Facebook users who are suddenly being blitzed with ping sounds when they receive notifications while accessing the social network via desktops — including several of our readers and yours truly — have the option of muting those sounds.

Here are the instructions on how to disable those sounds, via Facebook’s help center:

1. Click the gear menu in the upper-right corner of any page on Facebook and select “account settings.”
2. Click “notifications” in the left column.
3. Find the “how you get notifications” section.
4. Click “view” next to “on Facebook.”
5. Uncheck the box next to “play a sound when each new notification is received.”
6. Click “save changes.”

Readers: Have any of you noticed ping sounds recently while accessing Facebook via desktops?

Megaphone image courtesy of Shutterstock.