That’s unusual, but probably a driver problem…
What’s your hardware setup? (An analog mic plugged into your soundcard? A USB mic? A mic plugged into an external interface?) Are you using a laptop or desktop computer?
And, what version of Audacity and what version of Windows?
Did you change the default sample rate? (Speed is related to sample rate, but normally the sample rate is correctly communicated between the hardware, driver, and application so changing the sample rate doesn’t cause any problems.)
You might also try a different [u]Audio Host[/u]. (That’s the protocol used by the driver.)