My biggest issue with the game so far is that I have to completely disable the sound effects [environmental and menu effects are lumped into the same volume slider in the audio settings], because the audio cues used for “selecting” anything in the menu are extremely high-pitched to the point that it’s physically painful, and I get a headache after only a few minutes in the menus, followed by a persistent ringing (tinnitus) that lasts for hours afterwards.
This isn’t an exaggeration or even a one-time thing, as I tried turning the sound effects back on at several different occasions, and the same thing happens now as it did in the very first flight. This happens regardless of the audio source, whether it be the headset or a TV – and it happens at any volume level, even if I set the slider to 1/10.
I know that not everyone will get such an “extreme” response as me, as I do test at the extreme end for high-frequency range (eg. I can still very easily hear sound disruption devices such as the “Mosquito” at 17.4kHz, despite them only being intended to be audible by kids). However, I’d like to ask that the audio engineers at 343 consider adjusting these sounds to be a bit more flat, and maybe even consider instituting a maximum cap on the frequency range to be considerate of people who are able to hear at the extreme ends.
At the very least, the volume slider for the in-game sound effects should be separate from the menu sound effects, as it really sucks that I have to sacrifice using my in-game sound simply because of an issue with the menu effects.
A couple notes:
- Switching the audio to “Compressed” mode doesn’t help at all
- The sound when “applying” a setting seems fine, it’s only “selecting” or “highlighting” an item that’s affected (eg. if you scroll up/down a list of settings in the menu)
The interesting thing is that it’s not even the initial part of the “tick” sound that seems to be the issue, the “painful” part is mainly at the tail-end of it, almost like an echo. This makes me wonder if this is actually a bug caused by the menu selection sounds being “echoed” off of some type of environment which is hidden from the user’s view. This would actually make sense, since the volume slider that controls is the same one for in-match environmental sounds.