Mac - Managing Sound Devices

his guide is meant to demonstrate how to switch from your computer speakers and microphone to a headset or other external sound device.

These instructions are applicable to Mac computers running macOS 10.13+.

This tutorial also assumes you have a secondary playback device attached to your computer. 

1. From the Apple menu in the top left corner of your computer, select System Preferences.

   

   
   

2. From the System Preferences menu, select Sound.

   

   
   

3. Once in the Sound menu, you will be shown the Output settings. "Output" refers to speaker devices. From here you can select which device to play sound.

   
   

   

   
   

4. You can also select Input to change the input device. "Input" refers to microphone devices.

   

Microsoft Teams - Check your device settings.

To confirm the device settings for Microsoft Teams, follow these steps.

1. In the upper right corner of the Microsoft Teams interface, select the menu designated by the "..." symbol. Then select Settings.

   

   
   

2. Then select Devices from the left menu. Your currently selected sound devices are shown. By default, the selected playback device is set for the speaker and microphone based on the Output and Input device selected from the System Preferences menu.

   

   
   

3. You can also change these settings for a "Custom Setup".  In this example, the microphone is switched back to using the builtin computer microphone.

   
   

   

Troubleshooting Microphone Problems

If you experience issues with your microphone, you can check the Security & Privacy settings for your microphone.

1. From the Apple menu in the top left corner of your computer, select System Preferences.

   

   
   

2. Then select Security & Privacy.

   

   
   

3. Select the Privacy menu option and review the Microphone section.  All applications that require the use of the microphone must be listed and "checked" in the box, as shown in the example image below.

   
   

   

   
   
4. If your application is missing or unchecked, click the gold padlock icon to authenticate as a computer administrator. Then "check" the appropriate applications or use the "+" option to add the application.