My speakers have always muted(as they should) when I stick my head phones into them. Now they do not. I my family would think less of me hearing AIRMAN WILL NOT DIE, but I need it to win at SC.

What could be causing my speakers not to mute? I'm sure there's a way to enable this kind of behavior or purpose, so if I can get to that spot I should be able to reverse it.

Do your headphones work if they are plugged into your speaker?

It may be a loose connection in your speaker and a simple soldering job should fix that -- but an easier way is just to plug your headphones directly into the computer and not the speaker!

I wasn't clear. It's a laptop and I am plugging it directly into the computer. Yes, the headphones do work when I plug them in. I've tried 2 diff headphones with the same result; sound in pc speakers+headphones.

Maybe some setting for the audio device was changed. Some allow you to configure it through the software either to play through both or only one or the other. Did you change any audio settings or update the driver sometime recently?

I'm pretty sure that's what happened.
what?
I haven't, but I also haven't used headphones recently. I think I might have changed a setting a long while back, but if I could remember what it was exactly that I changed I'd have changed it back already.

I think "some" means "some audio settings."

No, I mean some audio devices have that setting, some don't. It just depends on what the hardware is capable of and what options its configuration utility has. If it has its own configuration utility, sometimes it will be in the Windows control panel (Realtek audio does this, for example).

After a bunch of tinkering I noticed something. There's a setting asking you what your setup is closest too. I had it incorrectly set to external speakers. (something I could see myself changing a long time ago)
After switching it back, headphones now work(mutes pc speakers).