I'm running Kubuntu 21.10. Earlier today I had sound playing through my Bluetooth headphones. But I was also experimenting, trying to figure out how to play sound through my hearing aids (not at the same time, of course). In the course of my experiments. I changed a setting, with the result that I can no longer play sound through the headphones. pavucontrol no longer shows Bluetooth as a possible output choice. The headphones are paired and connected. I know the problem is simple--nothing to do with configuration files or anything like that. It's just a matter of redirecting the sound to the right place. So how can I get the headphones working again?
Update 1: I solved the problem of the headphones not showing up in the volume control: I needed to do a cold restart. I don't know why that was necessary, though.
But I'm still not out of the woods. The headphones are muted, and the volume control shows that they are muted. But clicking on the mute icon for the headphones doesn't unmute them. I don't yet know why it doesn't.
Update 2: In trying to solve the problem, I switched from pavucontrol to pipewire, since that's what all the cool kids seem to be using. I still can't unmute, but now there's another dimension of the problem.
Update 3: I think pipewire, at least in its present state, has been oversold. I don't think I'm the only one to be unable to get to work with Bluetooth headphones. I don't need to remove it, only deactivate it so pavucontrol, which I never removed, can take over again.
