1810088 - Microphone noise rapidly increases to unusable levels, website independent

Status: NEW

(Core :: WebRTC: Audio/Video, defect, P1)

Description

[r]

I clone this ticket because I can't re-open the original one. I'm still facing the issue with FF 108.0.2 on my Macbook Air M1 and AirPods Max.

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #1757425 +++

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:97.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/97.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Enable access to microphone on any website
2. Keep enabled for 1 minute
3. Switch system microphone
4. Keep enabled for 1 minute

Actual results:

1. Audio works correctly
2. Noise (hissing, crackling) continuously increases until it totally overlays the signal

Expected results:

Audio signal stays auditable over time

Comment 1

[heikki]

I can also verify that the issue is not resolved and cannot comment on the original issue anymore. I can confirm that the problem still happens for me with Firefox Developer Edition 109.0b9.

I am still forced to use Chrome for all Google Meet meetings because my audio will degrade to a robot voice in every meeting. Last confirmed yesterday.

I have Ventura 13.1 and Apple M1 Max. My headphones are Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones.

Comment 2

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Just a note to say that I'm still trying to figure this one out, but I took a long break this winter.

Comment 3

[r]

Same with FF 110.0

Comment 4

[r]

It's been few days now I enjoy being able again to run Google Meet through FF 111.01 and my AirPods Max without troubl. I keep the ticket open because I'm not sure it's really fixed for everyone.

Comment 5

[Diego Caravana]

Just tried with Google Meet and my colleagues had to stop me because they couldn't understand me anymore after a minute or so.

Note that I switched to the Mac's internal mic while on the call and sound started working normally, without restarting the call.

On FF 111.0.1 on macOS Ventura 13.3.

I'll try again in the near future.

Comment 6

[r]

I've just add the problem again so...not fixed.

Comment 7

[heikki]

I can still reproduce the issue with Macbook Pro's internal microphone and Firefox 112.0b8. We just had a Google meet with my colleagues and I needed to switch to a different microphone after maybe 5 minutes after the meeting started.

Comment 8

[r]

With FF 112, the situation seems to be better. Most of the times, it works, but sometimes the problem occurs again.

Comment 9

[Brian Peiris]

I can reproduce this on a 2023 M2 MacBook Pro with a Logitech Brio 500 external webcam/microphone. The microphone audio is distorted and sometimes also has an echo effect with the distortion. Here are some other notes while troubleshooting:

• The problem does not occur in Chrome
• The problem occurs with Google Meet, Jitsi Meet, as well as a simple (non-WebRTC) test page (https://brianpeiris.github.io/mic-test/)
• The distortion has ~50% chance of occurring when using one of the above sites. You can reproduce the issue eventually by refreshing the tab, in the same session
• With Jitsi, the distortion occurred immediately when joining the call. Switching to the MacBook microphone and back sometimes fixed it
• With Google Meet, the distortion occurs when switching to the external microphone. Switching to the MacBook microphone and back did not fix it
• Rejoining a call or closing and opening a new tab for the call does not fix the issue
• Restarting Firefox does not fix the issue
• The issue never occurred for me with the internal MacBook microphone

IMO this should be higher severity/priority. I cannot use Firefox for voice calls on a MacBook due to this bug.

Comment 10

[Brian Peiris]

Attachment: distortion.mp3

I've attached a recording of what the distortion sounds like

Comment 11

[Stefan Fleiter (:sfleiter)]

Should this block bug 1405440?

Comment 12

[r]

Still present in FF 117.

Comment 13

[heikki]

I can also confirm that the bug is still present in 120.0b8 (64-bit). I really think this should get a larger priority because it basically blocks me from using Firefox as my daily browser and I need to resort to other browsers for Google Meet etc.

Comment 14

[Brian Peiris]

This is still an issue in Firefox 129. In fact, I think it's worse now, somehow.
I don't think this was an issue when I wrote Comment 9, but I've found that normal <audio> elements now also get distorted when an external microphone is accessed.

Steps to repro:

1. Visit https://brianpeiris.github.io/mic-test/
2. Click on "play audio element"
3. Click on "get input devices"
4. Click "use" on an external microphone device
5. The audio from the playing audio element gets distorted almost immediately