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My MacBook Pro running macOS 10.13.6 sporadically makes the following sound (see here for .mp3 format). I'd really like to know where this is coming from. Sometimes it looks like the computer makes the sound when the Ethernet cable and/or the power cable are disconnected, but I haven't been able to reliably link the sound to any of these events as the sound is not played every time they happen. Even just being able to record the sound using my phone was lucky. Also, normally this sound is made a few times over the course of a few minutes and that has been happening once every day or two for the last week.

I have followed the suggestions in the answers here and here. As the sound is played infrequently, some of the solutions haven't yet turned up any results. Every time I restart the mac the first thing I do is start the following command on Terminal: sudo fs_usage -w | grep -i "\.mp3\|\.aif\|\.m4a\|\.wav\|\.caf". The sound has played multiple times while the command is running but no audio file with that sound is shown in the command line.

I have looked at the Notification Center notifications and, although I have some from around the time this sound was played, none of those programs make this sound. I have also looked at the Notifications preference pane in Settings and no app in that list makes this sound (that I'm aware).

I've also searched the following locations for any .wav, .aif[f], .mp3 and .m4a file:

  • /Library
  • /System
  • /Applications
  • ~/Library

I played all the sounds I could find, but my search has come up empty. Naturally, the sound could be saved in another file format or be in another location...

Alex
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    Nothing I have plays the sound (file seems corrupt). In any event do two things: Start in Safe Mode (Hold Shift while booting) and see if the sound continues. If not, it's something on your system. Next, create a new user and use that for about as long as it would take the sound to "appear." If it doesn't it's something in your user profile. Once we figure that out, we can proceed from there. – Allan Jul 05 '20 at 23:41
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    @Allan The sound file is in .aif format and QuickTime plays it perfectly. But you can try the .mp3 I have just uploaded too (see edited question). Will try those other suggestions – Alex Jul 06 '20 at 00:05
  • I've tried QT, Apple Music and an 3rd party player (elmedia). None could play the file. But, not super important at this point see if the problem exists in Safe Mode and in another user profile. – Allan Jul 06 '20 at 00:22
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    @Allan I seriously do not understand how that is possible. You can play the .mp3 directly in the google drive page (the .aif needs to be downloaded first as google drive does not recognize the format). My gut tells me this is some rogue app or plugin which I cannot identify, and anyone who has heard this sound before may immediately know which software plays it. So actually having people listen to the sound is important – Alex Jul 06 '20 at 00:29
  • How is the hearing the sound going to help me find it? What if I were deaf? Would hearing it change the methodology of finding what's causing it to open? – Allan Jul 06 '20 at 00:47
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    @Allan naturally if you're deaf hearing it won't help. Contrariwise, if you're not, and if you've heard the sound before, and know which app makes it, then we can immediately answer this question. I'm not questioning your methodology, all I'm saying is there are more options besides what you said and we can apply all of them in parallel – Alex Jul 06 '20 at 08:53
  • My bet is that this sound comes from an app. Check whether you have configured any Login Items in your account (System Preferences > Users & Groups, Login Items tab), disable them and don't start any apps, do you hear the sound? Other troubleshooting idea: Have you tried creating a new account on your Mac to check if the sound is also played there? – jaume Jul 08 '20 at 11:25
  • How did you record the sound? Just captured from stereo output? What app did you use? My reasoning is.. I'm surprised a "user" [forgive the term] would use aif, which is a pro format. If you have access to such as Loopback or SoundSource etc & have more than one signal routing potentially, then you could attempt to 'divide by halves' until you can eliminate which apps aren't doing it, perhaps eventually reaching the one that is. [Another alternative might be to scour the entire drive for any sound file inside an app… which may take forever] – Tetsujin Jul 09 '20 at 17:16
  • @Tetsujin used my phone to record video, extracted audio. I don’t have sound routing software but the sound is played even without any user-facing apps open (just start the Mac and open no app, ie either system tasks or login items are playing it). Also, the question says that I’ve searched for sound files already, found nothing – Alex Jul 09 '20 at 17:36
  • @jaume it’s not those login items. Maybe other login items that aren’t accessible in preferences (only in some .plist somewhere). Haven’t tried the new user yet but will as soon as I have the chance – Alex Jul 09 '20 at 17:39
  • OK - forget the first idea then. For the second, you need a better search app. Spotlight will not find this for you. Try EasyFind (freeware) which you can set to look inside hidden locations & also inside app bundles. It will take something just short of forever, but it will find them all. – Tetsujin Jul 09 '20 at 17:40
  • @Tetsujin funny :) EasyFind is exactly what I used for my searches – Alex Jul 09 '20 at 18:04
  • You're gonna have to sweep the entire boot partition, looking for the buried stuff. It will be a nightmare, having to QuickLook every single sound until you find it ;) I wish you luck. – Tetsujin Jul 09 '20 at 18:07

1 Answers1

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Sound files are stored in ~Library/Sounds, Library/Sounds or in System/Library/Sounds folder. Look in these 3 folders and see if that particular sound file is there.

Natsfan
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