# Why isn't mute mute? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2000, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190 "2000-01-11T16:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/1 "2000-01-11T16:04:00Z")
Every TV I’ve ever tried the so-called “mute” button on doesn’t completely mute the audio signal. Especially at night, when there is much less ambient household or neighbourhood noise, you can still hear a faint, Peanuts-like “mwa mwaaa mwa” sound. I find it’s often enough to follow the dialogue, especially on news or talk programs where you have visual cues as well. So why isn’t mute mute? * * * [http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/](http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/) ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/2 "2000-01-11T16:10:00Z")
mute is mute on my sony. * * * “I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.” -Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/3 "2000-01-11T16:21:00Z")
How old is your TV? its probably that the starting volume is set too high (i.e. the volume level whel you turn on) so that it cant mute properly. or your machine could be broken. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Thin_Skin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/4 "2000-01-11T16:22:00Z")
Your mute works, but only according to definition #13 in my dictionary: to muffle. Maybe there’s a story here. Perhaps early on, due to a bad translations, TVs had a “shut up” button. Due to customer complaints, and more bad translations, the manufactured decided that muffling was what the consumer really wanted. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/5 "2000-01-11T16:46:00Z")
I’m with Mr. TS. It’s like mutes for trumpets and trombones. If the sound was completely gone, why bother playing? 🙂 I’d like it if it just cut the sound to half of what it was, so that when my wife muted for a phone call, I wouldn’t have to go to another room to keep watching. * * * The Canadians. They walk among us. William Shatner. Michael J. Fox. Monty Hall. Mike Meyers. Alex Trebek. All of them Canadians. All of them here. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/6 "2000-01-11T16:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > mute is mute on my sony. are you sure? check again. * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/7 "2000-01-11T16:55:00Z")
Some tvs turn on the closed captions when mute is activated & some dont. Great way to know whats happening. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/8 "2000-01-12T06:23:00Z")
On my TV, mute is the same as the lowest volume you get by turning down the sound. I suspect it doesn’t go to “off” because that would require physically breaking a circuit, rather than just attenuating the power to the amplifier circuit. Perhaps what you hear is the source signal from the detector circuit with **no** amplification from the circuit which boosts the signal to audible levels. Just a wag. My peeve is that my TV volume levels aren’t fine enough. Sometimes I want the volume between two adjacent settings. * * * _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/9 "2000-01-11T20:01:00Z")
Isn’t all this a mute point? (Don’t flame me! I know! I just couldn’t help myself!) ---
**Author:** ![JBENZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/10 "2000-01-11T20:19:00Z")
I have a Sansui portable next to the computer. Mute means no sound, period, even with the earphones. * * * JB Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/11 "2000-01-11T20:55:00Z")
On all three TVs that I’ve owned, mute meant no sound. I am very sure of this, because the TV spends about as much time muted as it does with the sound on (I mute every commercial - and often leave it on and muted for hours just because I forget about it). ---
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/12 "2000-01-11T21:01:00Z")
Some of youse reporting “no sound”… might it be your ears? Or for that matter mine, for raising the query? Even when I turn the TV all the way down at my parents’ house (Pa can’t sleep right with it off), I can hear mwa mwa mwa mwa, even in my room down the hall. * * * [http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/](http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/) ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2000, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/13 "2000-01-16T06:18:00Z")
I know for a fact that my friend’s old tv doesn’t mute totally, as I can still follow the dialog COMPLETELY (to the point of understanding each word fully) even when it is on mute. My new Sylvania, however, does mute completely. * * * Truth does not change because it is, or is not, beleived by a majority of the people. -Giordano Bruno ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/14 "2000-01-16T00:00:00Z")
Well, I just muted my television and put my ear against the speaker, and could hear nothing but an electronic ‘bzzz’. The bzzz had no pattern or variation, it was totally flat. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecccb3/32.png) [@Lord\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2000, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-mute-mute/6190/15 "2000-01-16T00:09:00Z")
I have both kinds. I have a Daewoo tv that is about 4 years old that when you mute it and put your ear up to the speaker, you can hear everything going on. I also have a Orion tv that is less that a year old, you hear nothing when it is muted, even if the volume was at the max. So it may be the age or just differences between brands. My car stereo has a button labeled Attn (attenuate) to cut the volume way down quickly. Maybe some tv’s use that idea instead of completely turning off the sound.