OS: Win10 Pro
PsychoPy version: 2024.1.0 and 2024.1.4
Standard Standalone? (y/n): yes
An experiment that worked well in PsychoPy v2023.2.4 suddenly gives us a head-ache after an update to 2024.1.0, specifically for sound when the experiment is run on an external monitor. We noted a number of bugs with reaction times in 2024.1.0 and further updated to 2024.1.4 but the sound issue remains.
Here is what is wrong: The experiment behaves well overall, except for sound. Without the ext monitor attached all is perfect, all sounds play. When the ext monitor is attached, no sounds play. This problem never occured in v2023.2.3 where the task was developed, and it started with v2024.1.0 and remains in v2024.1.4.
We made sure the problem is the monitor since the problem only ever arises when it is attached. The task runs through without any errors and or warnings given out due to sound problems.
We made sure sound behaves well on this machine with and without an ext monitor outside of PaychoPy and all works perfectly. The issue is limited to sound through PsychoPy.
To make sure the problem is not caused by anything in the experiment that is not directly related to the sound issue, like some code snippets, or the (reading of) audio files, we created a new plain experiment that consists simply in playing a single pure tone sound generated in PsychoPy by defining a sound routine with duration 1.0s and Sound = A. We reproduce the problem above.
Changing “device” in the sound routine does not help. Changing the audio library pr latency prio in the global settings does not work due to an Error that the other audio backends are not available and PsychoPy falls back to ptb.
Hi there,
I seem to have the exact same problem (PsychoPy v2025 though). When I run the experiment on an external monitor connected to my computer via a HDMI cable, there is no sound at all! Did you manage to fix the bug?
Many thanks in advance!
Kindly,
Lea
Hi @leakosm,
We went back to v2023.2.3 and used this for our study and did not try to get to the bottom of the issue. I am now quite hesitant to adopt a new version too soon as they usually come with bugs. Too bad to hear that you still experience the same issue in v2025.
Hello
Does the OS recognise the monitor as a sound device?
Best wishes Jens
Thanks for letting me know!
Hi @JensBoelte, yes; but even with correct output settings (on my computer and in PsychoPy, the external monitor “overrides” any other selected output. For the purpose of our experiment, it’s fine if we just use the headphones connected to the external monitor, but I haven’t been able to figure out how we could use anything else, e.g. another external speaker.
Thanks!
Hello @leakosm
It’s good that you found a way to conduct your experiment.
Win 11 has a tendency to automatically switch to the external monitor.
You could try disabling the monitor’s audio output. Press Win+R, type mmsys.cpl, go to the Playback tab, right-click the HDMI/monitor entry, and select Disable. Windows will then no longer be able to switch to it automatically. However, remember to turn it back on if you want to use the monitor as an output device.
If it keeps reverting: Windows sometimes reactivates devices when they are reconnected. The free tool SoundSwitch can handle this and also lets you assign a hotkey for quick switching.
The mmsys.cpl disable method is the most robust long-term solution.
Best wishes, Jens
That’s very helpful, I’ll try it out and report back. Thank you very much!
Best regards,
Lea