Volume on MacOS (14.5 Sonoma) very low

[kredati]

Using a supported version?

• [X] I have searched searched open and closed issues for duplicates.
• [X] I am using Signal-Desktop as provided by the Signal team, not a 3rd-party package.

Overall summary

Microphone line level on MacOS is too low, causing low volume. This is effectively identical to #4968, which had no activity on it.

Steps to reproduce

1. Make a video call from MacOS.
2. The volume will be extremely low to the person you're talking to.

My husband and I just had a Signal video call. Originally it was my iPhone and his computer. On my iPhone his audio was quite faint. On his Mac, my audio was fine.

My iPhone ran out of battery, and I called back from my Mac. Once I called him back, my audio was quite low for him.

Microphone input level to max in sound settings; output volume set to max—on both ends. Nevertheless annoyingly and occasionally incomprehensibly faint sound.

Expected result

Normal volume for audio call: same as FaceTime, Zoom, etc.

Actual result

Extremely low microphone levels.

Screenshots

No response

Signal version

7.19.0

Operating system

MacOS 14.5

Version of Signal on your phone

n/a (phone is dead)

Link to debug log

n/a No crash.

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

@kredati Hey there - I'm sorry you're running into volume issues. We'd still like to see a debug log to better diagnose what's happening. Can you provide that?

[UnicornaasTech]

I have the same issue, also on MacOS 14.5 Sonoma. Appears both with audio/video calls, and when recording a voice message. With telephones, the audio input level is okay, but not with desktop.

I'll be happy to provide a debug log if you advice how to provide that.

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

You can provide your debug log at View -> Debug Log, then upload it and provide that URL here. Thanks!

[UnicornaasTech]

You guess what :) Last night, the MacOS updated to version 14.6.1 (23G93).

...and now, as I was gathering data for the debug log, the audio issue is gone! Perhaps this was all related just to MacOS 14.5?

[LFBernardo]

I am still having this issue on Macos Sequoia 15.0.1. I have attached the debug log. debuglog.txt

[mutexlox-signal]

@LFBernardo are you using the built-in microphone on your mac? If not, is it every mic or just a specific one?

@kredati are you still experiencing this issue? if so, answering those same questions would be very helpful :)

[LFBernardo]

I have tried the built in mic, Steelseries Arctis 7 (wireless), Sony WF-1000XM4 (bluetooth) and I have also tried sending the audio through Krisp noise cancellation (it has an automatic boost function). All have the same issue. Tested the mics of all of these on Teams, Telegram, Zoom, webex, google meetings and they are fine. Issue is completely isolated to Signal. I have also removed and re-installed the app. Same result.

[mutexlox-signal]

Curious, okay... I wonder what changed in Sequoia to break this.

I'm currently in the midst of a major upgrade to the audio device handling code, which is progressing but not quite ready for release. (Always bugs to fix with something like this.)

I believe that this in-progress work should fix the issues you're seeing, but I'm not sure how soon that will be ready for broader use/release.

In the meantime, we'll try to see how broad this issue is and prioritize accordingly. (e.g., do we try to debug the old code and fix it, or do we speed up work on the new code?)

[mutexlox-signal]

I see in the debug logs:

ERROR 2024-10-19T12:58:43.976Z src/rust/src/webrtc/logging.rs:40 (audio_device_mac.cc:82): Error in AudioObjectGetPropertyDataSize( deviceIds[i], &propertyAddress, 0, NULL, &size): 3311198106
ERROR 2024-10-19T12:58:43.976Z src/rust/src/webrtc/peer_connection_factory.rs:592 getAudioRecordingDeviceName(0) failed: -1
ERROR 2024-10-19T12:58:43.976Z src/rust/src/webrtc/peer_connection_factory.rs:642 getAudioRecordingDevice(0) failed: Unable to query Audio Devices

I believe that this error from AudioObjectGetPropertyDataSize is mangled slightly, but should be 33, 111, 98, 106 converted to ASCII, which is !obj, or kAudioHardwareBadObjectError

I'm not sure if this is related, but it seems suspicious.

On the other hand, 2024-10-19 is a bit before the end of the log, which is 2024-10-22, so I'm unsure if any call then was impacted.

[mutexlox-signal]

OTOH if AudioObjectGetPropertyDataSize failing were the culprit, we would likely just not be able to enumerate or use the device, but it sounds like you're able to select it, and just get very low volume from it.

[mutexlox-signal]

bit of a long shot, but worth checking: @LFBernardo - did you have any other applications using your microphone simultaneously to the calls you were making?

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[mutexlox-signal]

To any of the people who reported - are you still experiencing issues?

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[stale[bot]]

This issue has been closed due to inactivity.

[mutexlox-signal]

For transparency, we are hoping to launch some improvements to audio device management fairly soon, which may address issues such as this one. I'm still very interested in hearing if people are continuing to have problems, but otherwise given the lack of response I'll leave this closed.