Mono recording exported as mp3 playing in only one speaker

I have recorded over thirty children’s stories with musical introductions. I always record the voice track in mono and when I export the recording as an mp3 the voice and music always come from both speakers. On my latest recording which, I believe, I did in the exact same way, music comes from both speakers but the voice only comes from the right speaker. Is there a way to fix this without re-recording and what might I have done differently? Thanks to anyone who can shed light!

Click the little drop-down arrow to the left of the waveform and select Split Stereo to Mono. That will give you two mono tracks and then you can delete one or export as a mono file with both tracks mixed together, etc.

A true-mono file will play from both speakers (and it will open as a single waveform in Audacity).

Is the music supposed to be stereo? If you want a mono voice with stereo music I think you’ll need to make a “dual mono” voice track with the voice on both sides to mix with the stereo music. (For your current project, that would require re-recording since you apparently don’t have a voice-only track.)

Thank you DVDdoug! I don’t know what I did differently this time but I will try your solution.

I just re-read you response and I do have a voice only track. I always record the story (in Mono), then import the introductory music from Pond 5 or other royalty free sites.