Mute was a function of starship communications in which the audio feeds were disconnected to allow the person transmitting to confer with advisers surreptitiously. In ship-to-ship communications, a commanding officer could either state "mute" to the communications officer or make a gesture indicating mute. (TNG: "The Outrageous Okona" , et al.) In 2371, Captain Kathryn Janeway used the mute function when her analysis was disturbed by The Doctor who was on the main viewer of the bridge. (VOY: "The Cloud")