Business Lab

In an era where business, education, and even casual conversations occur via screens, sound has become a differentiating factor. We obsess over lighting, camera angles, and virtual backgrounds, but how we sound can be just as critical to credibility, trust, and connection.
That’s the insight driving Erik Vaveris, vice president of product management and chief marketing officer at Shure, and Brian Scholl, director of the Perception & Cognition Laboratory at Yale University. Both see audio as more than a technical layer: It’s a human factor shaping how people perceive intelligence, trustworthiness, and authority in virtual settings.
"If you're willing to take a little bit of time with your audio set up, you can really get across the full power of your message and the full power of who you are to your peers, to your employees, your boss, your suppliers, and of course, your customers," says Vaveris.
Scholl’s research shows that poor audio quality can make a speaker seem less persuasive, less hireable, and even less credible.
"We know that [poor] sound doesn't reflect the people themselves, but we really just can't stop ourselves from having those impressions," says Scholl. "We all understand intuitively that if we're having difficulty being understood while we're talking, then that's bad. But we sort of think that as long as you can make out the words I'm saying, then that's probably all fine. And this research showed in a somewhat surprising way, to a surprising degree, that this is not so."
For organizations navigating hybrid work, training, and marketing, the stakes have become high.
Vaveris points out that the pandemic was a watershed moment for audio technology. As classrooms, boardrooms, and conferences shifted online almost overnight, demand accelerated for advanced noise suppression, echo cancellation, and AI-driven processing tools that make meetings more seamless. Today, machine learning algorithms can strip away keyboard clicks or reverberation and isolate a speaker’s voice in noisy environments. That clarity underpins the accuracy of AI meeting assistants that can step in to transcribe, summarize, and analyze discussions.
The implications across industries are rippling. Clearer audio levels the playing field for remote participants, enabling inclusive collaboration. It empowers executives and creators alike to produce broadcast-quality content from the comfort of their home office. And it offers companies new ways to build credibility with customers and employees without the costly overhead of traditional production.
Looking forward, the convergence of audio innovation and AI promises an even more dynamic landscape: from real-time captioning in your native language to audio filtering, to smarter meeting tools that capture not only what is said but how it’s said, and to technologies that disappear into the background while amplifying the human voice at the center.
"There's a future out there where this technology can really be something that helps bring people together," says Vaveris. "Now that we have so many years of history with the internet, we know there's usually two sides to the coin of technology, but there's definitely going to be a positive side to this, and I'm really looking forward to it.
In a world increasingly mediated by screens, sound may prove to be the most powerful connector of all.
This episode of Business Lab is produced in partnership with Shure.

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When business leaders talk about digital transformation, their focus often jumps straight to cloud platforms, AI tools, or collaboration software. Yet, one of the most fundamental enablers of how organizations now work, and how employees experience that work, is often overlooked: audio.

As Genevieve Juillard, CEO of IDC, notes, the shift to hybrid collaboration made every space, from corporate boardrooms to kitchen tables, meeting-ready almost overnight. In the scramble, audio quality often lagged, creating what research now shows is more than a nuisance. Poor sound can alter how speakers are perceived, making them seem less credible or even less trustworthy.

"Audio is the gatekeeper of meaning,” stresses Julliard. “If people can't hear clearly, they can't understand you. And if they can't understand you, they can't trust you, and they can't act on what you said. And no amount of sharp video can fix that." Without clarity, comprehension and confidence collapse.

For Shure, which has spent a century advancing sound technology, the implications extend far beyond convenience. Chris Schyvinck, Shure’s president and CEO, explains that ineffective audio undermines engagement and productivity. Meetings stall, decisions slow, and fatigue builds.

"Use technology to make hybrid meetings seamless, and then be clear on which conversations truly require being in the same physical space," says Juillard. "If you can strike that balance, you're not just making work more efficient, you're making it more sustainable, you're also making it more inclusive, and you're making it more resilient."

When audio is prioritized on equal footing with video and other collaboration tools, organizations can gain something rare: frictionless communication. That clarity ensures the machines listening in, from AI transcription engines to real-time translation systems, can deliver reliable results.

The research from Shure and IDC highlights two blind spots for leaders. First, buying decisions too often privilege price over quality, with costly consequences in productivity and trust. Second, organizations underestimate the stress poor sound imposes on employees, intensifying the cognitive load of already demanding workdays. Addressing both requires leaders to view audio not as a peripheral expense but as core infrastructure.

Looking ahead, audio is becoming inseparable from AI-driven collaboration. Smarter systems can already filter out background noise, enhance voices in real time, and integrate seamlessly into hybrid ecosystems.

"We should be able to provide improved accessibility and a more equitable meeting experience for people," says Schyvinck.

