Hi! So in the past couple days I’ve noticed that there’s some weird spatial sound stuff going on in my WoW. In both Retail and Classic, sounds coming from anywhere other than directly in front of my character are quieter. Directly to the left and right, sounds are like 40% quieter. Behind my character, sounds are like 95% quieter. If I face an NPC, click on them to trigger their voice line, and then run directly through them as they speak the volume of their voice goes from loud to barely audible as they go from being directly in front of me to directly behind me.
I checked all my sound settings, both in Windows and in WoW, and everything is set to Stereo - I use headphones. No settings that have anything to do with surround or spatial sound are selected. The only recent change I’ve made that I can think of is that I recently updated Windows 10. Could that be the issue?
Thanks for reading.
(Small Update - Turning Windows Sonic spatial sound on fixes the volume issue with sounds coming from behind and to the sides of my character, but also makes sound in general fuzzier and less crisp. I liked it better the way it was before, without spatial sound enabled and full volume sound effects behind my character!)
5 Likes
If you’re using Windows 10, has it recently updated? KB4515384, which came out within the last week, has various reports associated with sound issues (along with search and the Start Menu) which leads to sounds either being “reduced” (I assume this means quieter) or absent entirely. A change in the HRTF functions (related to spacial positioning) could account for this.
The fixes I’ve seen are to either remove the offending patch or to set your sound’s Default Format to DVD quality (16 bit, 480000 Hz). To change this setting, open the Control Panel (the old one), open Sound, double click your chosen output device, open the Advanced tab, and select the desired format from the drop down.
NB Some programs (mostly older ones) react poorly to having the sample rate changed from 48KHz. So if you want to experiment with the settings do try and make sure you at least maintain that part of it.
FWIW, headphones are stereo. The only difference is where those speakers are located, which should be assigned by your audio driver software.
6 Likes
I have the same problem when there is a windows update. I do not want to hear surround sound. I want to hear NPC dialogue all the same whether I am facing them or have my back turned.
After playing around with the windows settings I fixed it until i closed WoW and when i reopened it had the same problems.
Yea i have noticed the same thing with the sound its kind of a pain as it was only with WoW and had no problem with stuff like videos.
I tried a few things and the one that worked was what the OP had suggested by turning on the " Spatial Sound" which i was able to do by going under Sound settings then clicking on to Device properties .
I just use speakers and no head phones ( unless grouped for Pvp or raid) so i dont no how this would effect that but it worked well for me and i can once again control my in game sound
On a side note for some reason this seemed to fix another problem that i had pop up after this last windows 10 patch . In the character select screen i was having a lot of flashing and colors being very dark on certain things like hair , eyes or cape ect. Was also having that happen on some in game stuff like character portraits or info tab . Now all of this has cleared up with this out of game simple fix . Though i have no clue as to how this could be in any way related to sound
Uninstalling the KB4515384 update worked like a charm and everything is back the way it should be! Thanks, Asterchades!
Hopefully I won’t get slammed with horrible malware and viruses running without that update…but it’s great to have proper sound back.
Hi there friends!
I just wanted to drop in to say thanks for working together to find an answer for this. I have logged this on our side so we can help others in the future who have this problem. 
/Nathardrick
I had exactly the same problem right after doing the Windows 10 1903 update. It doesn’t show in any other application than wow, and even in wow it’s random … it’s at it’s worst in pet battles, and your fix solved the issue but gave me another one. Now for some reason I seem to have lost a lot of bass so everything sounds kind of flat and tinny. I’m not sure I want to uninstall the update, but I sure wish Microsoft allowed us to control updates the way we could in Windows 7!
FWIW, at least MS is aware of it.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4515384/windows-10-update-kb4515384
We are working on a resolution and estimate a solution will be available in late September.
2 Likes
Did the latest update for windows and it seems to have fixed the issue. I can hear the NPCs now even with my back turned to them. Had a mandatory one and an optional update, so not sure which one fixed the issue, but I did download both of them just to be sure.
I just did both updates last night and i’m still having some sound issues.
Pet battle sounds appear to be fixed and heard from all directions.
Dialog sounds from NPC’s seem to be even no matter where they are in relation to me, but they are still very quiet.
edited for clarity after further testing
Which update/s did you install, Petroll?
According to the release notes, KB4517211 (the optional patch) should remedy the sound issue. Naturally I don’t expect it to be a 100% fix (if it was, why did it have a problem in the first place?) so I’m curious to know whether that was one of the ones you installed or not.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/4517211/windows-10-update-kb4517211
Updates an issue that causes audio in certain games to be quieter or different than expected.
Incidentally, this update takes a VERY long time to download and install. Around 15 minutes on my R7 1700 (@3.7GHz all core) with a 100/40 connection. Most other updates are done in under 5 minutes.
Yes that one I have installed.
It fixed the whole directional sound issue. In pet battles I hear the sounds clear and loud no matter where my camera is facing. Before, if my camera was not pointed directly at the pet currently doing the action the sound would be very low.
Also, the NPC dialog issues seemed be to fixed except it’s at about 30% of the volume that it should be. It’s still very quiet.
Just want to say thanks so much Asterchades for the fix, I thought this was just me and it was driving me crazy
Well I reinstalled my sound drivers and double checked all Windows 10 updates were done. Finished a scan & repair of WoW and still Dialog volume is really low. None of the other games I play are affected so I’m not sure what to try next.
Any suggestions appreciated!
There was a Windows 10 Update released last Friday that did fix this. KB4517211 I believe is the KB for it. It did fix it for me (on the one PC it was broken on, which was limited to a specific sound card even, it was a weird bug to begin with. It was caused by KB4515384 which was released on September 9th (so the solution that I used prior to last Friday’s fix was to uninstall the previous KB))
September 26, 2019—KB4517211 (OS Build 18362.387)
Updates an issue that causes audio in certain games to be quieter or different than expected.
Viewing update history it says successfully installed.
That patch did solve the audio positioning bug where the sound was low (esp in pet battles) unless you pointed your camera right at the NPC. All sounds are back to normal regardless of position except dialog which is really quiet (no matter where the camera is facing).
I’m not having any issues with Dialog volume now. So that’s odd.
I just don’t know what to do / where to go from here since it’s only happening in this game.
Have you turned up the slider for diag in the game under sounds?
Ok now this is interesting …
After installing the Win10 update that came out today (and sliding the dialog volume to max) I’m able to hear the sounds at a decent level.
Previous to today’s update the dialog slider in game only made a 1-2% difference in volume.
There’s no mention about any sounds fixes in the Windows update patch notes and that’s the only change that’s been made since last night.
This is still some what of a band aid fix since I need to have the dialog volume at max to get the same volume that I had before when it was set to 40%.