i t turns out, the problem was i had the music off! lol previously i had been doing a quest and couldn't hear what a character was saying, so went to Settings > Audio > Music and turned the bottom slider to the far left to turn it off. i had simply forgot to put it back up again!
So to anyone who, like me, thought you had lost the 'chanting dramatic voices' when absorbing a dragon soul or reading a new shout from the word wall, check your audio settings!
It's Settings > Audio > Music (the bottom slider)
