Audio Empty Scene + Audio Source + Audio Listener = Silence?!

I am running into trouble with the most basic audio set up:

My scene is a brand new, empty scene with a default camera + audio listener set up. I've added an audio source with a looping sound near the camera.

• Audio listener
  • Positioned at 0, 1, -10
  • Enabled
• Audio source is
  • Positioned at 0, 0, 0
  • Audio Clip: Loopable white noise
    
  • Output: None/Master (New Audio Mixer) (Neither option made a difference.)
    
  • Mute: Off
  • Bypass Effects: On
  • Bypass Listener Effects: N/A
  • Bypass Reverb Zones: On
  • Play On Awake: On
    
  • Loop: On
  • Priority: Default (128)
  • Volume of 100%
  • Pitch of 100%
  • Stereo Pan: 0 (No left/right bias)
  • Spacial blend: 100% 2D.
  • Reverb Zone Mix: 0%
  • Doppler Level: 0%
  • Volume Roloff: Log, Range 400-500
• Audio Clip
  • Generated white noise
  • Audible when played in the editor by clicking the file in the project view.
• Windows' audio mixer does not have the editor muted. When clicking on the audio file in the project view, the audio file can be heard in the inspector.
• Using an Audio Mixer did not make a difference in audability. However, while used, the Audio Mixer displayed activity in the "Master" audio visualization (peaking at -10 dB). All settings on the audio mixer are set to their defaults.

This is probably the least complicated scenario to troubleshoot audio with, yet the only way I can hear audio is through the editor's audio inspection when clicking on a audio file. I'm kinda baffled, help would be appreciated.

I've recently moved onto Unity 2019 after working in Unity 5.6. If a new feature was introduced which broke the previous audio workflow, I'm not aware of it.

 

It turns out, there's a new... feature... where by default audio is muted in the editor. To unmute it, you have to find the Game view and unclick the easy-to-miss-if-you-don't-know-where-to-look "Mute Audio" button.

>_> Why is this muted by default...?