This is it. The issue is exhaustion compensating for all the audio problems-- dogs barking, room echoes, compression, images out of sync, the delay in reactions (constantly being unsure if you were heard- not knowing what the correct volume you should be speaking is), being asked to repeat yourself, and the mix of your audio with those of others.
It's a lot to process. With 15 people on "speakerphone", the audio is IMO the biggest and most taxing problem.
Its normally partipants with bad mics, headphones, AGC and the crappy audio support in windows.
I do a number of actual play games and it's the players trying to use the built in mics/headphones that have difficulty hearing the group conversations.
I use a high quality external sound card and don't have that problem - hangouts does seem to disconnect me when I don't speak for a while as my noise floor is so low
It's a lot to process. With 15 people on "speakerphone", the audio is IMO the biggest and most taxing problem.