Ask HN: Can anyone help explain remote access to my computer speakers?
I was working on a Macbook at my desk when I heard someone speaking. There was a Sonos across the room playing music from my partner's phone, but the sound wasn't coming from that direction. My desk is where I have a gaming PC and connected to it are a set of Audioengine A5+ speakers - (they aren't smart speakers/connected to wifi). The speakers were powered on, but my gaming PC was turned off (not switched off, though).
I increased the volume of my laptop to check if that was the source of the voice but it wasn't, so I muted my computer. I tried listening to the song playing across the room but the voice was definitely coming from somewhere closer. I brought my ear near the left A5 speaker on my desk and could hear what the voice was saying. They said: "Do you know what duct tape feels like across your lips" in a creepy manner.
I Googled the phrase to hopefully find the lyrics to a song but there were no relevant results. The top "lyrics" result was by a band called the Insane Clown Posse but the lyrics didn't match up at all. The voice stopped speaking and I didn't know what to do, so I turned off the Sonos in case that actually was the source. I went back to my desk and tried listening to the Insane Clown Posse song on my phone and I heard the voice again from the A5 speaker. This time they said "duct tape, duct tape". I unplugged the A5s power cable and switched off my PC and haven't heard the voice since.
I'm pretty confident the voice was coming from the left A5 speaker. There are no other electronics on that corner of the desk besides a lamp. However, the A5s are connected to my gaming PC which has been turned off this entire time and resting on the ground in the same corner as the left speaker. It's a relatively new PC and I only have a few apps installed on (Steam, Discord, Epic Launcher). I received the A5s from a close friend years ago and have used them almost daily. No one has access to my computers but me and my partner who would never do something like this. I'm pretty sure none of my friends have anything to do with this. I do live in a dense urban area. I don't have history of mental illness/hallucinations. I also wouldn't say that I'm a target for any reason. Although I am very creeped out, I think this is more likely a prank than a threat to me.
Given all this, can anyone come up with a technical explanation? The only one I can think of is that my gaming PC was being hacked/remotely accessed and someone was speaking out loud or playing an audio file to prank me. The only action I've taken so far is change my WiFi's password (I was using the default password before). I appreciate any help here.