshooting, I'll try to get some support.

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