For Schyvinck and Juillard, the future belongs to companies that treat audio transformation as an integral part of digital transformation, building workplaces that are more sustainable, equitable, and resilient. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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When the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship launched its first race through Beijing’s Olympic Park in 2014, the idea of all-electric motorsport still bordered on experimental. Batteries couldn’t yet last a full race, and drivers had to switch cars mid-competition. Just over a decade later, Formula E has evolved into a global entertainment brand broadcast in 150 countries, driving both technological innovation and cultural change in sport.  
"Gen4, that's to come next year," says Dan Cherowbrier, Formula E’s chief technology and information officer. "You will see a really quite impressive car that starts us to question whether EV is there. It's actually faster—it's actually more than traditional [internal combustion engines] ICE." 
That acceleration isn’t just happening on the track. Formula E’s digital transformation, powered by its partnership with Infosys, is redefining what it means to be a fan. “It's a movement to make motor sport accessible and exciting for the new generation,” says principal technologist at Infosys, Rohit Agnihotri. 

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What if we could permanently remove the toxic “forever chemicals” contaminating our water? That’s the driving force behind Michigan-based startup Enspired Solutions, founded by environmental toxicologist Denise Kay and chemical engineer Meng Wang. The duo left corporate consulting in the rearview mirror to take on one of the most pervasive environmental challenges: PFAS. 
"PFAS is referred to as a forever chemical because it is so resistant to break down. It does not break down naturally in the environment, so it just circles around and around. This chemistry, which would break that cycle, break the molecule apart, could really support the health of all of us," says Kay. 
Basing the company in Michigan was both a strategic and a practical strategy. The state has been a leader in PFAS regulation with a startup infrastructure—buoyed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)—that helped turn an ambitious vision into a viable business. 
From intellectual property analyses to forecasting finances and fundraising guidance, MEDC’s programs offered Kay and Wang the resources to focus on building their PFASigator: a machine the size of two large refrigerators that uses ultraviolet light and chemistry to break down PFAS in water. In other words, “it essentially eats PFAS.” 
Despite the support from MEDC, the journey has been far from smooth. "As people say, being an entrepreneur and running a startup is like a rollercoaster,” Kay says. “You have high moments, and you have very low moments when you think nothing's ever going to move forward."
Without revenue or salaries in the early days, the co-founders had to be sustained by something greater than financial incentive. 
"If problem solving and learning new talents do not provide sufficient intrinsic reward for a founder to be satisfied throughout what I guarantee will be a long duration effort, then that founder may need to reset their expectations. Because the financial rewards of entrepreneurship are small throughout the process."
Still, Kay remains optimistic about the road ahead for Enspired, for clean water innovation, and for other founders walking down a similar path. "It's a tough journey, and you have to love being on that journey, and be intrinsically rewarded for that for the sake of the journey itself, or you'll be a very unhappy founder."
This episode of Business Lab is produced in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

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When Darren Riley moved to Detroit seven years ago, he didn’t expect the city’s air to change his life—literally. Developing asthma as an adult opened his eyes to a much larger problem: the invisible but pervasive impact of air pollution on the health of marginalized communities. 
“I was fascinated on why don't we have the data that we need,” Riley recalls, “or why don't we have the infrastructure to really solve these issues, to understand where pollution is coming from, how's it impacting our communities so that we can really solve those problems and make an equitable breathing environment for everybody. 
That personal reckoning sparked the idea for JustAir, a Michigan-based clean-tech startup building neighborhood-level air quality monitoring tools. The goal is simple but urgent: provide communities with access to hyper-local data so they can better manage pollution and protect public health. As Riley puts it, “JustAir is solving that problem of how do we better manage local pollution so that we can make sure that our communities, our lifestyle, where we work, where we play, where we learn, are really protected.”
Founded during the height of the pandemic, when the connection between health disparities and air quality became impossible to ignore, JustAir now partners with local governments, health departments and community residents to deploy monitoring networks that offer key data relevant to everything from policy to personal decision-making. 
From the start, Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) offered key support that helped turn JustAir’s bold vision into technical infrastructure. Through MEDC’s early-stage funding partners and a network of mentorship and advisory known as SmartZones, JustAir sharpened its product-market fit and gain critical momentum. 
Success for Riley isn’t just about scale, it’s about impact. “It warms my heart, and it shows that we're doing exactly what we said we wanted to do,” Riley says, “which is to make sure that communities have the data that they deserve to create the future, the clean, healthy future that they desperately need.
To other burgeoning entrepreneurs, Riley sees a sense of shared ownership as key to lasting and impactful change. “Do something that you feel that you can really go through those pain points and struggles for, you need some extra kick to get you through, and navigate these challenges. The most important thing that a lot of people take away is community, community, community.”
This episode of Business Lab is produced in association with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

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