16.04 How to fix mplayer which suddenly went silent after automatic software update

mplayer has been working for a long time, until a recent automatic software update with a system restart.

Now it makes no sound but otherwise looks normal.

Command is:

mplayer Ding.mp3

On the terminal screen it still looks the same, counting as it plays, yet there is no sound.

Did the usual manual commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade    (and it did some upgrading)
sudo apt-get autoremove

Yet no difference. It looks fine but makes no sound.

Tried this:

sudo apt-get install mplayer

and it told me it was already the latest version.

Interestingly, espeak is still working fine:

Example:

espeak "System backup script is starting"   (in a cron script)

comes through loud and clear.

So the hourly cron script in question, which looks like this:

mplayer Ding.mp3
echo "\`$(date +%-I)\` O'Clock!" | espeak 

is silent for a couple of seconds then says "4 O'Clock"

when up until today it used to first ding then announce the hour

The problem seems to be specific to mplayer and it does not matter whether it is in cron or in the terminal.

Question: In Ubuntu 16.04 How to fix mplayer which suddenly went silent after automatic software update?