Why Does the Volume Drop When Using the Mic?
If you are on a FaceTime call, recording a podcast, or using voice chat on your Mac, you may notice that the volume of your background music, game audio, or system notifications suddenly drops significantly whenever you start speaking into the microphone.
This is a built-in macOS audio feature called “audio ducking” or ambient noise reduction. It is designed to prevent echo and feedback by lowering the speaker volume while the microphone is active. However, if you are wearing headphones (where feedback is impossible) or if you are deliberately trying to record yourself speaking over a backing track, this automatic volume drop ruins your audio mix. You must disable it to maintain a consistent output volume.
How to Stop Automatic Volume Ducking
This setting is hidden within the Accessibility preferences, not the standard Sound menu.
- Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner of your screen.
- Select System Settings… (or System Preferences).
- Scroll down the left-hand sidebar and click on Accessibility.
- In the main Accessibility panel, look under the “Hearing” or “Spoken Content” section depending on your macOS version. (On modern macOS, click on VoiceOver, then open the VoiceOver Utility).
- If using the VoiceOver Utility, go to the Sound category.
- Find the checkbox labelled Enable audio ducking.
- Uncheck the box.
Note: If you are using third-party software like Discord or Skype, those applications also have their own built-in audio ducking settings. If disabling the macOS setting does not work, you must also check the “Voice & Video” settings within your specific chat application and disable any feature labelled “Attenuation” or “Duck background volume.”
Once disabled, your background music and system audio will remain at a constant volume regardless of how loudly you speak into the microphone.