Audio-Error- Can't hear anything

Audacity 3 Help Forum
1

Hello, running Audacity 3.75 on Windows 11 and loss all sound. I’ve done the basic troubleshooting. I can hear YouTube in my headset just fine, but nothing in Audacity. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. I’m not too tech savvy, but can understand the basics.

Thanks

2

You’re seeing a waveform, right? And it looks like it’s playing?

Check the playback volume slider which is “hidden” under the playback meters. (And once it’s turned-up you should see activity on the meters.)

If that’s OK make sure you’ve selected the correct Playback Device. …A common problem is to plug-in a USB microphone or USB turntable and then Windows makes that “new device” the recoding and playback device, even it can’t can play sound.

3

I am having the same problem. I was recording and listening to my recordings, and everything was working fine. All of a sudden, I couldn’t hear anything. I didn’t change anything, just all of a sudden, there was nothing. At the time, I had access to a MacBook, so I switched back to my Windows computer. However, now I can’t use that computer, and it still doesn’t work on my Windows laptop. I have watched YouTube videos on fixing it and done everything that was supposed to work, and it doesn’t. The sound on my computer works for the MP3 that I downloaded from Audacity, and it works for everything else, YouTube, Spotify, and any other website. I am working on my master’s degree, and the project I was working on was a school assignment. I can’t move on without Audacity. Can someone please help me?

4

If it’s urgent try ocenaudio (free) or GoldWave ($60 USD for a lifetime license after a fully-functional free trial).

5

I have similar symptoms using 3.74. It has been working fine until this morning. I first thought that I lost audio. What I discovered is that the level is very very low and have to crank my speakers up to hear. The wave forms look good on the tracks, the meter at top of screen shows low level output. YouTube and WAV files on Media Player are not affected.

The problems appeared AFTER a Zoom session where I recorded some music from other participants. Coincidence? I have rebooted and checked the devices etc. Surely missing something but not sure where to look.

Jim