Voice Communication

Real-time voice communication with noise suppression, echo cancellation, and voice activity detection.

Key Features

High-Quality Audio

• Crystal-Clear Voice: Professional-grade audio quality with minimal latency
• Noise Suppression: Advanced algorithms filter out background noise
• Echo Cancellation: Eliminates echo and feedback automatically
• Automatic Gain Control: Maintains consistent volume levels

Voice Controls

• Mute/Unmute: Server-synchronized microphone control with visual feedback
• Deafen: Local audio output control (mutes incoming audio)
• Push-to-Talk: Coming soon - hands-free voice activation
• Voice Activation: Automatic transmission based on voice activity

Real-time Feedback

• Voice Activity Detection: Visual indicators showing who's speaking
• Audio Level Meters: Real-time visualization of audio input/output
• Connection Status: Clear indicators for connection states
• Speaking Indicators: Visual feedback for all participants

Voice Controls

Mute Control

The mute button provides server-synchronized microphone control:

// Mute state management
interface MuteState {
  isMuted: boolean;
  serverSynchronized: boolean;
  visualFeedback: 'muted' | 'unmuted' | 'connecting';
}

// Toggle mute with server sync
const toggleMute = async () => {
  const newMuteState = !currentMuteState;
  
  // Update local state immediately for responsive UI
  setLocalMuteState(newMuteState);
  
  // Send to server for synchronization
  await socket.emit('updateMute', newMuteState);
  
  // Update audio pipeline
  updateAudioPipeline({ muted: newMuteState });
};

Visual Feedback:

• 🔴 Red: Microphone is muted
• 🟢 Green: Microphone is active
• 🟡 Yellow: Mute state is syncing with server

Deafen Control

Deafen provides local audio output control:

// Deafen state management
interface DeafenState {
  isDeafened: boolean;
  localOnly: boolean; // Doesn't affect server state
  audioOutput: 'muted' | 'active';
}

// Toggle deafen (local only)
const toggleDeafen = () => {
  const newDeafenState = !currentDeafenState;
  
  // Update local audio output
  setAudioOutputMuted(newDeafenState);
  
  // Update visual state
  setDeafenState(newDeafenState);
};

Visual Feedback:

• 🟠 Orange: Audio output is deafened
• 🟢 Green: Audio output is active
• Note: Others still see you as connected when deafened

Push-to-Talk (Coming Soon)

Push-to-talk will provide hands-free voice activation:

// Push-to-talk configuration
interface PushToTalkConfig {
  enabled: boolean;
  keyBinding: string; // e.g., 'Space', 'Ctrl+Space'
  activationThreshold: number; // Voice level threshold
  releaseDelay: number; // Delay before deactivation
}

// Push-to-talk handler
const handlePushToTalk = (pressed: boolean) => {
  if (pressed) {
    // Activate microphone
    setMicrophoneActive(true);
  } else {
    // Deactivate after delay
    setTimeout(() => {
      setMicrophoneActive(false);
    }, config.releaseDelay);
  }
};

Server Restart Resilience

Gryt automatically handles signaling server restarts without losing your voice session.

How It Works

The voice architecture separates the signaling server (session management, member lists) from the SFU (audio forwarding). When the signaling server restarts:

1. Audio continues uninterrupted — the SFU operates independently, so voice chat keeps working during the restart
2. Automatic reconnection — once the signaling server is back online, clients automatically reconnect and restore their session
3. Voice channel rejoin — the client performs a full SFU disconnect and reconnect to cleanly re-establish speaking indicators, stream mapping, and member list status
4. Identity preservation — session restoration uses the access token from the initial connection, so nicknames and user identity are preserved

Timing

What Users See

• A brief "Reconnecting..." toast notification
• Voice temporarily disconnects and reconnects (connect sound plays)
• Member list updates to show correct voice status within seconds

Audio Quality Features

RNNoise Noise Reduction

AI-powered noise suppression via an AudioWorkletNode running RNNoise compiled to WebAssembly. Processes 480-sample frames off the main thread with ~20 ms added latency. Toggle in Settings → Audio → Noise Reduction (RNNoise).

Auto Gain Control

True RMS-based AGC that normalizes your voice to a configurable target level (-30 to -5 dB, default -20 dB). Quiet speech gets boosted, loud speech gets reduced. Enabled by default.

Compressor

Optional dynamic range compressor that tames peaks after AGC. Adjustable from gentle leveling (0 %) to heavy squash (100 %). Enabled by default at 50 %.

Noise Gate

Configurable threshold gate that silences the mic when you're not speaking. Uses the raw (pre-RNNoise) signal level for accurate detection.

For full pipeline details and settings reference, see Audio Processing.

Voice Activity Detection

Visual Indicators

Real-time visual feedback for all participants:

• Speaking Animation: Pulsing border around user avatars when voice is detected
• Audio Level Bars: Real-time visualization of voice levels in settings
• Connection Status: Clear indicators for connection states
• Mute Indicators: Visual feedback for mute/deafen states

Troubleshooting

Common Audio Issues

Microphone not working?

• Check browser permissions for microphone access
• Verify HTTPS in production (required for getUserMedia)
• Try selecting a different input device in Audio Settings

Echo or feedback?

• Use headphones instead of speakers
• Echo cancellation is enabled by default via browser constraints
• Reduce output volume if echo persists

Voice cutting in and out?

• Lower the noise gate threshold in Audio Settings
• If using RNNoise, it may be gating legitimate speech — try disabling it

Audio too quiet or too loud?

• Adjust the AGC target level slider
• Combine with the microphone volume slider for fine control

Performance Metrics

Audio Quality Metrics

• Latency: < 50 ms end-to-end (< 5 ms without RNNoise)
• Packet Loss: < 0.1 % under normal conditions
• Jitter: < 10 ms variation
• Bitrate: Configurable per channel (32–510 kbps presets; eSports mode caps at 128 kbps)
• Sample Rate: 48 kHz