Why is the audio heavily muffled when I watch YouTube videos?

[CoilGunSlug]

Everytime I watch a youtube video the sound starts out normal and progressively gets worse as the video progresses.  I have re-re-reinstalled my sound/audio drivers and have even tried new speakers with the problem still persisting.  I have also tried every troubleshooting suggestion for audio/video problems that Adobe provides on their troublshooting page.  When I play sounds on my computer that do not use Flash Player they sound just fine.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[chris.campbell]

To help troubleshoot we'll need the following system information:

• Operating   system  
• Browser  
• Flash   Player version

When reporting issues with video or audio, it's also helpful to get your system hardware and driver details.  Instructions for finding this information can be found here:

• Windows  
• Mac

Finally, sometimes video and audio problems are caused at a lower level and not directly related to Flash Player.  I recommend trying both of the links below to see how they perform.  If the problem exists with both, then Flash Player is most likely not the culprit as the HTML5 video link does not use Flash Player when playing.  You can verify the use of HTML5 by right clicking the HTML5 video and looking for the words "About HTML5" at the bottom of the context menu.

• HTML5   video  
• Non-HTML5 video

[dosdan · Accepted solution]

This is an interaction between Adobe Flash and perhaps Realtek audio drivers. I'm using Win 8 and I had muffled audio both in You Tube and in an online TV episode site (using Flash).

Using Realtek HD Audio driver 6.0.1.6959 & Adobe Flash Player 11.8.800.94 in Windows 8.

I finally worked out how to fix it.

1. Right click on Speaker icon in the tray.

2. Select Playback devices.

3. Select Speakers | Properties | Advanced tab.

4. I was experimenting with changing Default Format types and clicking on Apply as I was playing a TV episode in Flash. This would fix the sound for a few seconds and then it would get muffled again. Finally, in desperation, I clicked on Restore Defaults and this seems to have permanently fixed it. The Default Format for my system changed to 24-bit, 48000Hz (Studio Quality). So it's either this particular Default Format, or something else that was changed with Restore Defaults, but now it works.  I notice that Restore Defaults is greyed out if I'm on 24-bit, 48000 Hz., so this may be the magic setting (at least for Flash audio).

[Guest]

Excellent response mate. It worked for me. I've been putting up with this stupid muiffled sound for so long now! Thank you very much.

[StarJack]

Bless you dosdan, this just solved a new and nagging problem for me.