Apps like Shush and MuteKey silence output audio on bluetooth headsets instead of muting microphone

[brainsnorkel]

I have been a very happy Shush user for a long time for muting myself on Zoom, Teams, WebEx, Meet etc. without having to remember where the mute button is on each app.

I've recently changed from an M1 Mac Pro to an M1 Pro Mac Pro and I find Shush only works properly with the built-in mic and speakers now. When I'm on my AirPods Pro or Sony WH-1000XM3 bluetooth headsets then when I activate "mute" with Shush then it silences output audio instead of muting my microphone. I tried MuteKey too and it behaves the same way as Shush.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

I'm wondering if it's the M1 Pro/Mac Macs or something I've messed up. The only other app I could think of that might be involved in this problem is Audio Hijack, but after installation I haven't touched it at all.

 

[eli.gordon]

Yes! The same thing is happening to me with Shush on my M1 MBP. Did you happen to find a solution?

 

[brainsnorkel]

I have not found a solution. Still searching for every app's microphone mute button when I need to mute myself.

The strange part is that this is just a problem with Bluetooth headphones. When I plug in a wired headset (my Sony headphones, for example) into the headphone jack, then shush works perfectly. Same for using the system speakers and mic - Shush works fine with that.

 

[Matthew Riley MacPherson]

Just so folks know: this is indeed an issue with Monterey and specifically Bluetooth headphones. I'm the developer of Mic Drop, and I wrote a whole blog post about the bug, how it works, and workarounds: octopusthink.com/blog/2022-01-26-how-we-fixed-the-mic-on-macos-monterey

Shameless plug as the developer of Mic Drop: we actually shipped a workaround for Monterey users that forces the system to use non-Bluetooth inputs and then everything works great. There's more about how it works here: getmicdrop.com/help/monterey-bluetooth, in case you want to give the app a shot.

Just a warning for users who try to work around this by muting with an app like Shush then raising their volume to get sound back: when you raise the volume on your headphones it will unmute them, which also unmutes your microphone. You are actually unmuting yourself when you raise the volume, so be careful! ?

(The only workaround is to use in-app mute buttons or use an app like Mic Drop or Ears, which have workarounds for Monterey.)