HyoNovaDocumentation

Proximity and spatial voice

How being near someone works in the HyoNova office, and the exact rules of spatial voice — who hears you, from how far, and how to stay in control.

BetaWorks today in early-access workspaces. Behaviour and limits may still change.GuideFor: Owners, Admins, Managers, Employees, GuestsLast updated: Introduced:
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In a real office, you talk to someone by walking over to them. HyoNova works the same way. Being near a person, an object or a room shows you what you can do there, and with spatial voice turned on, the people standing close to you can hear you — without anyone starting a call.

Proximity in the office#

Distance shapes what the office shows you:

  • Nameplates appear for the nearest people on your floor, up to 12 people within 18 metres. See Presence.
  • Prompts appear when you walk up to a chair, a door, a screen or a host character, with the E key to use it. See Seats, doors and screens.
  • Room actions appear when you stand in a room: in a meeting room you get Meet here, at a desk Your work, and in the lobby Company overview.
  • Voice connects you with the people near you, if you and they have turned spatial voice on.

Turn on spatial voice#

Spatial voice is always your choice. Nothing turns your microphone on by itself.

  1. Start from the office. Select Mic in the bottom bar, or Turn on voice on the Talk with people nearby? card that may appear after you enter.
  2. Choose how to join. In the Spatial voice dialog, choose Talk with people nearby to speak and listen, Listen only to hear others without your microphone, or Not now.
  3. Allow the microphone. If you chose to talk, allow microphone access when your browser asks.

The dialog also reminds you that your camera stays off and nothing is recorded.

Who hears you#

The server decides who can hear whom, based on where everyone really is. Two people hear each other only when all of these are true:

RuleDetail
Close enoughVoice connects when you are within 4 metres of each other for 400 milliseconds, so walking past someone does not open your microphone to them. It disconnects when you are more than 6 metres apart.
Same spaceYou are on the same floor and in the same room, or both outside every room. Voice never crosses the walls of a room.
Both opted inBoth of you turned spatial voice on.
Both reachableNeither of you is in Do not disturb, and neither is in a private call or meeting.

Hearing is between pairs of people. If you stand near a colleague and they stand near someone else, you do not automatically hear that third person.

Volume by distance#

Within 1.5 metres, you hear each other at full volume. Beyond that, the volume fades gradually to 25% at 6 metres, where the connection ends.

Know who can hear you#

A status line next to the bottom bar always tells you where your voice goes:

StatusMeaning
{n} people nearby can hear you / 1 person nearby can hear youYour voice reaches these people right now.
Nobody can hear you right nowSpatial voice is on, but nobody is in range.
Spatial voice · mutedYou are muted.
Private call — the office cannot hear youYou are in a call or meeting; the office does not hear you.
Connecting voice… / Reconnecting voice…HyoNova is connecting.

A speaking icon appears on the nameplate of whoever is talking.

Mute, pause and leave#

  • Mute or unmute: select Mic in the bottom bar.
  • Stop quickly: select Stop, which appears while your microphone is live and mutes it.
  • Leave spatial voice: select Turn off spatial voice in the status line.
  • Take a break: set Do not disturb or use Focus mode. See Presence.

When you join a call or meeting, it takes your microphone from the office for as long as it lasts. When it ends, the office gets your microphone back. Leaving the office page also leaves spatial voice.

Privacy#

  • Your camera is never used by spatial voice.
  • Nothing said through spatial voice is recorded.
  • Only people who meet every rule above hear you, and the server — not your browser — makes that decision.

Who can use it#

Owners, admins, managers and employees can use spatial voice in any office they can enter, and guests can use it in the office they visit. Restricted members cannot, because their role does not include chat and communication. Spatial voice is not part of the instant trial. See World permissions and Guests.

When something goes wrong#

MessageWhat to do
Microphone access is blocked. You can still listen, walk and chat. Allow the microphone in your browser to talk.Allow the microphone for HyoNova in your browser settings, then select Mic again.
No microphone was found. You can still listen and chat.Connect a microphone, or use Listen only.
Your microphone is used by another app. Close it and try again.Close the other app that uses the microphone.
Voice is unavailable right now. Messages keep working.Try again later; chat keeps working meanwhile.
Enable sound buttonYour browser blocked audio until you interact. Select it to hear others.

More help is in Audio, video and calls.

Status#

FeatureStatusNotes
Spatial voiceBetaWorks today in early-access workspaces. Behaviour and limits may still change.Talk to people near you, the way you would in a real office. Opt-in, with clear distance rules.

Presence and status

Set your status to Available, Away or Do not disturb, use Focus mode, and reach colleagues from their nameplates in the HyoNova office.

Calls

Ring a colleague for a private audio or video call, answer or decline incoming calls, and use the call controls, layouts and device check.

Meetings

Create or schedule meetings, meet in an office room, use the waiting room, video, screen sharing, meeting chat, notes, files and host controls.

Audio, video and call problems

Fix blocked microphones and cameras, choose and test devices, understand why nobody hears you in spatial voice, and what call availability messages mean.

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