AudioSegment.from_file(audio_path) crashes despite ffmpeg.exe hardcoded and also in the PATH

[NeilWP]

def convert_audio_to_wav(audio_path, wav_path):
    file_extension = os.path.splitext(audio_path)[1]

    if file_extension != '.wav':
        # Specify the paths to ffmpeg and ffprobe within the virtual environment
        ffmpeg_path = r"C:\Users\nwpno\AppData\Local\ffmpeg-6.1.1\bin\ffmpeg.exe"
        ffprobe_path = r"C:\Users\nwpno\AppData\Local\ffmpeg-6.1.1\bin\ffprobe.exe"

        # Set the paths for Pydub
        AudioSegment.converter = ffmpeg_path
        AudioSegment.ffmpeg = ffmpeg_path
        AudioSegment.ffprobe = ffprobe_path

        # Perform the conversion
        audio = AudioSegment.from_file(audio_path)
        audio.export(wav_path, format='wav')
        print("Conversion successful")
    else:
        print("File is already in WAV format")

    return wav_path