The Sound of Sickness

What I remember most is the drowning. In Sonic the Hedgehog, my spiky blue compatriot ships off to underwater depths in one of the later levels (Labyrinth Zone, to be exact), and he must collect air bubbles, always stationed just out of reach, to stay alive. But after a certain time period, a menacing countdown appears in the middle of the screen. The music would build to a pitch and quickly subside, and in the moment of silence that followed, Sonic would throw up his hands in anguish, the 16-bit sound of his lonely cry for air would fill the room, and he would sink to parts unknown. Even today, hearing that music rekindles those adolescent moments of frustration and fear.

Sound plays a crucial role in how we receive games, and in the hands of the right creator, audio design can trigger wide varieties of emotion. We asked several experts to reflect on this issue’s theme of discomfort, and explain how with their audio canvas they create something unsettling.