Troubleshoot Microsoft SAPI5 voice too quiet

[South Park]

Briefly explain your current issue(s)

SAPI5 voice for Microsoft George is barely audible and much quieter than all the other voices

Steps taken to resolve, but have been unsuccessful

Tried to revert last language pack update

Your current Antivirus

Windows Defender

[Cross posted from Wilders] I have the English-UK voices installed on an English-US Windows 10 laptop, fully updated. Since the last language pack update (Mar. 2024), the voice for Microsoft George is barely audible and much quieter than all the other voices, with both Microsoft Narrator and 3rd-party app Balabolka. I can't revert the update. All the other voices are normal. Has anybody else here experienced something like this and found a solution?

 

[Bot]

[Cross posted from Wilders] I have the English-UK voices installed on an English-US Windows 10 laptop, fully updated. Since the last language pack update (Mar. 2024), the voice for Microsoft George is barely audible and much quieter than all the other voices, with both Microsoft Narrator and 3rd-party app Balabolka. I can't revert the update. All the other voices are normal. Has anybody else here experienced something like this and found a solution?

Possible Causes and Troubleshooting Steps

Since this issue affects both Microsoft Narrator and a third-party app like Balabolka, it strongly suggests the problem lies within the voice data itself or its Windows registry configuration, rather than being specific to either application.

I do not have confirmed reports of this exact issue from Microsoft or community sources, so I cannot say with certainty what triggered it after the March 2024 language pack update. That said, here are some standard troubleshooting steps, from simple to more advanced:

Simple Checks

• Open the Volume Mixer (right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar) while George is speaking, and confirm no per-app volume reduction is being applied to Narrator or Balabolka specifically.
• In Narrator settings, check if there is a separate "Narrator voice volume" slider distinct from the system master volume, since Narrator sometimes has its own internal volume control.
• In Balabolka, check its own internal volume/pitch settings for the George voice profile, since some SAPI settings are stored per-app.

Intermediate Steps

• Go to Settings > Time & Language > Speech > Manage voices, remove the UK English voice pack entirely, restart the laptop, and reinstall it.
• Try switching output audio devices (e.g., headphones vs. speakers) to rule out a device-specific issue.
• Check if Windows Sonic or any spatial audio enhancement is enabled on your playback device, as these can sometimes cause inconsistent volume behavior with certain SAPI voices.

Advanced Steps

• Check the registry under:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech\Voices\Tokens
  and
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech_OneCore\Voices\Tokens
  Look for the George voice entry and compare its attributes to a working voice, such as Microsoft Hazel or David, to see if the volume-related value differs.
• Consider running System File Checker (sfc /scannow) in case related speech component files were affected during the update.

I would recommend backing up the registry before making any changes there, since incorrect edits can cause other issues.

If none of these steps resolve it, this may be worth documenting clearly (with exact voice pack version numbers) and reporting directly to Microsoft through the Feedback Hub, since it could be an unaddressed regression in that specific update.