randomly mute the bluetooth mic on hedset

I've been having this problem too (Trekz Air and Aeropex) and I've figured out my problem. Looks like if you reduce the mic input level setting to zero then the Mac tells the headphones to mute. I had my Zoom audio settings set to "Automatically adjust microphone volume" which causes it to reduce the mic input level to zero whenever it thinks you are not speaking, which triggers the headphone mute. I have disabled this option and now I don't get the constant muting. There is a similar setting in Microsoft Teams (Devices --> Automatically adjust mic sensitivity) which you also need to disable.

Motleyii wrote:

I've been having this problem too (Trekz Air and Aeropex) and I've figured out my problem. Looks like if you reduce the mic input level setting to zero then the Mac tells the headphones to mute. I had my Zoom audio settings set to "Automatically adjust microphone volume" which causes it to reduce the mic input level to zero whenever it thinks you are not speaking, which triggers the headphone mute. I have disabled this option and now I don't get the constant muting. There is a similar setting in Microsoft Teams (Devices --> Automatically adjust mic sensitivity) which you also need to disable.

@Motleyii is a genius. This fixed my problem! (And I was ready to buy new headphones!)

At the Chromium issue tracker mentioned above a confirmation of the bug as well as a workaround was posted today.

The workaround is to start Google Chrome (or other Chromium based applications) from the Terminal with an additional parameter.

Example:

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome \
    --force-fieldtrials="WebRTC-Audio-AgcMinMicLevelExperiment/Enabled-20"

You may need to adapt that to match the actual path to the binary (application file) inside the Content > MacOS folder inside your Chrome application.

I have the same issue described, and have found a workaround.

O/S: Monterey 12.2.1 (issued surfaced on first upgrade to Monterey)

Headset: Aeropex Aftershokz

Application: Google Chrome 98.0.4758.102 (all VC apps: Google Meet, Zoom, etc)

Fix: In the VC app, open sound settings. Change the microphone setting to something besides the headset. In my case, I keep output through the Aeropex, and use my webcam for the microphone. It stops the forced muting of the headset and the loud beeping sound.

Issue: I suspect some 3rd party headsets are using the wrong connection profile -- connecting as a stereo device, rather than a communications device. The muting only happens on the first instance of speaking, so it appears to be triggered when there is a microphone signal. This leads to the headset being sent the signal to shut down the input channel. I cannot find a setting in MacOS to force the connection profile for a headset, but my guess is that Monterey introduced a bug/feature that tries to correct for unexpected input.

Hi, I also experience the same problem when using Aftershokz Aeropex BT headset, Monterey 12.1 and Zoom. The headset gets muted frequently. Almost reported it as a bug to Apple and then discovered it was actually Zoom problem. Zoom has a setting 'Automatically adjust microphone volume'. When I turn it off, the problem is gone.

I hope it helps someone.

Looks like a Chrome / Chromium related problem. Any Electron based meeting app may be affected too.

Using Firefox or Safari I do not see that problem when in Jitsi or BigBlueButton calls.

See https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1275566

I was able to get this issue to stop happening by Enabling AAC in Bluetooth Explorer > Audio Options. I took calls in chrome, slack, etc and didn't experience the disconnect. I was going to fiddle with the settings some more to really isolate the issue to see what specifically fixed it, but didn't want to get back into the broken state.

Hopefully this helps some of you.

Our company makes a mute button for online calls (MuteMe) and I can 100% confirm this is a bug in macOS Monterey. We have had hundreds of users reach out to us to complain about this particular issue and after some extensive testing across dozens of devices and headsets, there is an issue with how macOS Monterey handles mute.

A simple way to reproduce the bug is by taking your volume slider for your input device when you're connected via Bluetooth down to zero and you'll see the output audio cut out.

Here are simple steps to reproduce with apple software and any input/output headset.

1.  Connect any Bluetooth headset to the computer.
2. Open default "Audio MIDI setup" application which is a default macOS application. 
3. Find the headset you connected via Bluetooth and find the input pane it might show up as two separate devices.
4. Play any audio source including playing a clip from youtube. 
5. Go back to the "audio MIDI setup" application and click the mute checkbox next to the slider on the input pane. 
6. At this point the output will be muted; what should happen (desired behavior) is the input should be muted but it should not impact the output. What is happening is it is not impacting the input but muting the output. 

I really hope someone fixes this, we have just started telling our customers to go ahead and leave feedback on the macOS page.

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

This worked for me. I got a constant two beeps on my Aftershokz while using Zoom on my Macbook Pro but not on my iPhone nor iPad nor another Macbook Pro. I just entered my Zoom settings and disabled the "Automatic adjust mic sensitivity" and the problem never recurred. One temporary thing to do while you are "Zooming" is to press the Volume + and volume - at the same time to temporarily unmute your headphone.

Thank you for your tip. This worked for me

I too had this problem until now and I solved it by chance. My Aeropex kept going mute like for many people here. On my Macbook Pro, I went to Sound Preference, click Input tab and click on Aeropex. Lo and behold, the input volume was near the minimum. I pulled the slider up to the max and seems to have fixed the problem so far.

I have done a downgrade to Big Sur :-( and the problem is gone. So it's definitiv a bug in Monterey. Hopefully the Bug will be fixed soon so I can upgrade again.

I seem to have avoided the problem by switching to Firefox for all my headset web meetings. Google Meet on Chrome drives the mic to zero, but Google Meet on Firefox does not.

Hey masoud_soroush,

Thanks for the information. One thing you can do is to try and isolate if it is a software issue or a headphone issue by using safe mode.

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Have a good one.

I have the problem with 2 different headsets (a Poly and an Aftershokz) on two different computers. It only started to happen after I upgraded to Monterey. Seems clearly a problem with Monterey. I filed a bug here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

Neither headset randomly mutes when attached to my Android phone.