How to Fish Audio Bug: Duplicated or Robotic Sound
Safe checks for How to Fish duplicated, crunchy or robotic game audio, with a clear boundary between repeated headset reports and Patch 1.0.12 voice-chat work.
Checked 2026-09-16 · Applies to Exact affected client builds not stated; checked against PATCH 1.0.12
Quick Answer
For duplicated, crunchy or robotic game audio, first record the headset, connection mode and whether only voice chat is affected. Switching to another output and back is a temporary community workaround; one USB observation is not a universal fix. Patch 1.0.12's MetaVoice update concerns voice chat, not every sound problem.
Match the symptom before changing settings
| Symptom | Evidence boundary |
|---|---|
| All game sound starts repeating or stacking after several minutes. | Community-reported / Repeated. |
| Only player voices are distorted or missing. | Separate voice-chat symptom; Patch 1.0.12 contains an attempted MetaVoice 4.3 improvement. |
| Changing output devices clears sound briefly. | Community workaround / Temporary; recurrence was reported. |
| Using USB prevents recurrence. | Community workaround / Limited confirmation from one report. |
Safe diagnostic sequence
- Write down the game version, headset or speaker model, and USB, Bluetooth or dedicated-wireless connection mode.
- Note whether all game audio is affected or only voice chat is affected.
- Switch to a different output device and back once. Record how long the improvement lasts.
- Confirm the system's default output and communications devices match the intended device.
- If practical, test the same headset through USB as a diagnostic only; do not treat one report as a hardware recommendation.
- Test a solo session and an online session separately, then keep the result with the time to onset.
You can hear teammates, but they cannot hear you
Community-reported / Limited confirmation: a Steam report describes one-way voice chat where incoming teammate audio works but the affected player's microphone is not heard. This is separate from duplicated, crunchy or stacked whole-game audio.
No confirmed workaround: record Steam's default communication device, the in-game input device, Push-to-Talk state and key, host or client role, whether only one player is affected, and whether the microphone works in another application. These are diagnostic checks, not promised fixes.
Official attempted fix / Outcome unverified: Patch 1.0.12 updated MetaVoice to 4.3 to improve voice chat. One later report does not prove that the MetaVoice update failed for all players.
Eating sounds and misophonia
Community-requested / Needs verification: a Steam accessibility request reports discomfort from eating sounds. We have not independently verified the current audio-settings interface or whether it contains a separate eating-sound slider, so this remains a needs-verification limitation rather than a confirmed settings claim. Disabling all sound effects may also remove useful feedback and is not presented as an ideal solution.
What to include in a report
Include the device model, connection mode, game version, solo or co-op state, default output and communications devices, time until onset, whether changing outputs helped, and whether the sound returned. This makes a voice-chat issue distinguishable from the wider audio-stacking report.
Related: Troubleshooting Hub, Version Mismatch checks, and Patch 1.0.12.