I noticed this issue started (for me) with the latest Mint update, and I thought the fix was worth sharing.
Originally found at this URL, I've condensed it a bit for readability: https://itsfoss.com/buzzing-noise-speaker-linux/
The problem is that often when audio starts playing, it fades in with a loud buzzing noise.
The root cause of the issue is because of capacitor discharge in the speakers, and it can be solved by turning off the power-saving setting of a sound card. By turning off power saving, you are allowing the system to constantly keep the sound card powered up (the normal state).
You can check whether the power-saving setting for the sound card is enabled on your system by using the given command (this may or may not need to be run as root):
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cat /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
if you get "1" as the output, then power saving is turned on. Switch to the root user:
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sudo su
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echo 0 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
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echo 0 > /sys/module/snd_usb_audio/parameters/power_save
All this requires is for you make a minor change in kernel parameters. Change your working directory to:
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cd /etc/modprobe.d
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sudo nano audio_disable_powersave.conf
Hope this helps someone; it drove me bonkers until I found this fix.