Windows 7 lowers applications' volume automatically

Question

Every time I run some of my games, if the media player is open and playing, Windows 7 lowers the volume of both applications (the game and the player). All other applications are not affected. I tried foobar and winamp, combined with several games, and it happened everytime, which makes me think it's a Windows 7 thing.

The volume goes down to unhearable levels (usually 3 or 4), and I'm forced to alt+tab, open the volume mixer, and increase both volumes manually every time.

This also doesn't look like a bug, but some kind of feature. When it happens, the little bar in the volume mixer that shows each application's volume level gets a little transparent (but stays in it's regular position), while a new one appears and tells the new volume.

Anyone know what's causing this?

(The games ran from steam, in case it matters)

Answer 1

It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Windows 7 automatically lowers speaker volume when it detects communication activity (A microphone-enabled game for example). You can turn this off though.

• Navigate to:

Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sound -> Audio properties -> Communications tab

• Select Do Nothing from the dropdown box. Apply & OK.

Answer 2

Turning that off wasn't an option for me, vent uses those settings for "ducking" options. If you enable ducking in vent then it will use those options to drop the volume of anything else that's playing whenever you or someone else talks. Makes listening to music while chatting in vent much more viable. Also helps with the fact that I use an open mic instead of a headset.

I found that running various applications affected "as an admin" cures the problem. For instance, Foobar2000 and Ventrilo, when run as admin do not cause permanent volume loss due to this windows feature in my experience.