This simple helper script toggle the mute attribute for a program in pulseaudio.

pulseaudio_toggle_mute.sh

#!/bin/bash

# This simple helper script toggle the mute attribute for a program in pulseaudio.

PROG="Chromium"

all=$(pacmd list-sink-inputs | egrep -B 15 "client: [0-9]+ <${PROG}>" | sed -n '1p;8p')

index=${all:11:2} # get the index
muted=${all:22:3} # get 'yes' or 'no'

echo "[~] Pulseaudio on ${PROG}:"
echo -e "\tindex: ${index:-index not set}"
echo -e "\tmuted: ${muted:-muted not set}"

if [ "$muted" == "yes" ] ; then
	echo "[*] ${PROG} is detected as mute, let's change that"
	pacmd set-sink-input-mute $index false
else
	echo "[-] ${PROG} not found or already unmuted"
fi