You're still on mute... can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?

November 17, 2020 3:38 PM

I'm spending a lot of time on video calls. I would like a physical button that I can use to mute and unmute my microphone. I don[t want to build one. Where can I buy a [cheap, easy to use] programmable USB button? Preferably a large one. Complication; must deliver to Australia.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts to Technology (16 answers total)

What are you using to video chat? Most have a push-to-talk option that you can enable.
posted by Snuffman at 3:40 PM on November 17, 2020

I use Shush to turn any key on my Mac into a mute/unmute button. You can set it to push-to-talk or push-to-mute.
posted by homodachi at 3:59 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

This may not be what you're looking for, but if you use Zoom, you can use the space bar to unmute yourself.
posted by pangolin party at 4:05 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: What are you using to video chat? Most have a push-to-talk option that you can enable.

MS Teams
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:36 PM on November 17, 2020

Best answer: If you can use Bluetooth, I have been using this conference speaker from Anker all year while I work from home, and it has been fantastic. The big red light is very helpful for me to see when I am on mute or not. You can also use it to charge your phone, which is kind of incredible.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:44 PM on November 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

My Fortune 50 company gives out the wirecutter's suggested headset.

It is a "made for Microsoft Teams" headset so there are hardware buttons to change volume, answer/hangup calls and mute/unmute the mic.
posted by mmascolino at 4:52 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Really, I'm looking for something like this that I can buy.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:18 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Following links from the example you posted, I found ElliotMade's Etsy shop.

The exact thing isn't available anymore, but there are lots of similar buttons for sale. Before buying one, I'd directly contact the seller to make sure that it works on your OS with MS Teams. (Even if they work by default with Zoom's shortcuts, the seller may be able to customize it for your setup.)
posted by Metasyntactic at 6:47 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Seconding Shush
posted by Wild_Eep at 8:17 PM on November 17, 2020

Best answer: Fwiw, I used xmouse to reprogram my middle mouse button to emulate the space bar. Also set so that zoom window does not have to be active, but the cursor does have to be over it.
posted by Sophont at 9:44 PM on November 17, 2020

So, I can’t answer your question exactly but my headset has a red light on the end of the microphone piece that I can see while I’m wearing it. When I’m muted the red light is on. There’s also a button the headset that controls muting/unmuting. It is so great to always be able to know if I am muted or not. Would absolutely recommend this as an essential investment in work from home happiness.
posted by MadMadam at 10:54 PM on November 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

MadMadam...mine has the same thing Steel Series Arctis?
posted by museum of fire ants at 5:46 AM on November 18, 2020

The keyboard shortcut to toggle your microphone off and on in MS Teams is Ctrl-Shift-M.
posted by grateful at 12:55 PM on November 18, 2020

Response by poster: The keyboard shortcut to toggle your microphone off and on in MS Teams is Ctrl-Shift-M.

I am aware of that. I am specifically looking for a physical button that I can program to do that.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:44 PM on November 18, 2020

Any Bluetooth or USB input device plus AHK will do it. Is there a reason you can't use a physical keyboard button?
posted by turkeyphant at 6:06 PM on November 18, 2020

Spend some time on this website. You can program their devices fairly easily. Maybe the toggle switches are what you need.
posted by oceanjesse at 10:47 AM on November 26, 2020