Sound is very important in Phasmophobia, as it means generally figuring out where the Ghost is or what's going on around you. There are a few sounds that are important to look out for;

• The sound of an object falling/being used
  
• Door being opened or closed*
  
• The sound of a window being knocked on
  
• EMF**
  
• The Ghost itself, particularly heartbeat sounds when looking in a certain direction
  
• Child's laughter***

*When a player or a Ghost closes a door, they make the same door slamming noise. But the Ghost has a distinct door opening sound you should look out for.
**The louder the EMF reader, the higher the EMF. Not important unless you threw the EMF in the room and your not carrying it.
***Sound only plays if the Ghost has interacted with the stuffed animals. Very quiet sound.

Know your equipment! You will be using it a lot in this game, so become acquainted with it.

Spirit Box
Commonly used to communicate with Ghosts. Can be asked simple questions such as 'Where are you?' 'How old are you?' 'Are you angry?'. Or you can ask it some stupid stuff like 'Are you cringe?'. Whatever the case, if you get a response of any kind, that's evidence.

EMF Reader
Lights up if the Ghost is doing activity. There are 5 levels;

• EMF 1: Powered. Nothing is happening...
  
• EMF 2: Ghost interacted with the environment.
  
• EMF 3: Ghost threw an object.
  
• EMF 4: Ghost manifested.
  
• EMF 5: Evidence, but can either mean EMF 2, 3 or 4.

UV Light and Glowstick
Practically the same thing. Used to check for fingerprints or 'fingies'. Glowsticks can be used in maps such as Brownstone Highschool to mark where the Ghost Room is, or a place to hide during a hunt.

Ghost Writing Book
Used for evidence. What the Ghost writes doesn't mean anything; it's still evidence. Personally I laugh when it writes 'cant cant run run'.

Thermometer
You don't exactly need this unless you need to confirm where the Ghost usually likes to sit around in a large room or in a hallway. Useless when the fuse is turned off. However, if the temperature goes below 3 degrees Celsius, then it's a hard confirm for freezing temperatures.

Video Camera and Head Mounted Camera
Used to track ghost orbs or 'gorbs'. Camera's view can be seen on the monitor in the truck. The difference between the regular and the head mounted is that the head mounted can be worn by a player, and you can see through their eyes. Useful on large maps.

Bipod
Bring this for godsakes. Nobody likes setting up the video camera on the floor or on a table.

Lighter
You need this to light candles and smudge sticks. A must have.

Smudge Sticks
Also known as a 'bean burrito'. When you have a lighter in your inventory and light the smudge stick by pressing F, it'll stun the Ghost and make it calm down. However activity will increase heavily; only use this if you need to prevent a Ghost from hunting when you don't have a crucifix in the room.

Candle
They can be found on the house maps and in the farmhouses, but not in any of the large maps. When a lit one is held in your hand, sanity will not drain. Very handy.

Crucifix
You only can bring two of these, so use them wisely! These prevent a hunt and should be set up in spots where the Ghost mostly patrols. We don't want a hunt happening now do we?

Sensors
There are three of them that can be used in your investigation.

• Motion Sensor, which picks up player and Ghost movement. Useful for determining where it patrols!
  
• Sound Sensor, which picks up the slightly sounds caused by the Ghost. Not recommended when there's a player in the Ghost Room talking to the Ghost.
  
• Infrared Sensor, which.. is useless. My use for it is to set it up in front of a closet that I hide in, so when it hunts and I see the light turn blue I know the Ghost is right beside me.

Parabolic Microphone
In my opinion, this thing is garbage. Just listen for the slightest sounds with your own ears. Also it picks up player speech too, so it can really throw you off!

Photo Camera
Useful for getting a picture of the Ghost, Fingerprints, or anything else. Always good to carry one on hand once you've done everything in case the Ghost appears!

Sanity Pills
You can only bring four of them and each time you consume one you restore 30% of your sanity; this equates to increasing the group average sanity in a four player game by 7.5%. Use only if absolutely necessary!

Salt
Ideally you want to set it up on the Ghost's patrol route, as once it's placed down you can't pick it up. Each salt shaker contains three uses. Also if you use a UV/Glowstick on a disturbed pile you can see the Ghost's footprints... usually.

Whenever you start a investigation, you will always hear a voice say 'Check the equipment and set up before the investigation'. But did you know his second line of dialogue after this determines how aggressive the Ghost is?
Here's what each briefing line means and what it means for the Ghost's aggression;

• Hostile "Got the intel. Looks like this is going to be a tough one..."
  
• Unfriendly "Got the intel. Reports of lights switching, and it looks like they left in a hurry."
  
• Unfriendly/Passive "New intel, reports of light switching. Possibly harmless."
  
• Unknown "No intel for this one; your going in blind."
  
• Unknown "I have nothing else to report unfortunately."

There are some other lines spoken, but these are the most common ones I hear. This does not determine what type of Ghost your dealing with though, so be advised!

Well... crap. Looks like the Ghost is coming to kill you...

But do not panic! There are many things you can do to survive this, and several others too! Let's first mention why and what causes a hunt to happen in the first place.

• Hunts start when average sanity is below 50%
  
• If the Ghost is a Mare or a Demon it'll start at 60% unless the light in the Mare's room is turned on then it will be the same as any other Ghost.
  
• Banshees can hunt whenever they want.

Saying the Ghost's name a lot does not trigger a hunt, neither does insulting it. It does however, make it more likely to appear.

If a hunt is happening, the lights will flicker, radio communications will be garbled and any nearby EMF readers will be going off like crazy. Also you'll hear the door lock and loud footsteps from the Ghost.
You should hide; a closet will work, a locker will work. Standing behind a wall is a bad idea as the Ghost could kill you through the wall, and standing out in the open is a bad idea.
Don't scream or make noise either, the Ghost can and will hear you. You can do this on a large map if your far away from the Ghost Room though; it's very fun.
If you have a smudge stick on hand and the Ghost is approaching you, light it. It'll wander off for five seconds before coming back towards you.

The most dangerous Ghosts to encounter in terms of hunting are the Wraith, Revenant, Banshee and Jinn. Here's why;

• Wraiths can see through doors, such as closets and lockers.
  
• Revenants are very fast when nobody is hiding; they will nyoom down the hallways to snap your neck.
  
• Banshees hunt whenever and can hunt as soon as you step inside the door. Also they teleport near the person they've targeted.
  
• Jinns run at Revenant speed regardless if anybody is hiding or not, but slow to regular pace when they are near someone; hiding or not.

Don't clown around and make loud noises when your far away from the Ghost Room when you have one of these four (say for the Wraith, I mean, you are far away from them on larger maps anyways).

Lastly when the hunt starts, you have five seconds to hide or scatter. Use this time wisely!

There are three difficulties; Amateur, Intermediate and Professional.

• On Amateur, you have a 1x multiplier on money. You also have a 5 minute grace period.
  
• On Intermediate, you have a 2x multiplier on money. You have 2 minutes of grace period.
  
• On Professional, you have a 3x multiplier on money. You have no grace period, and additionally the fuse starts by being turned off. You also don't know if the Ghost is shy or not.

I'm not going to judge you if you only play Amateur; I myself prefer Intermediate as it's less stressful then Professional (did I mention I hate Banshees?).

While this is a small guide, I do plan to update it with as much information as I can give... I do make discoveries when playing this game anyways so bare with me...

But hey if there's anything I may have explained wrongly then you can tell me in the comments! I'll gladly make an edit on the guide if I find something interesting in the comments.