Although I followed meticulously all that is suggested in this (IMO, the best Website to Date, in terms of numerous alternative 'checks' to try, to resolve the problem) none has succeeded. Thank you all the same, Raju, for the exhaustive pointer.
'Sound' problems seem so widespread one might hink there just has to be a better way to infuse the OS with a common sound set-up.
Excuse the off-thread remark, but getting Windows + P on my HP to work with my external IiYama only (bottom choice) has proven equally impossible and I'm on the latest 22H2 22621.755, as I write). And meanwhile the inability to expunge mis-typed email addresses remains unresolved too. All major issues, IMO).