Audio input still active when input at 0

[uhmorphous]

I got a mac refresh for work. 24-inch iMac M1 from a 27-inch iMac Intel. On the 24-inch, I noticed that Sound Input, even when at 0, shows up as actively monitoring my sound input with a little indicator next to the dictation mic in Keyboard. When I go back to Sound, the Input is back up.

These Macs both have the same profile configs and are both managed with the same deployment, etc.
Both Macs have the latest Ventura update.

The Intel Mac does not have active input monitoring for dictation in Keyboard when dictation is off (to describe this, it is a visual indicator that sound is being detected live).

The only way to circumvent this glitch is to connect a mic, either through aux or usb-c, with its own inline mute function.

Has anyone heard of anything like this with the M1s? That's the only variable in this situation.

Thanks.

 

[pipo2]

It shouldn't...
This was reported in 13.01 November 2022 (and denied by Apple)
Two weeks later 13.1 came and it was fixed (Apple's security team overruled by their bosses and/or me ;-)
AFAIK this 'feature' hasn't returned on my M1 running all Ventura versions up to now: 13.4.1.

BTW the feature/bug goes back to at least macOS 10.10 Yosemite and possibly earlier. I checked.
This only showed up because the Dictation field is now directly visible in Ventura. Quite an embarrassment, should have checked this years ago...

Putting parsley in your computer's ears is always a good idea
Similar to putting tape over the build-in camera, like many of my colleagues do.

M1
Situation macOS 13.01 November 2022, notice the live mic, while the Sound prefs had the input set to zero.

Situation macOS 13.4.1 June 2023 mic icon is just a 'dead' picture what ever the input setting in the Sound prefs.

 

[uhmorphous]

lol thanks for this intel and the accompanying humor. I did notice that this disappeared after the upgrade.

(...or did it? Diiiiiid iiiiiiit? I smell conspiracy and it smells oddly of cotton candy and soap. Or kippers.)