General "sound issue",'

[samfromhernando]

I have AN IMAC, with 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5I and I must periodically go into "System Preferences" "Sound" and un-check "Mute" in Output for no reason. I NEVER use "Zoom", I always use headphones and Mic and that option is always checked.

 

[Rod]

I don't mean to insult you here but are you sure you are not accidentally hitting the Mute key on the keyboard? I'm not sure what relevance Zoom has but I know I have to turn my volume up to Max for most meetings. Are you referring to the Mute option in Zoom? That should have no effect on the system sound.

 

[Slydude]

@samfromhernando I don't have a solution yet. I'm probably missing something simple.

@Rod Check your volume settings within the Zoom app. I just checked my preference setting and noticed something interesting. If Zoom's preferences are set to "Same As System," it doesn't always work reliably, or at least not the way I expect it to.

With Zoom set to "Same as System," I would expect any volume changes made to system volume to be reflected within Zoom. I did a little test a minute ago with Zoom's preferences open and set to Same as System to see what happened. If I made a change from the Mac sound pane, sometimes Zoom's sound output reflected the system change immediately, and at other times, it never reflected the change. That setting can be changed to a specific output, independent of the system settings. That might help at the expense of changing the setting in Zoom if you want Zoom to use a different output.

 

[pm-r]

You might want to check that you don't have a browser option enabled:
How to Mute Tabs in Chrome Playing Audio / Video

How to Mute Tabs in Chrome Playing Audio / Video

Want to mute audio blasting from a browser tab in Google Chrome? Of course you do! Few things are more annoying when browsing the web than autoplaying video and autoplaying audio that starts when y…

osxdaily.com

- Patrick
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[Rod]

@Slydude, that's a good hint. I have changed to "Same as System" and I'll try it out today. Not that is was a big issue I just had to remember to turn the System vol down after a meeting. What I was getting at was that being muted by the Host should not effect the System sound levels.

 

[Slydude]

That's true.

I read the OP's post a little differently. I read it to mean that this issue is occurring outside of Zoom. In other words, it would be more broad-based. My comments about Zoom were more directed toward your issue.