No sound delivered from internal microphone

Please try restarting in Safe Mode and then restart normally.

BTW, do you have any of the following third party apps installed on your Mac?

·      Antivirus Apps

·      Cleaning Apps

·      Security Apps

·      VPN Apps

·      Maintenance Apps

It will help us get a good idea of what is causing your problem if you provide a report of your system, that way we do not have to play 20 questions with you. The report we are requesting does NOT provide any personal information and is extremely safe to use. Please navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.

When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again. 

For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211 It is helpful to us if you download the report to your Desktop.

Well what I see is a very old system that has been modifies quite a bit. The #1 thing to address is somehow you have disabled the Apple security system installed which leaves the system open to malware and system modifications that can cause some pretty weird behavior which is exactly what you are experiencing.

In order to address this problem, you need to do the following:

Enable System Integrity Protection

To reenable SIP, do the following:

1. Restart your computer in Recovery mode.
2. Launch Terminal from the Utilities menu.
3. Run the command csrutil enable.
4. Restart your computer.

Then test your microphone to see if it is working however, I suspect it will not work at this point though. If I am correct then the next thing to do is ensure your Time Machine backup is working okay by restoring any file, one you don't really care about such as maybe a very old file you no longer want or need. Once you Time Machine is verified as working, then restart in the Recovery Partition again and then re-install Mac OS, this type of install will not affect your data it will simply fill in missing or damaged pieces of Mac OS. Testing your backup is simply an insurance policy just in case of a possible problem. After you have installed Mac OS again, then restart normally and test the microphone again.

It seems like you've covered a lot of troubleshooting steps already. Since the issue persists, here are a few additional suggestions:

1. Check Physical Connection:

- Ensure that there are no physical issues with the microphone. If your iMac has an external microphone, make sure it's connected properly. If it's an internal microphone, check for any debris or obstruction.

2. Safe Mode Boot:

- Boot your iMac in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key during startup. Safe Mode loads only essential Apple extensions. Check if the microphone works in this mode.

3. Create a New User:

- Create a new user account on your iMac and check if the microphone works for that account. This will help determine if the issue is user-specific.

4. Update macOS:

- If possible, consider updating your macOS version to a more recent one. OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) is quite old, and updating to a more recent version might resolve compatibility issues.

5. Check for Software Conflicts:

- Some third-party applications or extensions might interfere with microphone functionality. Temporarily uninstall or disable non-essential software and extensions and check if the issue persists.

6. Check for System Updates:

- Even if you're not updating to a newer macOS version, ensure that your current version is fully updated. Sometimes, Apple releases patches that address specific issues.

7. Test in Different Applications:

- Use different applications to test the microphone. Sometimes, the issue might be application-specific.

8. Audio MIDI Setup Configuration:

- In the Audio MIDI Setup, try changing the audio input configuration. For example, change the format to 48kHz or try different channel configurations.

9. Hardware Diagnostics:

- Run Apple Hardware Diagnostics again. Restart your iMac and hold down the D key during startup to initiate diagnostics. This can sometimes identify hardware issues.

10. External Microphone Test:

- If possible, test an external microphone with your iMac. This can help determine if the issue is specific to the internal microphone.

11. Check Microphone Privacy Settings:

- In System Preferences, go to Security & Privacy > Privacy > Microphone. Ensure that the applications requiring microphone access are listed and enabled.

If the issue persists after trying these steps, it might be worth considering professional assistance, as there could be a more complex hardware or software issue that requires a closer look.

Ambrosia might be a software developer. They are now out of business. They did produce some audio-related software, including WireTap (several different flavors) and SoundBoard. You might want to see if anything like that is still lurking. Though, it does seem unlikely that those applications would still work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosia_Software

Covariant wrote:

1. Heretostay59,

Was that a copy & paste from something?

We all assume so.

rkaufman87, on the other hand is a real human and has made some good suggestions.