Audio and Playback Issues

Fortunately I don't think I've ever had to write in this forum because this software is so well made and this forum is so helpful. However, I have looked into this issue on this forum and others and still have found no repeatable or long-term solutions.

The Problem: Seemingly at random, Musescore will stop producing audio when I click on a note. If I press play in the playback bar or panel, the play button lights up but no audio is produced and the trackhead-highlight thingy does not move.

This has occurred at random points during a session, on scores of varying lengths, with anywhere from 1 to 21 instruments, from as long as 30 or 40 minutes into a session, to as short as the beginning of the session.

On occasion, upon opening a score and immediately pressing play, the score will begin to play with a grainy, warped, poor-quality audio for the first few bars and then either proceed normally (sometimes after pausing and then resuming) or stop playing entirely (at which point the program goes into the state described above).

I may be projecting onto the issue, but I do believe that it has increased in its frequency over the past few months. As of the past two weeks I don't believe I've had a session where the issue doesn't occur at some point. This has all occurred over various updates of Musescore 3 (it never happened with 1 or 2).

Troubleshooting: I have tried changing the audio output in the preferences of Musescore. This has never worked. Most often, during the issue, there are no options available in the dropdown for input. I tried restarting my computers audio drivers as well as reinstalling them and tried different options. None of these affected the problem and my computer never was able to come up with a solution.

Current Solution: Currently I have one foolproof solution: restarting my computer. This takes a good 5 to 15 minutes and much longer if it needs to update. Thusly, it is not ideal. Sometimes restarting Musescore fixes the problem. Other times, it does not.

Musescore or Computer: After research it appeared to me that it was a problem with my audio drivers (hence why I tried reinstalling and restarting them). I'm still not sure if that's the case, since I can always get other programs to make sound when Musescore will not. About 3 or 4 times over the past several months (since the problem began), I've experienced similar issues with two other programs (a computer game and Youtube through Google Chrome). However, their rarity compared to Musescore's constant dysfunction leads me to believe that if they are connected, it is loosely, and that Musescore is presenting its own self-contained problem. I've also considered that it could be a problem with my computer that the particular program of Musescore agitates.

I am a composition major at college and compose and arrange for a regularly gigging band. Despite my peers and professors urging me to use Finale, I still persist in my appreciation and belief in Musescore (and what it stands for), and thusly, it is the only program I use for my studies and work. This issue has me at my wits end. It makes composing without a piano (something I have to do on a regular basis) difficult and cumbersome, and less desirable. I need to find some sort of solution quickly because it is eroding away ever so slowly at my work and education.

I know this is a long-winded and wide problem, and I don't know much about computers, so if this is not a proper forum for this problem I apologize. Any help I can get is greatly appreciated. Please let me know what files or pictures I should upload if any.