I can barely hear other people during videoconferencing

Question

On a brand new Windows 10 laptop, when I connect to people with videoconferencing tools, I can barely hear them when I use the laptop's built-in speakers. They can hear me and see me and I can see them, but I can only hear a faint whisper from their side, even if my speakers are at full volume. I initially thought there was no sound at all, but there is in fact a very faint whisper, too soft for me to make anything out.

I have exactly the same problem with Skype, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and Zoom; in all cases I have explicitly configured my laptop speakers correctly as the correct output source. When I do a test with these applications, I typically here an initial beep or brief sound, and then the sound cuts out. My speakers work perfectly fine with any other application (e.g. YouTube, Windows Media Player, etc.); I only have this problem when I am videoconferencing.

Answer 1

I finally ran the audio troubleshooter: Start > Settings > System > Sound > Troubleshoot. It gave me the hint that resolved the issue: I disabled audio enhancements on my laptop speakers and that did the trick

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel, then select it from the results.
2. Select Hardware and Sound from the Control Panel, and then select Sound.
3. On the Playback tab, right-click the Default Device, and then select Properties.
4. On the Enhancements tab, select either the Disable all enhancements or the Disable all sound effects check box (depending on which option you see), select OK, and try to play your audio device.
5. If that doesn't work, on the Playback tab, select another default device (if you have one), select either the Disable all enhancements or the Disable all sound effects check box (depending on which option you see), select OK, and try to play audio again. Do this for each default device.