This is totally random and I can't figure out how to trigger it, but sometimes, if I let my Mac auto-lock after like 5 minutes, VoiceOver gets stuck in an endless loop of, "Authentication is not responding." Then "Authentication, authentication window." Over and over until I press a key or do something. Is there a way to stop this?
Comments
You already know
The steps you already take are exactly what you need to do to break VoiceOver out of that loop. I believe this is related to a known issue where VoiceOver will sometimes play that ānot respondingā message in situations when VoiceOver would normally be silent.
I can confirm this issue
Since macOs Monterey I have exactly the same problem. Unfortunately, since Monterey many programs and system components, including very prominently Safari, often behave very sluggishly and often do not respond for several seconds to minutes, but only for VoiceOver users. Especially with the authentication dialog, this is very annoying, especially if you don't have an Apple Watch that unlocks the Mac without further ado.
My device: MacBook Air M1, 2020