Can’t Hear Your Games? How to Fix Audio Problems in Steam

Quick Tips

• Audio problems in Steam games can be caused by your system settings, errors, or corruption in the game files themselves.
• You can try updating your audio drivers, reverting to default Windows drivers, and disabling exclusive mode.
• From the Steam side, you can check your game for file corruption.

Have things gone a little quiet in your games? Audio troubles on PC can have a hundred possible causes, but we’ve got some fixes for you to try to get things audible again. So when you can’t hear audio, Steam games has several ways to let you fix things, as you’ll find out in this article.

What Causes This Issue?

Steam games audio problems can have several causes, and might be related to the app, the game itself, or your PC. Some major offenders include:

• Audio trouble or settings with your computer or Steam
• Corrupted cache or files for Steam or a certain game
• A particular problem with Realtek Audio Drivers

What’s more important, though, are the fixes. Let’s take a look:

Can’t Hear Audio, Steam Games – Fixes to Try

We’ve got a few troubleshooting tips below that will hopefully fix your particular audio issue:

Make the Obvious Checks

They might seem too obvious to check, but it’s amazing how often a simple, common-sense fix can solve the problem. Before trying any other fixes, check the following:

• Your PC is unmuted.
• Your headphones or speakers are on and connected.
• The Sound mixer (accessible from the Search Bar) has Steam and your game’s volume unmuted and set to max.

Run as Admin

Improper access permissions can cause a whole range of app issues, let alone audio issues. It’s a quick check, but try running the Steam client as an Admin. Here’s how:

Step 1. Right-click the Steam app.

Step 2. Choose “Run as administrator.”

Step 3. The client will open. Try running your problematic game again and see if the issue’s resolved.

Check for Cache Corruption

If only one game is not operating correctly, then there may be a corruption of the cache. Here’s how to check for issues and repair if necessary:

Step 1. In your Steam client, head to the “Library” tab and right-click your problematic game.

Step 2. Choose “Properties” from the context menu.

Step 3. Click the “Installed Files” tab and then click “Verify integrity of game files.”

Step 4. Allow Steam to scan. If there’s any corruption, it’ll download files to fix the issue.

Disable Exclusive Mode

Exclusive Mode can be a way to improve game sound performance, but it can also hinder it. Try disabling it to see if it solves your problem:

Step 1. Right-click the Sound icon in your System tray and click “Sound Settings.”

Step 2. Navigate down to “More sound settings” and click it.

Step 3. Choose your playback device and double-click it.

Step 4. Head to the “Advanced” tab and uncheck “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.”

Step 5. Click “OK” to finalize.

Use the Default Audio Driver

Certain audio drivers like Realtek HD have been reported to cause audio issues with Windows and its apps. Try reverting to the standard audio driver to resolve the issue:

Step 1. Open the Run dialog (Win + R) and type “devmgmt.msc” and hit “Enter.”

Step 2. Head to “Audio inputs and outputs” and right-click your audio device.

Step 3. Click “Change Settings.” If this isn’t available, click the “Driver” tab and “Update Drivers.”

Step 4. Click “Browse my computer for drivers.”

Step 5. Choose “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.”

Step 6. Choose “Generic software device” and click “Next.” Device Manager will install the High Definition Audio Device.