Why have I lost the sound on my Sharp Aquos?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve suddenly lost the sound on my Sharp Aquos TV.

When I push the volume control, I get the normal bar that moves to show the volume level, but I also get a little icon on the sound bar that looks like a cable jack. Normally there’s on of those little volume speaker icons.

I assume that means a cable has come unplugged, so I unplugged and plugged back in all the cables from my cable box, but still the same.

And, I get the same problem with Apple TV, which doesn’t depend on the cable box.

The only thing I can think of is that I was fidgeting with the closed caption function on the TV, and somehow managed to turn off the sound?

2

It appears you’ve routed sound to an external device rather than the speakers

“When “Output Select” is set to “Variable”, the indicator on the screen changes as shown below…”
Picture of a jack as you describe…

“Allows you to select what controls the audio output.
Fixed: Sound via speaker is adjusted with VOL k / l on the remote control unit or on the TV.
Sound via the AUDIO OUT terminal is not adjustable and outputs at a consistent level.
Variable: Sound via the AUDIO OUT terminal is adjusted with VOL k / l on the remote control unit or on the TV. Sound via speaker is muted”

3

That was it, thanks! Changed the setting and sound is back.