Sound Issue - Seeking Opinions About Possible/Likely Root Cause(s)

[britechguy]

On the NVDA Screen Reader group I'm active on, one member posted this earlier this morning:

Has anyone else ever seen this, and if so, were you able to fix it? Everything was working fine until a couple hours ago, when my laptop's speakers started cutting off the ends of sounds. It doesn't play the last few syllables of a lot of sounds, so I can't understand half of what it says. It also cuts non-speech sounds like beeps in half. I checked to see if a new update could have caused this, and the audio driver was updated, but rolling back to the old driver didn't fix things. Neither did reinstalling it. The issue is so bad that even though I have character echo on in NVDA, I'm not hearing a single letter I type spoken. If I can't figure out what's causing this, I'll have to reset my computer for it to be usable, and I just did that recently, so I don't really want to do that. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be causing this?

I have asked for make/model information and age, but my gut tells me this is likely to be failing hardware. I'm wondering exactly what she is, and that's whether anyone here has ever encountered this sort of "cuts off part of all sounds" behavior before and whether it was curable other than by replacing the sound card or machine (or using an external USB sound card)?

It's pretty darned impossible to be a blind computer user with a machine that doesn't give the auditory feedback from your screen reader that you need.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I would more readily blame that sort of thing on a weak connection to the speakers, or failing speakers than defective anything in the computer.

 

[britechguy]

OK, I never thought of that. I believe the built in speakers are what are in use, but it could be headphones or it could be external speakers. I'll have to ask if various output devices have been tried, possibly including Bluetooth device(s), which would help with diagnostics.

 

[Markverhyden]

"It doesn't play the last few syllables of a lot of sounds" "It also cuts non-speech sounds like beeps in half."

Computer sound is an D/A conversion. So, if the observation is accurate, then the end of the digital stream is being truncated. I do agree that you need to know if that happens with if other output devices are being used. And exactly how is this happening? Are these local files such as mp3, etc? Is this live streaming?

 

[Moltuae]

I would more readily blame that sort of thing on a weak connection to the speakers, or failing speakers than defective anything in the computer.

I'd agree that this is the most likely cause, given the information we currently have. Speakers can behave that way when they've been over-driven or 'popped'. Part of the speaker coil (or a connection to it) burns out, creating a break that can sometimes reconnect as the coil moves back into its resting position. But as the speaker coil is driven forwards again, the connection breaks, interrupting the current flow. Another common symptom to test for is whether the speaker works correctly at very low volumes, which would be further evidence pointing to coil damage. Having said that, a failing power amplifier could result in very similar symptoms, but speaker damage in much more likely/common.

 

[britechguy]

Mark,

What is being described is screen reader speech output. You can set them to pronounce letters as you type, as but one thing, and the original description mentions that even when typing its cutting off the output for that. I don't know how to describe screen reader output other than what's most commonly used is having it read the text (and/or names of controls like the labels on buttons) from the screen. If a user were looking at this message, and issued the Say All command, the screen reader would read it very much like someone with sight would if they were sitting there and asked to read it. The actual sound is synthesized using SAPI or another speech synthesis option. When I use NVDA, I'm using a Microsoft OneCore voice.

 

[britechguy]

Additional data just in after I hit send on that last message:

I have an HP Omen 17-inch gaming laptop. It's about 5 months old. I've tried USB C earbuds, regular wired headphones, and a Bluetooth headset, and can say that the issue is present with both the computer's built-in speakers and the regular headphones, but not with the USB C earbuds or Bluetooth headset. I'm actually using them right now because they give me normal sound. I just played a video on YouTube, and the interesting thing is that the video sounds great, but my screen reader is still cutting off the ends of words, although it's not as bad as when there's nothing playing in the background. I hope this helps.

 

[Philippe]

USB C earbuds or Bluetooth headset.

They include their own DAC. So bad on-board sound chip.

"video sounds great, but my screen reader is still cutting off the ends of words" -> Also cutting the end of the video sound stream, but probably cannot be heard...

