If someone breaks a bone in fiction, usually they'll inform the other characters, and people will act accordingly. But sometimes, a writer may want to make the viewer or reader realize the character has been injured immediately, perhaps convey that it's serious or incredibly painful. In TV, this means making the sound of a broken bone (crack!) a bit louder. In literature, this means taking the time to describe the sound("...with a sickening crunch"). It doesn't have to be a broken bone, either. Maybe a character's heart is struggling, and the viewer will hear that character's heartbeat from time to time.

Compare with Kung Foley and Hell Is That Noise.

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Examples:

Anime And Manga

• Naruto: During the Chuunin exams, Neji damages Hinata's heart during their fight. A heartbeat sound and a picture of a heart appears from time to time, and she reacts as though she's in pain.(This example is from the Anime; it may have been depicted differently in the Manga)

Film

• One Hundred And Twenty Seven Hours: You know the part.
• Undercover Brother: Subverted. The title character is about to stomp a Mook who's lying on the ground. We see him stomp and hear a horrible crunching sound as he twists his foot but we don't actually see the stomp connect. Just when you think he's smashed the Mook's head in, the camera looks down and we see that UB actually smashed a bag of potato chips. Watch it here.

Literature

• Discworld: Used from time to time. How could it not be?

Tabletop Games

• Call Of Cthulhu supplement Fearful Passages, adventure "Sleigh Ride". The PCs and an NPC named Chance are lying in ambush to try to bag some monsters when one of them sneaks up behind Chance.
  Chance, terrified, drops the rifle into the snow. He stands frozen just long enough for the creature to reach out gigantic hands and wrench Chance's head with a sickening crack.

Videogames

• Batman Arkham Asylum: Some of the more brutal finishing moves have audible cracks of bones breaking.
• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth: If you walk around with a broken leg, a sickening crack is heard with every step.
• Fallout3: Fall damage is accompanied by a crunch.
• Half Life 2: If you take fall damage, the crack of a broken bone is heard, accompanied by the HEV suit's computer informing you of the injuries.
  • The same thing happens in Team Fortress 2, minus the computer voice. Likely because these games are both made by Valve, using a similar(if not the same) game engine.
• Madworld: Happens a lot here.
• Mirrors Edge: Try jumping off a roof. You'll hear it.
• Samurai Shodown: Hanzou's fatality consist in him swiftly breaking the arm, leg, ribs and then skull of his victim, all with audible cracks and shots of the broken bones inside.
• Super Paper Mario: When Mimi reveals her monster form, her neck snaps as her head starts spinning around. Unexpectedly disturbing for a Mario game.

Webcomics

• The Good Witch: The previous good witch jumps out a window, and a crunch is heard. When we're shown where she landed, all that's left is her clothes.

Real Life

• Yes, bones make sounds when they break.