Not receiving app notification sounds on Mac OS 12.0.1 (Banner displays without sound)

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Level 1

12 points

Not receiving app notification sounds on Mac OS 12.0.1 (Banner displays without sound)

Hi there!

I upgraded to Mac OS Monterey (12.0.1) yesterday and since then I am not receiving app notification sounds at all. The notification alerts/banners do display, but the sounds which normally accompany them are nonexistent. This is a major issue for my workflow since I depend on Slack and am now missing messages.

Here are the steps I have tried so far to remedy the issue:

Confirmed that Do Not Disturb is off
Quit/Restarted the Notification Center process
Reset NVRAM/PRAM
Uninstalled/Reinstalled apps without notification sounds
Confirmed the audio output source as the MacBook Pro speakers
Confirmed device volume is turned up and not muted

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

--Matt

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 5, 2021 9:21 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

shelbourn Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 16, 2021 9:12 AM in response to shelbourn

I found a fix that worked for my system! The issue seemed to stem from having an external monitor connected to my Mac while I installed the Monterey update. In doing so, the system apparently set my default audio output device to my external monitor (even though my external monitor doesn't have speakers). Now, I had already reset my default audio output device to my MacBook's internal speakers, but what wasn't changed with that was the default output device for Sound Effects!

This is what worked for me to fix this issue:

Open System Preferences
Open Sound
Click on the Sound Effects tab
In the "Play sound effects through:" dropdown select "MacBook Pro Speakers" (or whichever audio output source you use normally)

I hope this works for you!

--Matt

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

210,533 points

Nov 5, 2021 10:50 AM in response to shelbourn

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

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Answer 3

shelbourn Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 5, 2021 1:47 PM in response to Old Toad

The issue persisted in Safe Boot and also persisted upon restarting normally after exiting Safe Boot. One thing I noticed while in Safe Boot was that the MacBook Pro internal speakers did not show up in Sound Preferences.

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Answer 4

Dec 2, 2021 10:08 AM in response to shelbourn

Same issue here and none of the solutions work. I've tried with both internal mac speakers and BT headphones but no sound. All other sounds work.

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Answer 5

Nov 9, 2021 10:37 PM in response to shelbourn

I am having this same issue. What I also noticed is that you are unable to edit the alert style for Slack in the Notifications & Focus. Banners is the only one selected.

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Answer 6

shelbourn Author

Level 1

12 points

Dec 2, 2021 11:58 AM in response to spartanrob

Ah man, that's a bummer. Have you checked to see what the default speakers are set to for Slack itself?

In Slack go to Preferences --> Audio & video --> Speaker

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Answer 7

shelbourn Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 12, 2021 10:00 AM in response to clarksinthesouth

Interesting, I'm not having that issue. But I have already reinstalled Slack so I wonder if that has something to do with it. I'm starting to think that this might be a Slack-specific issue.

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Answer 8

Dec 2, 2021 12:43 PM in response to shelbourn

Thanks. Yes, all configured properly.

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Not receiving app notification sounds on Mac OS 12.0.1 (Banner displays without sound)

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