This is a problem I've had for months and months on end now, and it's such a major problem that's it's beginning to ruin my gaming experience.

On my Oblivion for PC, I can't hear character's speaking.

All of my sound settings on the control panel are full, my speakers are on and at a suitable level and my in-game options sounds are all maxed out.

When I speak to a character directly, I can't hear them speak. I can just see their lips moving and read the subtitles across the bottom of the screen.

However, when I walk past a character, I can hear them with their common dialogue such as 'Oh, it's you..Hi.' - 'You have my ear, Citizen' etc, etc.

I tried to record the footage with Fraps in hopes of uploading it to YouTube to see if anybody there knew what the problem was, but when I looked at the video afterwards, I could hear my characters speaking!

It's an incredible mystery, but it's totally killing my gaming experience. I can't hear characters when I speak to them, but when I record the footage and watch it back I can hear them. When I walk past them without speaking to them, I can hear them.

Anybody got any ideas on how to fix this problem? It's been going on for so long, I'd love to get it fixed.

I'm using a 32-bit OS and a Realtek HD Audio Driver that's at the highest version and doesn't need updating.

Please, help?