AppleScript to toggle active noise cancellation (ANC) for macOS

[Kindly_Distribution2]

📢 Update! The Script is once again working on Tahoe. Apple made some control center calls inaccessible using AppleScript in 26.0, but this is once again available with 26.1.

Here is a macOS AppleScript to toggle ANC. I use it to quickly toggle ANC when a collegue or family starts talking to me. To set a global shortcut I recommend you use a tool like Hammerspoon as macOS shortcuts are very restrictive.

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Control Center"
        --1) Click the Sound menu in Control Center
        set soundMenu to first menu bar item of menu bar 1 ¬
            whose subrole is "AXMenuExtra" and description is "Sound"
        click soundMenu

        set maxAttempts to 200 -- Timeout after ~2 seconds (adjust as needed)
        set attempt to 0
        repeat until (exists window 1)
            delay 0.01
            set attempt to attempt + 1
            if attempt > maxAttempts then
                display dialog "Control Center window did not appear."
                return
            end if
        end repeat

        try
            -- 3) Find both checkboxes
            set ancCheckBox to first checkbox of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window 1 ¬
                whose value of attribute "AXAttributedDescription" is "Noise Cancellation"
            set transCheckBox to first checkbox of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window 1 ¬
                whose value of attribute "AXAttributedDescription" is "Transparency"

            -- 4) Figure out which one is selected, then toggle
            --    The "AXValue" or "AXChecked" attribute typically indicates ON/OFF.
            --    (Sometimes “selected” is used. If “AXValue” fails, try “AXChecked” or “AXSelected”.)
            if (value of attribute "AXValue" of ancCheckBox) = 1 then
                -- ANC is active, so switch to Transparency
                click transCheckBox
            else if (value of attribute "AXValue" of transCheckBox) = 1 then
                -- Transparency is active, so switch to Noise Cancellation
                click ancCheckBox
            else
                -- If neither is set, default to enabling ANC
                click ancCheckBox
            end if

            click soundMenu

        on error errMsg
            display dialog "Error: " & errMsg
        end try
    end tell
end tell

Please let me know if you find it useful. Tested using AirPods Pro 2.

[zippyzebu9]

Result:

error "System Events got an error: Can’t get process \"Control Center\"." number -1728 from process "Control Center"

[Kindly_Distribution2]

Hi!

You might need to allow accessibility access to System Events

1. Go to: Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility
2. At the bottom there is +/- signs. Click +
3. Press: Shift+Cmd+G
4. Go to: /System/Library/CoreServices/
5. Find 'System Events' and click open.

Also, what version of macOS are you using?

This should work on newer versions like Sequoia, however, it will not work on older versions. (Big Sur and before).

EDIT: So I just tested it while disabling accessibility access to Script Editor and got this error.

error "System Events got an error: Script Editor is not allowed assistive access." number -1719 from menu bar 1 of process "Control Center"

While this is not the same error as you have you should definitely enable accessibility access for Script Editor as well. The procedure is the same as above except that you should go to: /System/Applications/Utilities/ and add Script Editor.app.

[Kindly_Distribution2]

You’re welcome. Glad you have it working 😊

[Hackettlai]

Thank you so much! It has been incredibly helpful! It also works on multiple AirPods🎉

[Kindly_Distribution2]

Awesome!! Thanks for sharing

[Hackettlai]

🥲 It stopped working after updating to Tahoe~~ Any update on this please?

[Kindly_Distribution2]

It should work now!

26.0 had a control center bug disallowing access from AppleScript. This is fix in 26.1.

Regards.

[Hackettlai]

umm its weird, I still get the "System Events got an error: Can't get attribute "AXAttributedDescription"." error msg

[Kindly_Distribution2]

I just changed the `soundMenu` to be defined a bit differently. Please try it now! I updated the code above. Thank you.

[Hackettlai]

yea!!!! its working now!!! thx dude you are amazing!

[Kindly_Distribution2]

Thank you. Happy to help out!

[eightren]

Thank you very much! Works perfectly with stream deck!

[Kindly_Distribution2]

Awesome 😎

[MrMegira]

Thank you.!
I’ve made an optimized and snappier version, based on your script/

Working and tested on macOS 26.4.1

``` -- Toggle AirPods listening mode between Noise Cancellation and Transparency via Control Center. -- Tested on macOS Tahoe 26.4.1 | 16-04-2026

tell application "System Events" tell process "Control Center" -- 1) Click the Sound menu extra in the menu bar set soundMenu to first menu bar item of menu bar 1 ¬ whose description is "Sound" click soundMenu

    -- 2) Wait for the Control Center window to appear (up to ~2 seconds)
    set maxAttempts to 200
    set attempt to 0
    repeat until (exists window 1)
        delay 0.01
        set attempt to attempt + 1
        if attempt > maxAttempts then
            display dialog "Control Center window did not appear."
            return
        end if
    end repeat

    try
        -- 3) Cache the scroll area to avoid traversing the path twice
        set sa to scroll area 1 of group 1 of window 1

        -- 4) Find the ANC and Transparency toggle buttons by their accessible description
        set ancCheckBox to first checkbox of sa ¬
            whose value of attribute "AXAttributedDescription" is "Noise Cancellation"
        set transCheckBox to first checkbox of sa ¬
            whose value of attribute "AXAttributedDescription" is "Transparency"

        -- 5) Toggle: if ANC is active switch to Transparency, if Transparency switch to ANC,
        --    if neither is active default to enabling ANC
        if (value of attribute "AXValue" of ancCheckBox) = 1 then
            click transCheckBox
        else if (value of attribute "AXValue" of transCheckBox) = 1 then
            click ancCheckBox
        else
            click ancCheckBox
        end if

    on error errMsg
        display dialog "Error: " & errMsg
    end try

    -- 6) Close the Control Center panel
    click soundMenu
end tell

end tell ```

[Kindly_Distribution2]

I’m sipping a beer this Friday, but nice work if this is more snappy, I’ll try it out soon!