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When I perform an action that is not valid in a given context, like attempting to type when a text area does not have the focus I hear a beep, which is very distracting when wearing headphones. How can I disable this?

I am not sure how to reproduce this as it only happens under certain circumstances which I have not yet nailed down.

3
  • Hammer? (sorry, couldn't resist)
    – squillman
    Jan 21, 2010 at 18:34
  • 1
    Related.
    – Daniel Beck
    May 22, 2011 at 17:03
  • 1
    DONG DONG DONG DONG DONG DONG
    – Rolf
    Sep 13, 2018 at 22:45

5 Answers 5

142

Unchecking the "User interface sounds" doesn't disable all sound. But sliding the "Alert Volume" option all the way to the left (minimum), together with unchecking the other options does the trick.

enter image description here

5
  • 2
    FYI, this checkbox and slider are located is in System Preferences > Sound > Sound Effects in your Mac Settings Aug 30, 2018 at 20:59
  • 2
    Thank you. Now my Mac is still retarded but not annoying anymore.
    – Rolf
    Sep 13, 2018 at 22:48
  • Did I recently turn this on or something? Back to being off. Nov 23, 2019 at 0:21
  • Works on macOS Catalina, thanks! I've tried playing with Terminal prefs, but nothing helped (in iTerm it does help). This is definitely the best solution
    – Meir Gabay
    Apr 17, 2020 at 8:57
  • Choosing another ping and turning the sound down to 25% was enough for me.
    – Martin
    Oct 11, 2020 at 15:41
19

Apple, System Preferences, Sounds.

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  • 7
    Pedro's answer below is more useful, as the obvious setting when you do the above doesn't work.
    – mahemoff
    Feb 19, 2013 at 12:53
  • this is where the setting is, but doesn't say how to disable the beep Aug 19, 2016 at 8:37
  • It does, in OSX Leopard, just not in the 6.5 year-newer version you have.
    – Chopper3
    Aug 19, 2016 at 8:44
12

The OP mentions using headphones while using his/her computer, implying that he/she would like to disable the terminal bell but allow outher sound output to continue. Adjusting the sound settings in the system preference panel won't solve this problem.

Readline rings the bell at the command prompt in the terminal whenever the tab autocompletion can't find any matches, or finds too many matches. To disable just this behavior, check your home directory for the presence of a .inputrc. If doesn't exist, add it, then in either case add this line:

set bell-style off

Source this file

$ . .inputrc

or quit the terminal program and restart.

To completely disable sounds in the terminal, edit the apps preferences: Terminal menu, Preferences, Settings tab, then Advanced tab on that screen. There are two check boxes: audible bell and visual bell. Adjust to your tastes accordingly.

3
  • 1
    Setting the alert volume to zero in System Preferences should actually disable the error sounds in Terminal as well.
    – Lri
    May 18, 2012 at 18:56
  • 1
    For whatever reason, sourcing the file did not help. Restarting the terminal did however. Thanks!
    – user50849
    May 13, 2013 at 8:48
  • Confirming that a restart of terminal made this work.
    – slm
    Mar 18, 2015 at 0:36
6
  1. Open Terminal
  2. Select Terminal->Preferences...
  3. Uncheck Audible Bell enter image description here
0

First, create a sound in the Library/Sounds directory in your home directory. This can be anything, but NOT one of the built-in sounds. Just grab something short from the internet. Use something you don't like. Honest.

Open System Preferences and click Sound to display its preferences. In "Choose an alert sound" pick the sound you just created.

  1. While you are in System Preferences | Sound, do the following:
  2. Uncheck "Play user interface sound effects"
  3. Uncheck "Play feedback when volume is changed"
  4. Uncheck "Play Front Row Sound effects"

After closing this window, go back to your home directory and DELETE the sound you just created. If you put it in the trash, empty the trash.

Now OS X will flash the screen slightly whenever an alert sound would have occurred. It is a subtle, but a sufficient alert. Now, sound in applications (like Cubase) will be completely unaffected.

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  • 1
    Cannot reproduce on OS X 10.6.7. @frabcus, did you test this?
    – Daniel Beck
    May 6, 2011 at 16:39

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