Upcoming Microsoft Teams updates include Spatial Audio support and more

While we wait for Microsoft to announce the rumored major performance overhaul of Microsoft Teams, the development team behind the online meeting and chat tool continues to add small but interesting new features. The Microsoft 365 roadmap has added quite a few new features in development. One of them is that Teams will soon be able to support Spatial Audio.

The actual description of Spatial Audio in the roadmap is very vague:

Spatial Audio brings next-generation spatialized audio to Teams, where you can meet like you're there together. This intelligent audio technology makes the meeting experience more natural, inclusive and focused for everyone.

Yes, but what is it? Spatial Audio is supposed to simulate a 360-degree audio setup, but with just a pair of speakers. That also includes headphones and earbuds, which means Teams users should hear speakers as if they were in a physical office meeting room. This support will officially launch in May in General Availability for desktop and Mac users.

That's not the only new feature coming to Teams in the next couple of months. Here's a breakdown of what was added to the roadmap in the last week:

Front row gallery improvements for Teams Rooms on Windows: Improvements to the front row experience for Teams Rooms on Windows using Microsoft AI to remove individual backgrounds, adjust video participant size, and apply a unified background design so remote participants appear as if they are in the same room. (GA: May 2023 - Desktop)

Teams Button to Join Meeting from Pre-Join Screen: Starting today, users can successfully join and participate in a meeting directly with their Teams Button on their Microsoft Teams certified peripheral. After a user receives a meeting start notification, the user can press the Teams Button to bring up their Meeting Pre-Join Screen. Now, a subsequent press of the Teams Button will allow the user to join the meeting! (GA: April 2023 - Desktop, Mac)

Enhanced OneDrive file picker: Users can leverage the new UI to more easily navigate, access and pick files from OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. (GA: March 2023 - Teams and Surface Devices, Web, Desktop)

Enable second video stream with "Teams Content Camera on Desktop": Users will be able to enable a second video stream to support both their Personal Video and Teams Content Camera on Desktop feature. When enabling the Teams Content Camera on Desktop feature, the Personal Video is expected to be maintained so long that the user selects a separate Camera to support the two video streams. (GA: March 2023 - Desktop, Mac)

Invoke Content Camera on Desktop feature: Currently, users must turn on sharing from a content camera in Microsoft Teams via the Share tray on the Teams Meeting stage. Moving forward, users will be able to start and stop sharing content directly from a certified Teams device. This feature enables presenters to share a Whiteboard, document, or video more quickly during a meeting. (GA: March 2023 - Desktop, Mac)