FaceTime audio distorted

Question

FaceTime audio distorted

Hi everyone,

I noticed that FaceTime calls (audio and video) have distorted audio. The person on the other end is hearing my voice extremely slowed down while I hear his sped up, sounds a bit like Mickey Mouse or The Chipmunks. There is no way to understand each other.

This happens with FaceTime calls initiated by me as well as when I get called. It also happens when I get a call to my iPhone which I decide to answer from my Mac using Yosemite’s Continuity feature.

Any idea what might be causing this? Signing out and back in of FaceTime on the Mac did not help. I have not changed my setup here and I believe it started happening on Mavericks, so not just with Yosemite. But I am not sure about that.

Thanks

Björn

Posted on Oct 28, 2014 8:10 AM

Reply

Answer 1

OleKEH

Level 1

4 points

Nov 21, 2017 1:24 AM in response to Björn Herrmann

I am using a C922 Pro Stream WebCam as an input unit, and a regular Headset as output. I used the Audio

Midi App - but could not select 44,1 kHz sampling rate for input, max was 32KHz. Then I created a combined unit, where I was able to select 44,1KHz. I have tried the apple headset, but the mic keeps scratching my beard and makes a lot of noise. Anyway, this setup with a combined unit seems to work well.

Reply

Answer 2

Bama350Z

Level 1

10 points

Oct 28, 2014 6:31 PM in response to Björn Herrmann

Same here, worked fine at first and then started having this problem.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 28, 2014 11:25 PM in response to Bama350Z

Thanks for replying. I just filed a bug report at https://bugreport.apple.com

Maybe you want to do the same…

Reply

Answer 4

Nov 5, 2014 4:14 PM in response to Bama350Z

Do you by any chance use audio input/output other than the default built-in microphone/speakers?

Reply

Answer 5

Bama350Z

Level 1

10 points

Nov 5, 2014 5:14 PM in response to Björn Herrmann

I use a Logitech camera for mic and camera and an AV receiver for audio. I scrapped the whole system reloaded Yosemite clean. I made one call and it worked fine. Tried it again immediately and it had gone right back to distortion and has been distorted every since which has been a few days. When I make a call I get distortion from the time it starts ringing but when I get a call the ring sound is fine but sound on both sides of the call is immediately distorted.

Reply

Answer 6

Nov 6, 2014 12:04 PM in response to Bama350Z

Might have something to do with non-builtin audio hardware. Apple Engineering did ask me about that after I submitted FaceTime logs. I myself use the builtin microphone of my MBP, but USB Harman Kardon SoundSticks for output. I’ll add info here once there’s more information to share…

Reply

Answer 7

Dec 21, 2014 2:46 PM in response to Björn Herrmann

The problem was the sampling rate of my internal microphone! If it is set to 16 kHz the problem will occur. I set it to 44,1 kHz now and it works fine! To do so open the Audio MIDI Setup.app and select your microphone.

Reply

Answer 8

Jun 4, 2017 5:27 PM in response to Björn Herrmann

Your solution worked! Bought a new webcam with stereo audio microphones and I almost returned it, until I saw your post. Your a lifesaver...

Reply