Audio cutting out

I have a similar problem after the latest patch. When I enter voice chat, all in-game sound disappears. If I leave voice chat, the sound comes back. It worked fine before the patch I have not made any changes to the PC that I am aware of.

Ok so I did a bit of experimenting with the issue.
1: Audio cuts out for the whole computer due to this issue, tested it by listening to music on winamp during a game and the music cut out.
Alt-tabbing to winamp would recover the music after about 5 seconds, alt tabbing back into the game would then break sound once again.
2: Turning on the Dolby 7.1 sound option in sound instantly fixed the audio then turning the Dolby 7.1 sound option back off still fixed the sound issue.
3: Checking the My Documents Overwatch logs reveals in the info that for some reason the sound was set to 0 by some event then back to the usual volume, this could be a record of what is going on I am not sure.

So whatever is going on in game it can affect the sound of your entire computer if the overwatch game is the focus and changing focus will make the sound work again temporarily.
That turning on Dolby 7.1 and then turning it off seems to refresh something that causes the audio issue and seems to fix it.

So the temp fix to solve this issue to if it happens in game go to your OPTIONS then go to DOLBY 7.1 and turn it on and off to fix your audio till the next time it happens.

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Well done! This is a workaround for my problem as well. Toggling 7.1 activates the sound, but I have to do it for each match. Let’s just hope this is something Blizzard does something about.

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Yeah, I’ve been having this same issue aswell. It started in the Symmetra patch where only some audio would be cut out such as music, footsteps, gunfire, etc. But now with the Hammond patch all audio will cut out and effects my whole computer. The only temporary fix I have for this is unplugging the headset and plugging it back in again, but obviously it’s not very ideal as you have to spend precious seconds of a competitive game afk.

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So I have experimented a bit with that Vermillion put down. If I go to options and Sound and switch to the Dolby 7.1, return to game, and go back and switch it to the regular sound, it does bring the sound back when it clips away.
A bit of extra work before the round starts, but at least I can hear again!

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Have you tried turning on Dolby 7.1 then instantly turning it off?
That is what I do and it still fixes the issue.

I’ve tried that when the audio does clip out and it does fix the problem! :smiley:

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Getting it down to a science by now, haha.
Well at least there is a work around for it but having a rep at least acknowledge the issue would be nice.

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I’m having this problem too.
the sound sometimes just goes off at the start to a round and stays that way until I leave or the match ends.

ok the workaround works for me too, thx for that.
Blizzard still needs to fix this

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Hi all,

We are currently investigating reports of some players experiencing audio issues.

When in the middle of an intense fight, sometimes the game will request more sound data than the memory pools can hold. On some machines, it can take a few moments to fix these memory pools which results in the sounds not playing. We apologize for the current inconvenience and are actively working to resolve this.

Thank you for your patience.

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Wrong topic Tom :slight_smile: EDIT: ok you fixed it already :smiley:

To get back to topic, i have the same issues aswell, i hope there will be a permament fix for it, besides the Dolby 7.1 settings, its really strange.

Also very annoying if Discord/Teamspeak voice chat disappears for some seconds and comes back after…

Thank you, Tom!
I appreciate you taking the time to notice this and addressing it.

At least you acknowledge there is a problem which is great.
It was all this waiting around hoping someone from the company would see all these topics that started to wear thin but now we at least have an answer.
I hope the issue will be fixed in the near future.

When Rilato started playing retribution 3s sound, it’s correct? when rilato loaded on main menu ios the same thing oO’

Just popping in to say “me too”. I was losing some sounds until I died and they’d come back. Now I lose all sound except voice chat until I die. It’s random. I reinstalled and repaired and doesn’t seem to have helped yet. Hoping for a fix soon!

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Thanks for looking for a fix to this. It’s odd that this is happening as it had no issues before a month or so ago and it’s just this game that this is happening in.

Tom I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but the audio issues are far more widespread and egregious than you may realize. There’s already a megathread documenting instances of players experiencing this sound dropoff issue across platforms (I’m personally experiencing them on PS4). It affects all kinds of sounds not being played or having incorrect volume priority, including ultimates, flanking enemy footsteps/shots, sound effects like health packs/jump pads/healing beams/lasers/etc., and more (lootbox voiceline previews not playing, match queue music not playing, etc.).

Here’s the thread. The first comment lists some videos demonstrating the issues, and in the second comment are a list of threads that have been posted about this issue by players over the months. Throughout the thread are testimonies from players and more:

Never had any problems with Overwatch at all before, but the fact that all sounds just vanish from time to time, and then comes back, ruins the entire game. I cant hear ults going off, cant hear if people are behind me and what not.
They better fix this fast, because its really unplayable. I want to play, but no way in hell Im playing when its not fixed.

I’m glad I’m not the only one that loses ALL sounds completely. Even went and bought a new headset, tried as someone else suggested and disabled all other input/output devices and made sure the right ones were selected, re-installed the game, nothing. And it’s only while playing Overwatch. Any other game is completely fine.