So I'm not sure how to fix this problem, I've tried numerous solutions but nothing seems to fix this permanent audio bug across all of the steam games I play. So around two weeks ago, I bought Dying light 2 and I was disappointed not because the game was bad but because I wasn't able to hear any characters in cutscenes talk unless I was using a headset and since I'm the kinda person who doesn't play with a headset, this was annoying but considering I had heard a lot of buggy things about DL2, I assumed it was with the game.
But after I went over to another game, the error persisted. I've uploaded a recording as an example of me starting up a game called "Detroit become Human" and as you can tell right as it starts up, the menu assistant (Chloe) talks but no sound is heard at all. If you pay very VERY close attention, It sounds really distant and this is on 100% audio too.
I've done numerous things such as updating graphic and audio drivers both Nvidia and AMD as well as the laptops own and I've rolled back recently installed drivers, uninstalled steam and reinstalled, ran memory scans, "bug-fixing" programs. One thing I've noticed is that looking at my connected playback devices, AMD and Nvidia High definition audio devices are "unplugged" which is weird considering I thought they're supposed to be connected at all times. But sadly, I've tried to re-enable them by reinstalling audio drivers and updating graphic drivers but nothing has changed that status again, I'm unsure if that's the initial reason for the audio bug.
PLEASE someone tell me a solution! I can't play any games with no characters talking. Note that I can hear everything else except the characters talking. I've confirmed it's not for one or two games but all of them.
Specs;
Asus Tuf Gaming A15
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with Radeon Graphics 2.90 GHz NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 Ti
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.4 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
1 Solution
Double check that you have your sound device configured for stereo. The only reasonable explanation I can think of for this kind of issue affecting multiple games is that it is set to 5.1 surround sound. Cutscene dialog typically comes primarily out of the center channel, and since you presumably don't HAVE a center channel you therefore would expect speech to be barely audible.
You can check this by clicking the configure button in the sound control panel
This audio device only supports stereo, but if it supported surround there would be other options in this menu.
