I can't find anything about it in any of the other forums.
I installed the game and played through the first seventeen missions or so without any problem. It worked beautifully. What a terrific game!
Now, though, most of the in-mission speech cuts off after the first half-second or so. Like, the speaker's face animation appears and the speech starts, but then cuts out almost immediately, along with the animation, as if the transmission had finished.
It's too bad because it really takes away from the immersion of the game. It's an irritating glitch but not a game-breaker.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Was this with FS1 or FS2? If FS2, try FreeSpace Open (installation instructions at http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,47640.0.html ). If FS1, and if you still own FS2, try FSPort (installation instructions and download links at http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,58357.0.html ).

It's Freespace 2. Freespace Open is all well and good, and I fully intend to use it after I've played the game through once. The thing is, this started happening more than halfway into the game. It was absolutely fine before, but now even the first few missions suffer from the problem.
I'd just like to figure out what the problem is.
Has nobody else experienced this?

Well, if FSO works, you may just want to use it. I don't know what causes this problem, but if FSO fixes it, why not use it? If you use just the FSO game engine, the graphics and other aspects won't be changed.

Actually, I just tried using FSO, and I've got worse problems with that than with the retail version. Won't play at all.
So...nobody else has had this happen? Weird...