How to Remove Sound Input/Microphone on MacOS

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82 points

How to Remove Sound Input/Microphone on MacOS

Hi,

How does one remove sound inputs on MacOS? (in general)

Tried via Settings>Sound>Input and via Midi, there is no option to remove sound inputs. Searched the forum, there is only something for Soundflower specifically.

For example, I would like to entirely remove the microphone below.

My setup:

I am using Audezee headphones (as OUT device) and an Apogee mic (as IN device).

The Audezee also shows as an IN device because it has a microphone jack (which I do not use because the quality of that mic is horrible, it is not plugged in).

The other way around, the Apogee mic also has had headphone jack and is also show as an OUT device (again, I am not using that, nothing is plugged in, and would prefer the device gone).

Disconnecting the connections entirely is not an option as I would only like to remove the logical IN/OUT devices, respectively, not the physical devices because I am using them. In other words, I would like the headphone to be shown as headphone only and the mic to be shown as mic only.

Can this be done? How?

Thank you for any idea!

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 31, 2020 1:18 AM

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Answer 1

_daniel_ Author

Level 1

82 points

May 3, 2020 1:57 AM in response to dialabrain

@Diala : Thank you for the reply.

Physically (hardware) it is one device, but logically, it is two devices (I am OS-side: the input and output can be differently addressed, for example you could use Audeze for out but not in and Apogee for in but not out, so they can be distinguished as devices by the OS). Based on that, I was hoping we could 1.) "fix" this assignment, 2.) remove the unwanted out/in options or 3) "hide" them in the GUI at least via some sort of Terminal command maybe...

Is there any way of doing either of those things?

If not, I probably have to get rid of the Audeeze headphones and plug my cabled NAD headphones into the Apogee so that this is the only and working in/out device (other than internal) (the multiple chances to select a unwanted/not working device is far too likely, I had multiple issues with various meeting apps, recording screencast etc...)

Follow-up related question: can the internal speaker/mics be disabled?

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