You’re sitting at your desk, trying to get some work done while listening to your favorite playlist. But suddenly, the music starts sounding weird – distorted, muffled, or just plain low.
What’s going on? You look over at your other screen and see that one of your friends started talking in a Discord voice channel. Ugh, not again!
This has been happening to you a lot lately – ever since you updated to Windows 11. Every time someone speaks in Discord, it seems to interfere with the audio from other apps like Spotify, YouTube, or games. The volume gets lowered, voices get fuzzy, and it’s really disrupting your flow.
But you don’t want to leave your friends hanging on Discord either. What’s a person to do?
Easy Methods to Fix Discord Distorting or Messing Up Audio from Other Application on Windows 11
Yet, there is hope! After some troubleshooting, I’ve discovered several solutions that may help fix Discord distorting or muting other audio on Windows 11. Let’s take a look.
Method #1 – Disable Attenuation in Discord to Prevent Volume Lowering
Discord has a feature called “Attenuation” that automatically lowers the volume of other applications when someone is speaking in a Discord voice chat. This can cause audio from other apps to sound distorted or muffled.
- To disable attenuation, open the Discord desktop app and click the gear icon in the bottom left to access Settings.
- In the Settings sidebar, select “Voice & Video” and scroll down to find the “Attenuation” slider.
- Set this to 0% to completely disable attenuation and prevent Discord from touching the system volume of other applications.
This prevents the muffling/distorting issue caused when Discord rapidly lowers and raises the volumes of background apps when users speak in voice chats.
Method #2 – Turn Off “Windows Communication Activity” to Stop System Volume Adjustments
Windows has a setting called “Communication Activity” that automatically adjusts volumes of non-communication applications whenever you use chat/calling apps like Discord. This can cause unwanted distortion too.
- To disable this, open Windows Settings using the search bar and go to the System > Sound page.
- Scroll down and select “More sound settings” to open the legacy Sound control panel.
- Go to the Communications tab, choose the radio button for “Do nothing”.
- Click Apply and then OK.
This will stop Windows from automatically adjusting volumes whenever you use chat/calling apps, preventing distortion.
Method #3 – Disable Exclusive Mode Access for Applications
Sometimes specific applications request “exclusive mode” access to sound controls in Windows. This gives them priority over other apps and allows them to forcibly lower other volumes, again causing distortion.
- Go back to Sound settings in Windows.
- Check if any application like Discord has “exclusive mode” access under Input/Output tabs.
- Disable this exclusive control.
Method #4 – Update Audio Drivers and Troubleshoot Issues
Ensure your audio drivers are fully up to date in Windows Update or via your hardware brand’s website. Outdated drivers can cause conflicts leading to weird audio issues.
You can also run the built-in Playing Audio troubleshooter in Windows 10 and 11.
- Open Settings > System > Troubleshoot.
- Locate the “Playing Audio” troubleshooting tool.
- Click run and follow the prompts to diagnose driver and sound issues.
Closing Up
Try these steps to prevent Discord from messing with volumes and causing distortion. Let me know if the problems continue!
