It sometimes happens that package audacity will either
close itself or hang. When that happens, if I start any
audio recording package at all (audacity, snd, sweep)
then I cannot record. I get a warning about the device
being busy. Rebooting will clear it, but that is really
quite a bother.

How may I reset my audio device to clear the busy error,
short of rebooting?

I did read man for audioctl but understoood it very little.
And none of my off hand attempts were successful.

TIA,

Gan