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I listen to Pandora (via Chrome on Windows 10) when working. When I adjust the volume using the popup controller in the system tray, I get a notification sound, presumably to signal the change and also to give me a sample of the new volume. This is fine.

What's not fine is that the background audio is muted for several seconds. I've tried changing the setting in Sounds control panel on the Communications tab; it's set to "Do nothing". This has had no effect.

Is there a way to disable this, so that Windows stops muting my audio when it wants to play a notification sound?

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  • I think I have, I uninstalled Skype after finding a reference else where to it having a similar effect when a call comes in. Since then it seems like it is fixed, but will need another day or two to be 100% sure.
    – Rob
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 3:04
  • Please turn this into an answer if it's actually a solution!
    – kevin.matheny
    Commented Mar 12, 2018 at 14:04
  • Well, it's almost a solution, it works for windows notifications, But I still find chrome audio stops if I make another tab do some heavy lifting. Like if I am watching youtube, and open a gmail tab in another chrome window the sound will still pause for a bit, but at least it doen't also pause for any other windows or pop ups. I dont know why, it doesn't do it on my 8 year old pc, just my new one which is about 6 times the power of the old one.
    – Rob
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 4:23

4 Answers 4

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Seems like it's a Skype issue. Finally, I've found a solution. In your sound settings in Control Panel uncheck the checkbox "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device."

Settings

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  • 3
    I would kiss you, but my government discourages that. Your solution worked like a charm in this working-at-home situation
    – Marleen Schilt
    Commented Mar 24, 2020 at 14:02
  • This did NOT work for Microsoft Teams notifications
    – Ryan Williams
    Commented Jan 25, 2021 at 0:27
  • This did also NOT work for alarm clock notifications
    – Iziminza
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 16:28
  • 1
    This worked for me on Win11 with Slack. Thank you!
    – Jonathan Johansen
    Commented Jun 29, 2023 at 22:55
  • Note that you need to do this for ALL output devices you use. I variably use bluetooth, audio out, speaker array, etc
    – Deanna
    Commented Aug 22, 2023 at 12:45
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I think I found a solution. Right click on the sound icon in the taskbar -> Sounds -> Communications tab -> select the last option: "do nothing"

see this image

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  • 1
    I put " I've tried changing the setting in Sounds control panel on the Communications tab; it's set to "Do nothing". This has had no effect." in the original post. I've tried this. It does nothing.
    – kevin.matheny
    Commented May 30, 2018 at 18:25
  • This worked for me for Microsoft Teams notifications.
    – Ryan Williams
    Commented Jan 25, 2021 at 0:27
  • This also did NOT work for alarm clock notifications.
    – Iziminza
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 16:28
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To resolve application alerts interrupting music playback from Apps such as Pandora, press the [Windows] key and type “Notifications and Actions”. When the dialog opens, continue below...

  1. To globally suppress all Application notification alerts (which ), look in the "Notifications" subsection and uncheck “Allow Notification to play sounds”.
  2. To more discreetly suppress specific trouble-maker-Apps' notifications, look in the "Get notifications from these senders" subsection and turn off notifications from selected Apps. Resulting settings for 'Allow Notification to play sounds'
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  • 1
    Like OP, I want the notifications to appear and play a sound, but not to mute other sounds while playing. Temporarily, I am using this suboptimal solution to prevent alarm clock notifications from muting my other audio...
    – Iziminza
    Commented Jun 21, 2023 at 16:30
-1

Try unistalling Skype, downloading an installer that says just "for Windows" (NOT for Windows 10, because that will go through Windows Store), and installing that.

Apps installed through Windows Store do not respect system settings. :(

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    Be careful with where you source the installer; you should only install from Microsoft's official website: skype.com
    – Joseph
    Commented Mar 3, 2019 at 1:03
  • The original post doesn't mention Skype. I can't envision a way that uninstalling and reinstalling a completely unrelated app would help.
    – kevin.matheny
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 19:14

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