Audio acts like karaoke

My grandson, who is 12 years of age, is not all that computer/Internet savvy and has apparently managed to bollix up the audio on this PC. Music from CD’s, YouTube, etc. plays, but you can’t hear the voices. I am told that this is how karaoke is done; karaoke machines and/or karaoke software somehow reduce the volume of the vocals so that most of what is heard is the instruments. Does anyone out there have a clue as to how I can remedy this situation?

If it matters, if I go into “Settings/Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Audio/Volume” then slide the “Wave” balance to either the extreme left or the extreme right, the sound plays OK. This has no effect on the actual balance, however, all the sound comes from the “center”.

The machine is a Dell Inspiron 530s running XP Home with SP3. The audio is Realtek High Definition Audio, onboard the motherboard.

Thanks for any help.
Grampa Dave

Go to Sounds and Audio Devices in Control Panel. On the Realtek conrol panel there should be a Sound Effect tab wherein you will find an equalizer and Karaoke controls.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/f...ame=c00377375#

Thanks. The problem was that "karaoke mode" was set on in the Realtek HD Audio Manager. I clicked off the "X" and all is well now.