This behavior first happened today, and it's so unusual that I'm unsure how to describe it.
I booted my Mac this morning as usual. The VoiceOver voice seemed unusually quiet, but was otherwise the same Alison voice I had always used. I adjusted the system volume up. Unfortunately, this increased the sound effects to the point where they were far too loud.
Okay, no problem, I'll simply reboot and hope the issue goes away, as I have other things I need to do besides dig into some weird new bug.
After rebooting, things initially seemed back to normal. But as I used my computer, I could hear the voice gradually getting quieter, and then, much to my surprise, gradually getting louder, all by itself, until it got to the point where it was unberably loud.
Clearly, I must set productivity aside and look into this inexplicable new behavior. I launched VO Utility And was surprised to discover that I wasn't using the Alison voice at all. I was using Samantha. But it sounded just like the Alison voice I've always used. When I switched over to Alison, it sounded rather odd, not the Alison I recall at all.
For now, I'm back to using Samantha, and the strange volume issue seems to have resolved itself. But I'm at a loss to explain this weirdness. AppleVis, you're my only hope. Has anyone els ever experienced anything like this?
Comments
Sometimes audio ducking can cause volume to fluctuate.
I’ve not seen this bug for a while, but in older macOS versions, like macOS Big Sur, if audio ducking was enabled, the volume would randomly get quieter and then get louder as you described. in this case, it would only get quieter for a few seconds, then return back to normal volume. See if audio ducking in the sound category is enabled. If so, try disabling it and see if that fixes your issue.
Audio ducking is off
Thanks Levi. I have never enabled audio ducking on this Mac. Indeed I just checked, and it was disabled. I toggled it on and back off, then rebooted, out of superstition. I'll continue to monitor.
I believe the Samantha/Alison issue is unrelated. I'm pretty sure I recall that the upgrade to MacOS 15 altered the Alison voice, and I set it to Samantha at that time. Chalk this up to my aging brain.
Voiceover volume
I always prefer voiceover volume at 60%, and since I’m bilingual, I use two voiceover voices. However, VO suddenly gets louder sometimes for some unknown reason. This happens especially when I use Apple Music on my Mac. It’s quite strange.
I am impressed by yet…
I am impressed by yet another bug again, fortunately it hasn't (yet) happened to me. Now I am scared though as I too use Alison everywhere. And I really mean everywhere. :) Good luck!
It's back again this morning
I experienced it yesterday right afterboot. It didn't occur again for the rest of today. This morning, after booting, it's back again. I've opened a bug:
VoiceOver voice volume changes by itself 6:42 AM FB17683414 — macOS
Daily occurance
This is now a daily occurrence. For the past four days straight, right after boot, VoiceOver volume drifts lower to the point of inaudibility, then raises to the point of unacceptable loudness. This repeats a few times, quiet, then loud, before finally stabilizing at the volume I’ve set. It prevents me from being productive for a good five or ten minutes.
Possibly related, speech attributes menu
I don't know whether this is related or not, but the behavior of the VoiceOver speech attributes menu has changed. I'm unsure when the change occurred, but as I access these menus in an attempt to mitigate the volume issue, I'm certainly noticing a difference compared to my prior workflow.
To change speech rate, for example, I typically press VO+Command+Shift+Left arrow to access the rate menu, and I hold down VO+Command+Shift while I change the rate with up and down arrow. In the past, letting go of all keys would close that menu. Now, it seems to stay open until I press Escape. Indeed, I can open the speech attributes with VO+Command+Shift+Left arrow, then let go of all keys, change the current attribute with up and down arrow, or switch to other attributes with left and right arrow, with no modifier keys. This seems like new behavior.