diff --git a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.h b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.h
--- a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.h
+++ b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.h
@@ -69,8 +69,6 @@
 void *mix_getdevinfo(struct snd_mixer *m);
 struct mtx *mixer_get_lock(struct snd_mixer *m);
 
-extern int mixer_count;
-
 #define MIXER_CMD_DIRECT	0	/* send command within driver   */
 #define MIXER_CMD_CDEV		1	/* send command from cdev/ioctl */
 
diff --git a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.c b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.c
--- a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.c
+++ b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/mixer.c
@@ -105,11 +105,6 @@
 	.d_name =	"mixer",
 };
 
-/**
- * Keeps a count of mixer devices; used only by OSSv4 SNDCTL_SYSINFO ioctl.
- */
-int mixer_count = 0;
-
 static eventhandler_tag mixer_ehtag = NULL;
 
 static struct cdev *
@@ -701,22 +696,13 @@
 	snd_mtxfree(m->lock);
 	kobj_delete((kobj_t)m, M_MIXER);
 
-	--mixer_count;
-
 	return (0);
 }
 
 struct snd_mixer *
 mixer_create(device_t dev, kobj_class_t cls, void *devinfo, const char *desc)
 {
-	struct snd_mixer *m;
-
-	m = mixer_obj_create(dev, cls, devinfo, MIXER_TYPE_SECONDARY, desc);
-
-	if (m != NULL)
-		++mixer_count;
-
-	return (m);
+	return (mixer_obj_create(dev, cls, devinfo, MIXER_TYPE_SECONDARY, desc));
 }
 
 int
@@ -769,8 +755,6 @@
 	pdev->si_drv1 = m;
 	snddev->mixer_dev = pdev;
 
-	++mixer_count;
-
 	if (bootverbose) {
 		for (i = 0; i < SOUND_MIXER_NRDEVICES; i++) {
 			if (!(m->devs & (1 << i)))
@@ -839,8 +823,6 @@
 
 	d->mixer_dev = NULL;
 
-	--mixer_count;
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sound.c b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sound.c
--- a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sound.c
+++ b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sound.c
@@ -767,7 +767,12 @@
 	 */
 	si->nummidis = 0;
 	si->numtimers = 0;
-	si->nummixers = mixer_count;
+	/*
+	 * Set this to the maximum unit number so that applications will not
+	 * break if they try to loop through all mixers and some of them are
+	 * not available.
+	 */
+	si->nummixers = devclass_get_maxunit(pcm_devclass);
 	si->numcards = devclass_get_maxunit(pcm_devclass);
 		/* OSSv4 docs:	Intended only for test apps; API doesn't
 		   really have much of a concept of cards.  Shouldn't be