Zoom lowers all other audio on a Mac: why, and how to stop it

By Hardeep Singh, maker of CallLane · Updated 21 October 2026

Zoom lowers all other audio on a Mac by about 20 dB during a meeting; CallLane stops it by playing Zoom through its own output device, so your music keeps its volume. When Zoom turns on voice processing for your mic, macOS ducks every other sound until the meeting ends. Zoom's audio settings have no switch for it, and neither does System Settings.

Tested on macOS 27.0.1 with CallLane 1.0.5, 21 October 2026.

What happens

You join a Zoom meeting with music or a video playing. As soon as Zoom connects its audio, everything else drops to about a tenth of its loudness, roughly 20 dB, and stays there until you leave the meeting. Turning the volume up raises Zoom and the music together, so the gap stays the same.

Zoom isn’t choosing to do this. When it turns on voice processing for your mic, macOS lowers every other sound on the same output. FaceTime, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams calls do the same. How audio ducking works on a Mac.

What people try, and why it doesn’t work

• Zoom’s audio settings. The Audio tab has the speaker, the mic, their volumes, mic modes and echo cancellation. None of them sets the volume of other apps (Zoom’s list of desktop settings).
• Original sound for musicians. This mic mode turns off Zoom’s noise suppression so an instrument comes through clearly (Zoom’s guide). It changes what the meeting hears from your mic. Zoom doesn’t describe it as a fix for other apps getting quieter.
• Share sound. When you share your screen with sound, whatever your Mac plays is sent to the meeting (Zoom’s screen sharing guide). That changes what the others hear, not what you hear.
• Keep my microphone muted. This setting, under Meetings & webinars, mutes your mic when you join (Zoom’s page). It has nothing to do with other apps’ volume.
• The VoiceOver setting. The Audio ducking checkbox in VoiceOver Utility is for the screen reader, and calls ignore it. Here’s why.

The manual fix: give Zoom a different speaker

macOS ducks the output device the call uses. If Zoom plays on one device and your music on another, the music keeps its volume.

1. In Zoom, click your profile picture, then Settings, then the Audio tab.
2. Under Speaker, pick a different output from the one your music uses, for example the Mac’s built-in speakers while music plays on your headphones.

In a meeting, the arrow next to Mute changes the speaker too (Zoom’s audio settings guide). The catch: Zoom now comes out of the speakers, and your mic picks it up.

The fix with CallLane

1. Install CallLane and run its setup. It adds an audio device called CallLane.
2. In Zoom, open Settings, then Audio, and pick CallLane under Speaker. You do this once.
3. Join a meeting and play something. It stays at full volume, and the meeting plays at the level you set in CallLane.

CallLane forwards the meeting to whatever headphones or speakers you’re using, so you hear Zoom as usual. macOS ducks the CallLane device and nothing else. Other call apps keep the same setting here:

AirPods sound worse on Zoom too

When AirPods connect, macOS makes their mic the input, and Zoom uses it unless you picked another mic in its settings. Using the AirPods mic drops them to headset mode, with low-quality mono sound for everything you hear, the meeting included. CallLane’s Lock input keeps the Mac’s input on its own mic, so Zoom set to follow the system mic leaves your AirPods in high quality. If Zoom is set to the AirPods mic by name, switch it once under Audio, then Microphone. Why AirPods sound bad on calls.

Questions