Submited feedback, Muting the speech sometimes makes voiceover unresponsive

By Mert Ozer, 8 June, 2026

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

I tend to use the "Mute Speech" command a lot, as hearing VoiceOver speak can sometimes be distracting when I'm working on my laptop. However, if this command is used while VoiceOver is actively speaking, VO becomes unresponsive for a few seconds, during which it is unable to provide any meaningful feedback. Because of this, every time I mute speech, I have to press the Control key to make sure VoiceOver is silenced, but this extra key press shouldn't be necessary. Sometimes even pressing Control doesn't work either. For example, if a notification or alert appears, after pressing Control, the issue will repeat immediately afterward. This issue is very consistent.

Also, there's some unnecessary feedback on YouTube.com that occurs in both Chrome and Safari. Other screen readers on Windows don't announce this, so there's no reason for VoiceOver to speak this type of feedback. This happens when performing a search on YouTube.com. For both issues, I created a screen recording, which is attached below. Please reach with any questions, I’m happy to help. Thank you!

Click here for the screen recording, via icloud

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