How to mute someone?

Question

Every morning Alice and I have a Lync conference call with Bob and Charlie from the other office. I sit next to Alice, so when she speaks, I can hear her twice—through the air and with a delay through the headphones. This is aurally annoying. I could take the headphones off, but then I can't hear Bob's interjections. How can I mute just Alice so I can't hear her through the headphones?

Answer 1

So far as I can tell, the only mute option built into Lync is of the presenter to mute someone entirely such that nobody on the conference can hear them.

There are some hardware solutions including noise-canceling phone headsets that I just found out existed thanks to Google and Amazon. You could look for one that fits your needs.

There may also be some non-Lync software solutions but I don't know of them.

Answer 2

EDIT

As a participant, it appears there is no way to mute another participant:

Technet Lync Forums

From the presenter's perspective, it can be done.

Mute-or-unmute-audio-in-a-Skype-for-Business-Lync-Meeting-or-call

Mute or unmute the audience in a Skype for Business (Lync) Meeting To mute individuals, point to the people button in the meeting. Then right-click a participant and click Mute. ... To mute the entire audience, point to the people button in the meeting. Then select the ACTIONS tab and click Mute Audience.

Answer 3

Instead of trying to mute the voice of Alice coming from the conference call, why not mute Alice's original voice? You have two options here:

1. Go sit somewhere else during the conference call

2. Buy yourself hearing protection headphones, like these:

These have the added benefit of dealing with other disturbing noises, like people talking nearby while you're in a conference.