 

[britechguy]

@ComputerBloke,

I thank you for the suggestion, but really, really doubt this is the issue. The user has not made any recent changes (updates, etc.) except those attempting to fix the issue, and everything had been working just fine until it appeared.

I share @Philippe's view now that this has almost certainly got to be a hardware issue with the system sound device since other output devices with their own controllers are not exhibiting any of the behavior.

Luckily, this machine has a 1-year warranty on it, and I have advised its owner to pursue warranty service. I have also told her I would keep her posted on all opinions offered here whether they concur with each other or not. This is a first-time experience for me with this exact failure mode, so it's been an interesting learning experience, particularly in differential diagnostics.

 

[GTP]

Have you tried simply uninstalling/reinstalling the audio drivers?

 

[britechguy]

Have you tried simply uninstalling/reinstalling the audio drivers?

It's not my machine, nor anywhere near me, but I trust its owner. From my opening post, her words:

I checked to see if a new update could have caused this, and the audio driver was updated, but rolling back to the old driver didn't fix things. Neither did reinstalling it.

 

[Markverhyden]

Mark,

What is being described is screen reader speech output. You can set them to pronounce letters as you type, as but one thing, and the original description mentions that even when typing its cutting off the output for that. I don't know how to describe screen reader output other than what's most commonly used is having it read the text (and/or names of controls like the labels on buttons) from the screen. If a user were looking at this message, and issued the Say All command, the screen reader would read it very much like someone with sight would if they were sitting there and asked to read it. The actual sound is synthesized using SAPI or another speech synthesis option. When I use NVDA, I'm using a Microsoft OneCore voice.

I do understand what it is. But I guess I should have been clearer on my point. There wasn't enough data earlier to come to any conclusion.

Now that we have additional test data it does look like it's on the MB. Audio chipsets carry their own A/D and D/A so it certainly looks like it's hardware issue. She should take advantage of it being under warranty. But you should make sure she understands that the first thing the repair facility will do is nuke and pave the computer and then test audio using built in tools. If the audio works it'll go right back. I mention this because she said youTube was fine but NVDA was still truncating output while using the earbuds. So maybe she might want to engage some local help to do the nuke and pave first since that can potentially reduce downtime for her.

 

[britechguy]

So maybe she might want to engage some local help to do the nuke and pave first since that can potentially reduce downtime for her.

Mark,

Thanks for the input. I believe she may be able to do the N&P herself or have someone who can do it for her. I also believe she takes full system image backups, but will tell her if she doesn't then she needs to before going that route.

 

[britechguy]

Okay, one final suggestion: System Restore. This is exactly the kind of thing it's designed for.

And never trust a user to install or roll back device drivers. Even the good ones won't be as methodical and meticulous as you, and you'll never be sure that it was done properly unless you did it yourself.

And my last word: if this turns out to be a provable hardware fault then I'd be extremely surprised. It's got "software error" written through it like a stick of rock.

If System Protection was on, which I'll ask about. But my personal experience with System Restore is that it is notoriously flaky. If it works it's great, but I never rely on it to work, and I don't encourage anyone else to do so, either. Still, I do keep it on because there are occasions where it does work that it's the simplest thing to try first.

We'll have to agree to disagree with the diagnosis. I'm now firmly in the more likely hardware than software camp. I've been to this rodeo before, and if it were software the steps that have been taken, and that I trust have been taken correctly, should have solved it. But System Restore is definitely worth a shot.

 

[Sky-Knight]

When you attach another audio device with its own DAC and that works... Yeah I'm with you, something is wrong with the inbuilt audio, and honestly I'm expecting it to be the speakers more than the audio chip. But, that's a difference without a distinction when the system is under warranty.

 

[britechguy]

As a final note here:

1. Most importantly, thank you to all who've replied. Advice, even when conflicting, is valuable and what a venue like this is about.

2. I will report back on what I hear as far as the final disposition of the issue. That may be weeks away, but if it's shared I'll make sure to let everyone here know the outcome.