diff --git a/sys/dev/sound/unit.c b/sys/dev/sound/unit.c
--- a/sys/dev/sound/unit.c
+++ b/sys/dev/sound/unit.c
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
  *
  * Copyright (c) 2007 Ariff Abdullah <ariff@FreeBSD.org>
  * All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2024 The FreeBSD Foundation
+ *
+ * Portions of this software were developed by Christos Margiolis
+ * <christos@FreeBSD.org> under sponsorship from the FreeBSD Foundation.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
@@ -56,98 +60,65 @@
 static int snd_c_shift = 10;	/* 0 - 0x3ff : 1024 distinct channels
 					       (256 limit "by design")	  */
 
-static int snd_unit_initialized = 0;
-
-#ifdef SND_DIAGNOSTIC
-#define SND_UNIT_ASSERT()	do {					\
-	if (snd_unit_initialized == 0)					\
-		panic("%s(): Uninitialized sound unit!", __func__);	\
-} while (0)
-#else
-#define SND_UNIT_ASSERT()	KASSERT(snd_unit_initialized != 0,	\
-				("%s(): Uninitialized sound unit!",	\
-				__func__))
-#endif
-
 #define MKMASK(x)	((1 << snd_##x##_shift) - 1)
 
 int
 snd_max_u(void)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return (MKMASK(u));
 }
 
 int
 snd_max_d(void)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return (MKMASK(d));
 }
 
 int
 snd_max_c(void)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return (MKMASK(c));
 }
 
 int
 snd_unit2u(int unit)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return ((unit >> (snd_c_shift + snd_d_shift)) & MKMASK(u));
 }
 
 int
 snd_unit2d(int unit)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return ((unit >> snd_c_shift) & MKMASK(d));
 }
 
 int
 snd_unit2c(int unit)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return (unit & MKMASK(c));
 }
 
 int
 snd_u2unit(int u)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return ((u & MKMASK(u)) << (snd_c_shift + snd_d_shift));
 }
 
 int
 snd_d2unit(int d)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return ((d & MKMASK(d)) << snd_c_shift);
 }
 
 int
 snd_c2unit(int c)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return (c & MKMASK(c));
 }
 
 int
 snd_mkunit(int u, int d, int c)
 {
-	SND_UNIT_ASSERT();
-
 	return ((c & MKMASK(c)) | ((d & MKMASK(d)) << snd_c_shift) |
 	    ((u & MKMASK(u)) << (snd_c_shift + snd_d_shift)));
 }
@@ -160,11 +131,6 @@
 {
 	int i;
 
-	if (snd_unit_initialized != 0)
-		return;
-
-	snd_unit_initialized = 1;
-
 	if (getenv_int("hw.snd.maxunit", &i) != 0) {
 		if (i < SND_UNIT_UMIN)
 			i = SND_UNIT_UMIN;