Audacity does not recognize headphones [Advice Given]

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DOLZ
Posts: 222
Joined: December 12th, 2020, 12:27 pm
Location: Central Illinois

Post by DOLZ »

Audacity does not recognize external device (headphones)

I once heard it said (likely Phil) that it is good practice to have all your devices plugged in ‘before’ you start Audacity.

In my example, I recorded random sound then plugged in headphones to listen. The sound came from the device speakers. I thought not following the rule of plugging in all devices before starting Audacity was the issue. Not this time. I looked at Audacity and saw the default setting for the device was ‘speakers'. When I tried the dropdown, it did not work. There were no other options so I looked it up on the internet and found the solution from Audacityteam:

With Audacity running, plug in external device (headphones). Check the dropdown for 'external devices' for any choice besides ’speakers’. In this scenario, this will be the only option available.

The simple solution
From the Audacity toolbar, go to ’Transport’, then on that list select ‘Rescan Audio Devices’. There is no feedback that this rescan happened so just try the dropdown for external devices again and now your headphones should be in the list. Select your headphones then listen.

Taking it a step further, I exited out of Audacity and restarted it. The option was still there. Next I rebooted my device, restarted Audacity and the option was still there. I wasn’t able to figure out the answer to the question of ‘why’ this happens but the solution seems to be a long-term fix.

I hope this helps. Thanks.

Adapted from “forum.audacityteam.org”
I bravely venture down those roads less traveled but not without applying sunblock first :wink:
MichaelMaggs
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Joined: April 27th, 2012, 1:10 am
Location: UK
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Post by MichaelMaggs »

Thanks that's really helpful - I've always restarted Audacity when it wasn't able to see the headphones. This Transport | Rescan audio devices option is much quicker and easier.
mightyfelix
LibriVox Admin Team
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Post by mightyfelix »

I believe how it works (and this is just my guess) is that when you start Audacity initially, it scans for any input/output devices you may have hooked up. If you hook something up after it is open, it won't realize it on its own. So you need to prompt it to scan again. You can do this by shutting down Audacity and opening it again, yes, but I agree that the "Rescan devices" command is so much faster and more efficient. Once you know it's there, it's a lifesaver.
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