Microsoft has confirmed that the company’s latest cumulative update for Windows 10 version 1903 causes audio issues in games.

In a support document, Microsoft says that after installing cumulative update KB4515384 on some devices running Windows 10 version 1903, or May 2019 Update, users might experience quieter or what the company calls different audio than expected.

The bug was reported by users shortly after KB4515384 was released to the first devices as part of the September 10 Patch Tuesday cycle.

Microsoft explains that this cumulative update indeed brings changes requested by partners, and these are the culprit of the audio issues hitting Windows 10 version 1903 devices.

“At the request of some of our audio partners, we implemented a compatibility change that enabled certain games to query support and render multi-channel audio. Due to customer feedback, we are reverting this change as some games and some devices are not rendering multi-channel audio as expected. This may result in games sounding different than customers are used to and may have missing channels,” Microsoft explains.
"Fix coming later this month"

The company adds that it has already started the work on a fix, and it should be finalized in late September. Most likely, the bug would be resolved in the next non-security cumulative update rollout due later this month.

Meanwhile, users can turn to a manual workaround that involves disabling multi-channel audio or Virtual Surround Sound on their devices.

“To mitigate the issue, open settings in the impacted game and disable multi-channel audio, if this option is available. You can also search in the Windows Control Panel for 3rd party audio device control panels and disable Multi-channel audio or Virtual Surround Sound, if these options are available,” Microsoft recommends.

Windows 10 version 1903 is the only version affected by this bug.