AUDIO • AUDIOLISTENER

Unity AudioSource Not Playing Sound Fix

Diagnose why your game has no audio: missing AudioListener, 3D spatial attenuation falloff, muted mixers, or unassigned AudioClip references.

⚠️ Severity: Medium 🔇 Sound Engine ⏱️ 3 Min Fix

5-Point Audio Checklist

  1. AudioListener on Main Camera: There must be exactly one active AudioListener component in your scene (usually on your Main Camera). If deleted, all sounds are silent.
  2. Mute Audio in Game View: Check the Mute Audio button in the top bar of the Unity Editor Game window.
  3. Spatial Blend 2D vs 3D: If set to 3D (1.0) and the sound origin is beyond Max Distance (default 500m), you won't hear anything. For UI/Music, set Spatial Blend to 2D (0.0).
  4. Volume = 0: Verify that AudioSource.volume or Master AudioMixer volume isn't at 0 or -80dB.
  5. AudioClip Not Assigned: Check that the AudioClip slot is not None before calling Play().
1

Reliable Sound Player C# Script

ReliableSoundPlayer.cs (C#) 
using UnityEngine;

public class ReliableSoundPlayer : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private AudioClip soundClip;
    [SerializeField] private float volume = 0.85f;

    public void PlaySound2D()
    {
        if (soundClip != null)
        {
            // Plays audio clip at position without needing an existing AudioSource
            AudioSource.PlayClipAtPoint(soundClip, Camera.main.transform.position, volume);
        }
        else
        {
            Debug.LogWarning("[ReliableSoundPlayer] Sound Clip is unassigned!", this);
        }
    }
}

Vehicle Audio Guides

AUDIO GUIDE
Vehicle Engine RPM Audio →

Interpolate pitch and volume smoothly with speed.