Salbug
Description
Whenever you unplug and then re-plug any USB device—especially the one your audio listening device is connected to—VRChat loses
world
audio. All non-world audio (Other users, avatar audio, menu sounds) continues unaffected. The only fix is to completely rejoin the world.
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Steps to Reproduce
  1. Launch VRChat and join any populated world.
  2. Verify you can hear other users and ambient world sounds.
  3. Unplug a USB device (e.g. your audio interface or another USB peripheral).
  4. Wait ~5 seconds, then plug it back in.
  5. Observe that world audio is now silent.
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Actual Result
*
World audio
: completely dead.
*
Other audio
(Menu sounds, other users, avatar audio): still playing.
---
Expected Result
Reconnecting a USB device should
not
terminate world audio. All sounds should continue seamlessly.
---
Workaround
Rejoining the world restores world audio.
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Additional Comments
In my case, the main USB hub most of my peripherals are connected to including my headphones occasionally disconnects and reconnects and this is when I notice the issue occurring. The issue seems to only occur in Desktop, not sure about VR.