Speakers are mixed up or mislabeled

Speaker separation works from voice characteristics alone, so similar-sounding voices, speakerphone audio, and people talking over each other get merged or swapped. Wrong names are a one-tap fix with Rename speaker; meetings recorded by the notetaker use real participant names instead of guesses.

Why do speakers get merged or swapped?

Canto tells speakers apart by how their voices sound, not by who they are. That breaks down predictably:

• Similar voices — two people with close pitch and cadence can be merged into one speaker.
• Speakerphone and conference-room audio — everyone's voice passes through the same distant microphone and room echo, which flattens the differences separation relies on. This is the most common cause of merged speakers.
• Overlapping speech — when people talk over each other, the overlap is attributed to whichever voice dominates.
• One person, two labels — a speaker who moves around the room, or whose audio quality shifts mid-meeting, can be split into two.

More on how separation works: How does speaker separation work?

How do I fix a wrong name?

1. Open the recording and tap a speaker label in the transcript.
2. Choose Rename speaker and type the person's name.
3. The name applies to every line from that speaker, for everyone with access.

Full steps: Rename speakers. Renaming fixes labels, not attribution — if two people were merged into one voice, renaming can't split their lines apart. For lines that were transcribed under the wrong speaker, you can still edit the transcript text itself.

Why are notetaker meetings labeled better?

When the notetaker records a meeting, the meeting platform reports who is speaking when, so Canto labels turns with real participant names — no voice guessing involved. Names can still look off in two cases: someone dialed in by phone or joined under a shared account, and a name the platform reports (like a bare tenant account name) may differ from what you'd call the person. Rename speaker fixes those the same way.

If accurate names matter for a Teams, Meet, or Zoom meeting, send the notetaker rather than recording the call through your device's microphone — a device recording of a video call is exactly the speakerphone case above. See What is the notetaker?

How do I prevent it next time?

• Put the phone in the middle of the table, closer to the quieter speakers — see Get better audio quality.
• Avoid recording a speakerphone from across the room; one clear microphone near the conversation beats a distant one.
• Encourage one-at-a-time speaking in meetings where attribution matters.