I'm having this directional sound issue as well, started for me with the Apex update before the most recent one releasing season 3. If I'm not looking at whatever is generating the sound I can barely hear it, or not at all. It has been every game, and begins immediately when the game starts. The voice overs when leaving the ship are garbled and not at all right. It's like you're wearing a cone around your face and can only hear what's in your FoV.
If anyone is on Windows 10, it was actually Microsoft that caused this problem:
https://www.neowin.net/news/latest-windows-10-update-is-apparently-also-breaking-audio-in-games/
Roll back to a previous Windows 10 build and audio should work fine.
