Steam cancels Skype audio and vice versa

I am using 12.3 on a 64bit system, skype version is 4.2.0.11.

Whenever I run steam and then start Skype, the audio for any steam application works, while it does not for Skype. Skype works if I boot it first, but steam is silent. Even if the skype audio is silent, I can still use my mic. I am running steam with pulse audio, and I dont know what steam is running. I assume that they are both vying for control of pulse audio, but I am not sure. I tried installing Pulse audio volume control, but that did not help. Other programs (such as amarok) work perfectly fine.

Thank you for your help.