Windows 10: Windows 10 seemingly randomly puts audio in mono and boosts volume on its own

Greetings.


I have experienced an issue today, which has - frankly - left me baffled. I am also fairly certain this is a Windows 10 bug.


Windows 10, in highly irregular intervals, suddenly starts outputting audio as mono, despite being set to stereo. It seems to be happening entirely at random. When this issue takes place, the audio volume also gets boosted by a considerable amount. There is no visible trace of this happening in:

• Settings -> Sound,
• Ease of Access audio settings,
• Old Control Panel Sound settings and neither in the audio device settings,
• System's volume mixer,
• Creative Sound Blaster Command audio card control software.

The issue sometimes ceases on its own after a period of time.


The only workaround I have managed to find thus far was accessing the Ease of Access audio settings and flipping theTurn on mono audio switch on and off. The audio reverts to stereo, and the volume is no longer boosted. That gets rid of the issue for an irregular period of time until it happens again, which it always does.


Edited: It would also appear that setting the Spatial sound to Off again from Off, oddly enough also makes this issue go away.


Additional information:

• The audio enhancements audio device -> Properties -> Advanced -> Signal Enhancements -> Enable audio enhancements are disabled. Disabling them does not fix the issue.
• Applications are not allowed to take exclusive control of the device audio device -> Properties -> Advanced -> Exclusive Mode -> Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device. It does not fix this issue.
• Moving the volume slider under Levels tab does not fix this issue.
• The Sound -> Communications setting for Windows detecting communications related activity is set to 'Do nothing'. It does not fix this issue.

My Windows 10 Pro version is 1909, build: 18363.959

My PC uses an external audio card - Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5.

The original Realtek audio drivers were uninstalled. It did not fix this issue either.


I would be very grateful for your help. I have decades of experience dealing with IT related issues, software and hardware, but this is a first - asking a question here is possibly a last resort before going full out and reinstalling the system in its entirety, to save time dealing with this highly irritating issue.


Best regards and have a good day - and thank you in advance!

:)

 

Audio volume changes up and down randomly

The audio volume cycles up and down on my computer. I notice this a lot on YouTube videos. I'm running Windows 10 on an Acer computer. I have tried many of the suggestions on this thread: Windows 10 Volume Problem (Volume Randomly Changes).
Has Microsoft responded with a solution? Thanks.

 

Windows 10 Volume Changes Randomly

Not sure when this problem started but it's been within the last six or seven months (10/2019 - 05/2020). It's possible it happened after a Windows 10 update. I would roll it back if I knew.

System volume randomly fluctuates while listening to any audio source (internet streaming Sirius/XM or YouTube Music, or iTunes installed on my computer) through external speakers (Bose) through the 3.5 mm speaker jack on rear panel AND the 3.5 mm head phone
jack in the front. The problem also occurs using Bluetooth connected head phones).

At times I can listen for hours without it occurring but then it comes and is VERY annoying; to the point where listening to anything on my computer is useless. It has been happening for three hours this morning (5/12/2020).

I have performed the following over the last few months:

• Adjusted Sound settings by disabling sound enhancements (and all other variations of Sound Settings)
• Changed audio drivers (see below)
• Disabled Communications setting ("Do Nothing")
• Checked keyboard volume buttons and re-seated USB dongle.
• I have done whatever steps the below hyperlink suggests in addition to other 'tech' websites.

I do not believe this to be a specific PC model (and software packages/drivers) issue since on this very website the problem can be seen over a five year period from 4269 users (Windows 10 Volume Problem (Volume Randomly Changes))

Computer: HP Pavilion Desktop 595-p0084

OS: Windows 10 Home 64 Bit Ver. 10.0.18363 Build 18363

Sound Drivers Attempted:

• High Definition Audio Device Ver. 10.0.18362.356 (Microsoft)
• Realtek High Definition Audio Ver. 6.0.1.7016 (8/13/2013) (the Dell Drivers mentioned in the link above)
• Realtek High Definition Audio Ver. 6.0.8924.1 (3/26/2020) (and previous versions)

I will post this at HPs website as well as Realteks if possible.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Rich

 

Windows 10 Speaker Volume Boost

After upgrading from windows 7 I have noticed that audio seems a lot louder in both games and videos. I can see some sort of audio boost taking place in my speakers as noted by the picture I have posted. In windows 7 the application would be at the same
level as the speaker volume unlike in windows 10 where the speaker levels are significantly higher than the application. So is there any way to get rid of this audio boost and keep the speaker and application audio levels the same?