Adobe Audition and Premier Pro--Sound Quality changing after rendering file

[Michael29447007pf9s]

Recently I recorded and mixed an episode for my podcast. I am using a Mac studio that's up to date and the latest Audition (2023). Everything sounded great, I rendered a wave and an MP3 copy of the final project, and dropped it into Premier Pro to add captions for YouTube. Halfway through editing the video, I stepped away for dinner. I saved the file but did not close the application as I was coming right back. 

When I returned, the audio quality was completely different, full of static like an old radio recording. I opened the audio file in QuickTime Player and Adobe Audition and it still sounded terrible. I then re-opened the Auditon file where I mixed the multitrack, and it sounded fine. So I mixed the multi-track down again and resaved it as a wave and then an MP3. Everything sounded good in QuickTime, so I replaced the old audio in premiere pro with the new mixdown and once again, the audio returned to terrible. 

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling both programs as well as restarting my computer, and now Audition won't play when I hit play. The play button turns green but nothing moves. It won't record, either. And still, the audio quality greatly decreases after I mixdown the file and save it.

I have no idea what happened or where to even start with fixing this. Please help!

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

There is only one thing - really -  that prevents the transport from moving when you hit Play, and that is that Audition is not connected to your sound device. And that, considered with your other difficulties, makes me very suspicious of your sound driver; you might want to check to see if there's an update for it.