The only thing that I can think of is to find out why or how pulseaudio became a part of your distribution is to find a up to date list of every single package that makes up the entire Debian distribution.(Good Luck)
I'd start at the Debian website with the investigation and perhaps write to a Debian Testing Team or a Debian Developer. It might be hard to get a hold of a Debian Team member or a Debian Developer but if you insist you'll achieve your goal.
http://www.debian.org/
http://www.debian.org/devel/
http://www.debian.org/devel/people
Glad to hear you have sound now.