I can barely hear the sound the effects if they are right up my face and staring at it at head level, but can't hear the sound effect below head level when staring at it. I can sort of counter this by turning about 90 degrees to the left or right, but the problem still occurs if the sound effect is about 2 or 3 blocks away. This is the best I can explain the problem. Also the menus are completely fine.
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Cleaning up old tickets: This ticket has not been updated recently (~1 year+) so is being closed as Cannot Reproduce. If you feel this is still a valid issue then please comment, or create a new ticket following the Issue Guidelines.
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Since there have been no other reports of such a problem, we should first check whether it's caused by something outside the game. In Windows 10, especially on an OEM-built PC (like a Dell or HP system), you may have additional audio software that tweaks your sound for different kinds of programs such as games. Look for a folder in your Start menu for some kind of audio management software with the manufacturer's name. If you have it, open it and look for something like "presets" or "profiles". If you find the latter, try changing the setting and see if it affects the in-game sounds.
A common problem that can cause issues like this is if your computer's sounds settings don't match your actual speaker or headphone configuration well, for example if the computer is set for Surround Sound but if you only have a single pair of (front) speakers. For that matter, if your front speakers are plugged into a port intended for rear speakers, that could cause exactly the sort of problem you describe.
Try opening your Windows settings, searching for Sound settings, and reviewing your sound card's settings. You may see something that doesn't look right, that you could try changing to see if it helps.