By Graham K. Rogers

Some of the System Preferences in the recent update of OS X to 10.10, Mavericks, have seen little change. For example, the preferences pane for Sound appears the same as it has since OS X 10.7, although with Yosemite there have been a number of cosmetic changes. Sound provides settings for effects used by OS X and for control of input and output devices.

The Sound preferences panel is in three sections: Sound Effects, Output and Input. These appear identical to what had been available in earlier versions of OS X.

Sound Effects

At the top of the panel is a list of 14 sounds available. To the left is the name of each effect. These sounds are shown (to the right) as "Built-in". Some of the sounds have been used on Macs for several years and were available pre-OS X. As a sound is highlighted, so the user will hear it played.

A button below the panel selects which speaker is used for the sound output. By default it is marked Selected sound output device and will list any options available, with Intermal Speakers always shown. This is the default. Attaching external speakers or headphones will change the device name as OS X identifies the type of output.

Below the button is a slider to adjust the volume of the alert when played. This is independent of the Output volume (for example of music) which is controlled by a separate slider near the bottom of all panes in Sound preferences. Between the two sliders are checkboxes for Play user interface sound effects; and Play feedback when volume is changed (a separate alert sound is used).

Alongside the Output volume slider is a box that can be checked to Mute all sounds (including alerts). Pressing the F10 key (or Fn F10) will also mute the sounds. When that key is pressed, the Mute box is also checked.

At the bottom of the panel is a checkbox marked, "Show volume in menu bar." This shows as a small speaker icon in the menu bar which indicates speaker output volume by the number of bars. Pressing the icon reveals a (vertical) slider which is used to adjust the voume.

The alert sound files are contained in a Sounds folder inside the System > Library folder of the disk. They are in AIFF format with sample rates of 44,100 or 22,050 and time duration of a second (or less). Dropping a suitable file into the folder, then restarting System Preferences, will make the new sound available in the list as "Built-in".

Output

Adjusting the Balance slider also makes the same system alert sound as the volume adjuster (also displayed in this panel) to show that changes are being made. When additional output devices are added, the panel changes to show these.

Input

Below these items are an Input volume slider and Input level indicators which light up as the volume increases. There is also a check box marked "Use ambient noise reduction". This may not be available for all devices. With the built-in microphone this is available. However, with my G-Track USB microphone, this check box is no longer available; and the input volume slider is also missing. As with the other panels, the volume slider and its menu-bar check box are shown on the Input pane.

See Also:

• Accessibility
• App Store
• Bluetooth
• CDs & DVDs
• Date & Time
• Desktop & Screensaver
• Dictation & Speech
• Displays
• Dock
• Energy Saver
• Extensions
• General
• iCloud
• Internet Accounts
• Keyboard
• Language & Region
• Mission Control
• Mouse
• Network
• Notifications
• Parental Controls
• Printers & Scanners
• Security & Privacy
• Sharing
• Trackpad

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.