Created attachment 36855 [details] new test sound? (Filing against libcanberra because sound-theme-freedesktop doesn't have a component.) The default audio-test-signal.oga is just static. That lacks personality and punch. Something like the attached may be better; it's still fairly monotonic, but much more distinctive.
I've added a "See Also" link to a related bug originally filed against GNOME. I'll paraphrase that here as it relates to the suitability of the proposed new test sound. The Sound panel of the GNOME Control Center offers a "Test Speakers" button that lets one play sample audio clips through each of the configured speakers. Nearly all of the audio clips feature an English-speaking, American-accented, female voice naming the speaker location, such as "front left" or "rear center". The only exception is the "audio-test-signal.oga" clip played for single-channel audio, such as a one-ear-only Bluetooth headset. This one audio clip is a sample of static or white noise. The mismatch fooled me into thinking that my Bluetooth headset was not working correctly. I avoided using my headset under Linux, literally for *years*, because of this misleading test clip. It was only recently, and largely by accident, that I discovered that this one test clip is *supposed* to sound like static, unlike every other audio test clip. Regarding the specific "new test sound?" replacement proposed here, I agree that it has more "personality and punch" than the current version. But it still sounds nothing at all like the other test clips. I am concerned that this mismatch may still lead to user confusion. The single-channel audio test clip should sound similar to all other audio test clips. If that's going to be an English-speaking, American-accented, female speaking voice, then that's what they should *all* use. Otherwise, we may be tricking users into thinking Linux Bluetooth audio support is broken, when it's actually been working fine for a long time.
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