When a player close to a villager holds an item that the villager trades, the villager displays what that item could be traded for. For example, if the villager is a librarian, it might display an emerald when the player holds paper (if it has that trade).

However, if the player holds a certain item for long enough, the villager's held item will flicker. The villager stops holding the item for an instant, and then starts holding it again. This wouldn't normally be a significant issue, but when villagers switch to or from an item, it sends a sound to a sculk sensor. Every time that the item flickers (every few minutes), the sensor activates, even though the player is continuously holding an item. The expected behavior would be that if a player continuously holds an item to trade, the villager continuously holds its trade offer and activates a sculk sensor upon “equipping” the item.

To repeat this bug, first give a villager a profession. Then, hold one of the items that the villager trades. Since villagers offer multiple trades for emeralds, it is preferable to hold an item that the villager buys rather than sells (paper for librarians works great). Watch closely, and the item that the villager holds (an emerald in the case of a player holding paper) will flicker off and on after a few minutes. For easier detection, place a sculk sensor or a calibrated sculk sensor tuned with a signal strength of 4 nearby.

Here is a link to a video of the setup and the bug in action: Bug.mp4

{}The bug happens in creative and survival, and I used the tick rate command to show how often it occurs. I also showed the bug without tick rate. I had daylight cycle turned off for this video, but it happens both with it on and off.

Here is a Youtube Video that doesn’t exactly explain the bug, but it shows how important and useful this feature will be once the bug is fixed: https://youtu.be/Y48xWKBqzbs?si=vh6nQxFf_-vGKWb9