Ok, forgive the double post but, the problem has been solved. It was caused by Microsoft's removal of DirectSound from Windows Vista, and this sound problem was not limited to just FFVII.

The solution for me was a download of Creative ALchemy, a program that allows DirectSound commands to be interpreted in Vista for Creative's sound cards. Hopefully other sound card manufacturers will offer similar fixes.

So this thread can be closed/deleted, or left up if anyone else can use this information.