Ears1.6

Press a hotkey in Ears to select your Mac’s speakers or microphone without opening System Settings. Arrow keys or configured shortcuts let you move among outputs and inputs, while the focused main window shows devices, linked device sets, and shortcut hints together. Instamute provides a global microphone mute key that works from any application, including Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, regardless of their individual shortcuts.

Ears can assign default input and output volumes to particular devices, preventing unexpected levels when you switch between them. You can mark Bluetooth devices such as AirPods as favorites and reconnect them through keyboard shortcuts, the menu bar, or the Dock. Push to Talk and Push to Mute modes, along with preferences for the global hotkey and mute behavior, cover different meeting workflows.

It also supports command-line and AppleScript control, allowing launchers, shell scripts, and personal automations to change audio routes. Typical uses include sending music to speakers before moving to AirPods, listening through AirPods while using a USB microphone for a meeting, and muting the microphone consistently across applications.

Ears is freeware in the Music & Audio category for macOS, with current version 1.6,21 supporting both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. A paid license is available for one user across multiple Macs when Ears becomes part of their regular menu-bar setup.