Hearing instant playback while recording

okay so this is complicated. For a long time i have been using audacity to record music. previous to this event, while i was recording a track using any one of my mics, i would only hear the beat in my headphones. However, something happened in audacity where i can now hear my own voice, instantly played back, while i am recording a new track. this makes it very difficult to record. I can still hear the beat
i have tried going to preferences, then recording, and both playback boxes are checked, and i have messed with those and they haven’t fixed anything. i have tried going to the mic preferences through windows and it affected nothing. i have tried using different mics, or plugging in headphones into the mic and my computer but nothing is working.

Look in “Transport menu > Software Playthrough” and ensure that it is off (not selected).
If that’s not it, check in the Windows Sound Control Panel recording settings and ensure that “Listen to this device” is not enabled for the recording device that you are using.

Make sure [u]Software Playthrough[/u] is not checked.