Normally, Zoom gives final control over muting or unmuting audio to the participant for their privacy. However, in some special cases, a teacher may want the ability to selectively unmute participants’ audio. This arises in situations where students may not have the ability to unmute themselves, such as:
- Classes for grades K-2, who may not know how to operate their microphones
- Classes where students have physical or other constraints preventing them from accessing the mute controls
- Physical exercise classes where students may be placed at a distance from their device
- Music lessons where a student is playing an instrument
To protect student privacy and maintain participant control, Zoom will require the meeting host and all participants to opt in to this audio control. Once permission is granted, the same host can set up recurring classes without needing to adjust permissions before each meeting.
Participants can revoke this permission at any time, including between meetings, by accessing a list of hosts to whom they have granted this permission. A warning icon will appear next to the security icon when this setting is enabled in a meeting.
If students do not grant permission to unmute, they will still be allowed in the meeting and the host will be able to request them to unmute each time as normal.