I've now for the second time encountered a multiplayer match where there was a constant background noise. The first time I thought someone was just messing around and played some sound effect via his microphone, but I now encountered exactly the same sound effect a second time.

The effect is pretty much audible the whole match, it's not a constant hum but an oscillating one, and it's very annoying.

What causes this annoying sound and how do I make sure I don't encounter it a third time?

  • Is this the Husk language? If that's the case, it should stop between waves, and start up again when a new wave spawns. – Raven Dreamer Mar 18 '12 at 18:15
  • Yeah, I got that earlier today too. – Ben Brocka Mar 18 '12 at 18:16
  • Sounds like feedback from your own mic or someone elses – Resorath Mar 18 '12 at 18:16
  • @Resorath it's definitely an in-game sound effect, not a mic – Ben Brocka Mar 18 '12 at 18:17
  • 2
    @benbrocka feedback doesn't emit from a mic but can be caused by the presence of one - damaged or improperly calibrated – Resorath Mar 18 '12 at 18:19

I'm pretty sure I know what you're talking about. I experienced this myself as well. It's the sound of Reave's sound effect looping over and over. I think this is a bug, as I have not yet figured out a consistent way to stop it. You can see this person cast Reave here in singleplayer, and the sound effect lasts for a good 20 seconds.

I've had it continue to loop for me even after the wave was finished and all the enemies were dead. There doesn't seem to be anything you can do about it. :/ It's even more annoying than running effect soundlooping in the lobby menu that I've had occur.

The only way I can guarantee avoiding it is not teaming with any Drell Adepts.

  • That's exactly the sound I was hearing, let's hope Bioware fixes that soon. It's bloody annoying. – Mad Scientist Mar 18 '12 at 20:33
  • FWIW, I've been playing a Drell adept all weekend, and had no issues with the Reave sound effect. It lasts as long as the buff from Reave is active on the player who cast it, and no longer, and I found it a useful audio cue for when my DR buff was going to fade. – LessPop_MoreFizz Mar 19 '12 at 11:52
  • Still happening, and now asari adept/justicars have Reave too! Hooray (and by "hooray" I mean "man that woobly noise can bite me"). – jordie3000 May 12 '12 at 2:44

It definitely has to do with a drell adept. I was playing for the past couple games with one, and it was going the entire time. After a while, it starts to give me a headache and makes me nauseous. I definitely need to quit after a bit of that sound playing. I really hope Bioware fixes this sound because after a while, I just have to turn the in-game sound off so that I can play in peace.


The sound effect is indeed caused by a bug with the Drell Adept's Reave ability as the other users have mentioned. As far as getting rid of it, this post on Reddit suggests using the Pull ability twice in quick succession at the end of a round should do the trick.

I don't have a Drell Adept to test this with, but I would recommend suggesting that your Drell teammates give it a try.


The Drell have a skill that makes some weird sounds, maybe that's what you're hearing.


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