Have you experienced Audio Fatigue from sounds in a game?

[Frindis]

The same sound over and over again can be annoying, which is why you often find randomized and pitched versions of a particular sound to make it more comfortable while you are for example grinding in a game.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/GNzUFyuZtWM?si=GSkJaItf9oE5Fosn

The latest example of a repeating sound that got exhausting fast was with the companion banter in BG3. It might not be the perfect example since they do more of a dialogue line, but when I started playing and would hear the same line over and over again, it got stale fast. There is an option in the settings to reduce the randomized banter they do, so that was night and day for me.

Any loot box opening with the same pitch is also fatiguing. Runescape 3 comes to mind here since I play that game regularly.

Do you have an example of a sound you found particularly annoying because it was repeated often in the same pitch? Would you have preferred a variable pitch for that sound instead or perhaps having the sound completely removed instead?

 

[Pifanjr]

Not a game, but one sound that drives me nuts is the little tapping sound a phone's keyboard makes if you haven't turned that setting off. It's the worst part of getting a new phone or having to do a factory reset.

 

[ZedClampet]

The same sound over and over again can be annoying, which is why you often find randomized and pitched versions of a particular sound to make it more comfortable while you are for example grinding in a game.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/GNzUFyuZtWM?si=GSkJaItf9oE5Fosn

The latest example of a repeating sound that got exhausting fast was with the companion banter in BG3. It might not be the perfect example since they do more of a dialogue line, but when I started playing and would hear the same line over and over again, it got stale fast. There is an option in the settings to reduce the randomized banter they do, so that was night and day for me.

Any loot box opening with the same pitch is also fatiguing. Runescape 3 comes to mind here since I play that game regularly.

Do you have an example of a sound you found particularly annoying because it was repeated often in the same pitch? Would you have preferred a variable pitch for that sound instead or perhaps having the sound completely removed instead?

A couple of sounds that have bothered me recently are:

In Darktide, there is the sound of a man, or men, screaming that gets played a lot. I could be wrong here, but I think it's the exact same sound that the suicide bombers used in Serious Sam 4. The worst part is that it doesn't mean anything in Darktide. It seems to just be part of the ambient noise.

The other one was in Grocery Store Simulator. There was a noise that was part of the ambient noise, again, that I couldn't even identify what it was. Every couple of minutes the noise would play, and I'd think 'WTF was that?'

In these particular cases, I don't guess changing the pitch would really help much.

 

[Zloth]

It might not be the perfect example since they do more of a dialogue line, but when I started playing and would hear the same line over and over again, it got stale fast.

"I have a lot on my mind... and in it." Funny the first time. Not so much the second. DEFINITELY NOT AT ALL the seventieth.

Larian has had the issue before, too. Remember the cheese vendor in Divinity: Original Sin 2?

The original Dragon's Dogma had the issue, too - but it managed to become funny after a while. A long while. Come to think of it, it may have been months after I finished the game?

 

[Colif]

We have had a thread like this before... since I can remember the example I gave in it... the noise one summons created as it walked in Last Epoch were enough for me not to use them... think it was an Acolyte's Summons... its been a while, I can't remember which one.. maybe the big guy.

Have you ever been annoyed by a repeating sound effect in a game?

The sound in Supermarket Simulator isn't the best. Besides the fact that every car that passes your store sounds like a Model T, even the Lamborghini that drives by 20 times a day, there is this one sound that goes off about once a minute that is driving me nuts. I can't figure out what it's...

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[BeardyHat]

"I have a lot on my mind... and in it." Funny the first time. Not so much the second. DEFINITELY NOT AT ALL the seventieth.

Larian has had the issue before, too. Remember the cheese vendor in Divinity: Original Sin 2?

The original Dragon's Dogma had the issue, too - but it managed to become funny after a while. A long while. Come to think of it, it may have been months after I finished the game?

No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses!

Who could forget? I don't mind those repetitious lines though. Mostly audio repetition doesn't really bother me, my brain tends to tune it out. Now, sitting next to my wife and playing something with repetitive audio...

 

[Colif]

I got tired of the Jungle music in Diablo 2... 20 years ago... it wasn't much better in the remastered version. That just reminded me.

 

[JCgames]

No, but back when dungeon keeper came out in the 90s, I had my computer hooked up to my stereo which had a 4x100 amp with a nice pair of speakers and a couple extra 8 inch subs, let's just say it was loud.

My sister 25 years later still complains about it. , "You have to build a lair for your creatures!" Followed by the sound of me placing room tiles, "doosh doosh doosh", and, "your creatures are mad because they hungry!" she still recites the lines lol. Dungeon keeper, what a great game, and 2 is even better! Dungeon keeper got it right, you could turtle a bit and take your time, but you still had a little urgency, but could still take hours to do missions. I was disappointed that war fir the underworld didn't do it for me, too fast paced for my tastes

 

[January's Ghost]

Any companion character that has a line they repeat constantly. I'm playing Flintlock right now and that moronic companion magic fox god has some little line for a lot of the activities. Kill all the enemies? "Looks like that all of them." Pick up something "That could be useful" or "Find anything good?" Though the fox isn't as bad as the talking armguard in Forspoken.

Man I really hate those.