You do not have a hardware mute button. There is an output mute, but not an input mute. I wrote one in about 10 lines of AppleScript and associated it with a hot key. It ~mostly~ works.
If you are talking about the application-specific software mute, I had such a terrible time finding it amongst all my open tabs and latency every time I wanted to type or speak that I wrote the above hardware-ish button.
I use the hardware button to mute. My headphone has a mute button right on the cord. It's fast and easy and always within reach. If that's not available, I use the operating system to mute. My Linux systems have a mic icon on the top bar. I believe it's easy to do in Windows also. I don't know about mac.
You can control the mute in software using the Arduino USB keyboard library, then just send the appropriate key combination when the button is pressed:
For MS Teams, you send Ctrl+Shift+M (Cmd+Shift+M for Mac)
For Google Meet you send Ctrl+D (Cmd+D for Mac)
For Zoom, you send Alt+A (Cmd+Shift+A for Mac)
Note that unlike Telephony devices, which can return the status of the mute on the computer, there is no way to tell if the software itself is muted.
Same with iPhone. It's one of the most frustrating parts of iOS for me. The hardware mute button is pointless since apps can just choose whether to respect it or not.
If you're on a Mac, use Shush [0] to give yourself global mute control with a single keypress. You can set it on push-to-talk mode or push-to-silence mode, both are extremely useful. I have mine set to the Fn key and leave in PTT mode most of the time.
At least semi relevant is Shush, a mac app that makes toggling OS-wide mute easy, along with push-to-talk (or the inverse, push to mute). I've been a happy user for years.
I only wish the menu bar icon were more prominent somehow, or had the option to overlay a floating semi-transparent window that displayed mute status. I'm always paranoid about whether I'm actually muted and wish I could make it glaringly obvious to myself.
If you are talking about the application-specific software mute, I had such a terrible time finding it amongst all my open tabs and latency every time I wanted to type or speak that I wrote the above hardware-ish button.
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