diff --git a/src/audio/directsound/SDL_directsound.c b/src/audio/directsound/SDL_directsound.c
index 432e740f80..74fc522be4 100644
--- a/src/audio/directsound/SDL_directsound.c
+++ b/src/audio/directsound/SDL_directsound.c
@@ -647,7 +647,7 @@ static SDL_bool DSOUND_Init(SDL_AudioDriverImpl *impl)
     }
 
 #ifdef HAVE_MMDEVICEAPI_H
-    SupportsIMMDevice = !(SDL_IMMDevice_Init() < 0);
+    SupportsIMMDevice = !(SDL_IMMDevice_Init(NULL) < 0);
 #endif
 
     impl->DetectDevices = DSOUND_DetectDevices;
diff --git a/src/audio/wasapi/SDL_wasapi_win32.c b/src/audio/wasapi/SDL_wasapi_win32.c
index 19dfbd4d9b..b695154518 100644
--- a/src/audio/wasapi/SDL_wasapi_win32.c
+++ b/src/audio/wasapi/SDL_wasapi_win32.c
@@ -48,11 +48,22 @@ static SDL_bool immdevice_initialized = SDL_FALSE;
 // Some GUIDs we need to know without linking to libraries that aren't available before Vista.
 static const IID SDL_IID_IAudioClient = { 0x1cb9ad4c, 0xdbfa, 0x4c32, { 0xb1, 0x78, 0xc2, 0xf5, 0x68, 0xa7, 0x03, 0xb2 } };
 
+static int mgmtthrtask_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged(void *userdata)
+{
+    SDL_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged((SDL_AudioDevice *) userdata);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static void WASAPI_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged(SDL_AudioDevice *new_default_device)
+{
+    WASAPI_ProxyToManagementThread(mgmtthrtask_DetectDevices, new_default_device, NULL);  // don't wait on this, IMMDevice's own thread needs to return or everything will deadlock.
+}
+
 int WASAPI_PlatformInit(void)
 {
     if (FAILED(WIN_CoInitialize())) {
         return SDL_SetError("CoInitialize() failed");
-    } else if (SDL_IMMDevice_Init() < 0) {
+    } else if (SDL_IMMDevice_Init(WASAPI_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged) < 0) {
         return -1; // Error string is set by SDL_IMMDevice_Init
     }
 
diff --git a/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.c b/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.c
index 780eff40dd..583c71ff2e 100644
--- a/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.c
+++ b/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ static const ERole SDL_IMMDevice_role = eConsole; /* !!! FIXME: should this be e
 
 /* This is global to the WASAPI target, to handle hotplug and default device lookup. */
 static IMMDeviceEnumerator *enumerator = NULL;
+static SDL_IMMDevice_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged devchangecallback = NULL;
 
 /* PropVariantInit() is an inline function/macro in PropIdl.h that calls the C runtime's memset() directly. Use ours instead, to avoid dependency. */
 #ifdef PropVariantInit
@@ -204,7 +205,9 @@ static ULONG STDMETHODCALLTYPE SDLMMNotificationClient_Release(IMMNotificationCl
 static HRESULT STDMETHODCALLTYPE SDLMMNotificationClient_OnDefaultDeviceChanged(IMMNotificationClient *iclient, EDataFlow flow, ERole role, LPCWSTR pwstrDeviceId)
 {
     if (role == SDL_IMMDevice_role) {
-        SDL_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged(SDL_IMMDevice_FindByDevID(pwstrDeviceId));
+        if (devchangecallback) {
+            devchangecallback(SDL_IMMDevice_FindByDevID(pwstrDeviceId));
+        }
     }
     return S_OK;
 }
@@ -273,7 +276,7 @@ static const IMMNotificationClientVtbl notification_client_vtbl = {
 
 static SDLMMNotificationClient notification_client = { &notification_client_vtbl, { 1 } };
 
-int SDL_IMMDevice_Init(void)
+int SDL_IMMDevice_Init(SDL_IMMDevice_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged devchanged)
 {
     HRESULT ret;
 
@@ -291,6 +294,9 @@ int SDL_IMMDevice_Init(void)
         WIN_CoUninitialize();
         return WIN_SetErrorFromHRESULT("IMMDevice CoCreateInstance(MMDeviceEnumerator)", ret);
     }
+
+    devchangecallback = devchanged ? devchanged : SDL_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged;
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -302,6 +308,8 @@ void SDL_IMMDevice_Quit(void)
         enumerator = NULL;
     }
 
+    devchangecallback = NULL;
+
     WIN_CoUninitialize();
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.h b/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.h
index a190a7cf84..0b64d2f556 100644
--- a/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.h
+++ b/src/core/windows/SDL_immdevice.h
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@
 
 typedef struct SDL_AudioDevice SDL_AudioDevice; // this is defined in src/audio/SDL_sysaudio.h
 
-int SDL_IMMDevice_Init(void);
+typedef void (*SDL_IMMDevice_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged)(SDL_AudioDevice *new_default_device);
+
+int SDL_IMMDevice_Init(SDL_IMMDevice_DefaultAudioDeviceChanged devchanged);
 void SDL_IMMDevice_Quit(void);
 int SDL_IMMDevice_Get(SDL_AudioDevice *device, IMMDevice **immdevice, SDL_bool iscapture);
 void SDL_IMMDevice_EnumerateEndpoints(SDL_AudioDevice **default_output, SDL_AudioDevice **default_capture);