Delay in Sound Processing

In the question section of the card using Ctrl-S to insert HTML with relative address of an MP3 file in a folder immediately below .mnemosyne - standard direction as far as I know - I am not getting consistent timing response in the performance of the sound when the card / dialog box is presented. More than 30% of the time, the sound is delayed for more than 10 seconds with no visual cue that anything is awry.

I'd like to identify a process or workaround so that card visuals and sounds are presented immediately and simultaneously.

Notes:
1) The problem doesn't appear to be linked to individual cards - the same card can work one time but not the next.
2) Sometimes, the delay will stack up sounds and suddenly as many as five cards worth of sound in immediate succession will commence, often with clipping and what I think of as MP3 compression artifacts.
Windows 7 Professional