diff --git a/src/meta/ea_eaac.c b/src/meta/ea_eaac.c
index 5c433220..99c834b3 100644
--- a/src/meta/ea_eaac.c
+++ b/src/meta/ea_eaac.c
@@ -374,12 +374,13 @@ fail:
 /* EA HDR/STH/DAT - seen in older 7th gen games, used for storing speech */
 VGMSTREAM * init_vgmstream_ea_hdr_sth_dat(STREAMFILE* sf) {
     int target_stream = sf->stream_index;
+    uint32_t snr_offset, sns_offset, block_size;
+    uint16_t sth_offset, sth_offset2;
     uint8_t userdata_size, total_sounds, block_id;
-    off_t snr_offset, sns_offset, sth_offset, sth_offset2;
-    size_t dat_size, block_size;
-    STREAMFILE *datFile = NULL, *sthFile = NULL;
+    size_t dat_size;
+    STREAMFILE *sf_dat = NULL, *sf_sth = NULL;
     VGMSTREAM *vgmstream;
-    int32_t(*read_32bit)(off_t, STREAMFILE*);
+    uint32_t(*read_u32)(off_t, STREAMFILE*);
 
     /* 0x00: ID */
     /* 0x02: parameters (userdata size, ...) */
@@ -387,46 +388,46 @@ VGMSTREAM * init_vgmstream_ea_hdr_sth_dat(STREAMFILE* sf) {
     /* 0x04: sub-ID (used for different police voices in NFS games) */
     /* 0x08: sample repeat (alt number of files?) */
     /* 0x09: block size (always zero?) */
-    /* 0x0A: number of blocks (related to size?) */
-    /* 0x0C: number of sub-banks (always zero?) */
-    /* 0x0E: padding */
+    /* 0x0a: number of blocks (related to size?) */
+    /* 0x0c: number of sub-banks (always zero?) */
+    /* 0x0e: padding */
     /* 0x10: table start */
 
     if (!check_extensions(sf, "hdr"))
         goto fail;
 
-    if (read_8bit(0x09, sf) != 0)
+    if (read_u8(0x09, sf) != 0)
         goto fail;
 
-    if (read_32bitBE(0x0c, sf) != 0)
+    if (read_u32be(0x0c, sf) != 0)
         goto fail;
 
     /* first offset is always zero */
-    if (read_16bitBE(0x10, sf) != 0)
+    if (read_u16be(0x10, sf) != 0)
         goto fail;
 
-    sthFile = open_streamfile_by_ext(sf, "sth");
-    if (!sthFile)
+    sf_sth = open_streamfile_by_ext(sf, "sth");
+    if (!sf_sth)
         goto fail;
 
-    datFile = open_streamfile_by_ext(sf, "dat");
-    if (!datFile)
+    sf_dat = open_streamfile_by_ext(sf, "dat");
+    if (!sf_dat)
         goto fail;
 
     /* STH always starts with the first offset of zero */
-    sns_offset = read_32bitBE(0x00, sthFile);
+    sns_offset = read_u32be(0x00, sf_sth);
     if (sns_offset != 0)
         goto fail;
 
     /* check if DAT starts with a correct SNS block */
-    block_id = read_8bit(0x00, datFile);
+    block_id = read_u8(0x00, sf_dat);
     if (block_id != EAAC_BLOCKID0_DATA && block_id != EAAC_BLOCKID0_END)
         goto fail;
 
-    userdata_size = read_8bit(0x02, sf);
-    total_sounds = read_8bit(0x03, sf);
+    userdata_size = read_u8(0x02, sf) & 0x0F;
+    total_sounds = read_u8(0x03, sf);
 
-    if (read_8bit(0x08, sf) > total_sounds)
+    if (read_u8(0x08, sf) > total_sounds)
         goto fail;
 
     if (target_stream == 0) target_stream = 1;
@@ -434,14 +435,14 @@ VGMSTREAM * init_vgmstream_ea_hdr_sth_dat(STREAMFILE* sf) {
         goto fail;
 
     /* offsets in HDR are always big endian */
-    sth_offset = (uint16_t)read_16bitBE(0x10 + (0x02 + userdata_size) * (target_stream - 1), sf);
+    sth_offset = read_u16be(0x10 + (0x02 + userdata_size) * (target_stream - 1), sf);
 
 #if 0
     snr_offset = sth_offset + 0x04;
-    sns_offset = read_32bit(sth_offset + 0x00, sthFile);
+    sns_offset = read_u32(sth_offset + 0x00, sf_sth);
 #else
-    /* we can't reliably detect byte endianness so we're going to find the sound the hacky way */
-    dat_size = get_streamfile_size(datFile);
+    /* overly intricate way to detect byte endianness because of the simplicity of HDR format */
+    dat_size = get_streamfile_size(sf_dat);
     snr_offset = 0;
     sns_offset = 0;
 
@@ -455,8 +456,8 @@ VGMSTREAM * init_vgmstream_ea_hdr_sth_dat(STREAMFILE* sf) {
             if (sns_offset >= dat_size)
                 goto fail;
 
-            block_id = read_8bit(sns_offset, datFile);
-            block_size = read_32bitBE(sns_offset, datFile) & 0x00FFFFFF;
+            block_id = read_u8(sns_offset, sf_dat);
+            block_size = read_u32be(sns_offset, sf_dat) & 0x00FFFFFF;
             if (block_size == 0)
                 goto fail;
 
@@ -469,36 +470,37 @@ VGMSTREAM * init_vgmstream_ea_hdr_sth_dat(STREAMFILE* sf) {
                 break;
         }
 
-        sth_offset2 = (uint16_t)read_16bitBE(0x10 + (0x02 + userdata_size) * 1, sf);
-        if (sns_offset == read_32bitBE(sth_offset2, sthFile)) {
-            read_32bit = read_32bitBE;
-        } else if (sns_offset == read_32bitLE(sth_offset2, sthFile)) {
-            read_32bit = read_32bitLE;
+        sns_offset = align_size_to_block(sns_offset, 0x40);
+        sth_offset2 = read_u16be(0x10 + (0x02 + userdata_size) * 1, sf);
+        if (sns_offset == read_u32be(sth_offset2, sf_sth)) {
+            read_u32 = read_u32be;
+        } else if (sns_offset == read_u32le(sth_offset2, sf_sth)) {
+            read_u32 = read_u32le;
         } else {
             goto fail;
         }
 
         snr_offset = sth_offset + 0x04;
-        sns_offset = read_32bit(sth_offset + 0x00, sthFile);
+        sns_offset = read_u32(sth_offset + 0x00, sf_sth);
     }
 #endif
 
-    block_id = read_8bit(sns_offset, datFile);
+    block_id = read_u8(sns_offset, sf_dat);
     if (block_id != EAAC_BLOCKID0_DATA && block_id != EAAC_BLOCKID0_END)
         goto fail;
 
-    vgmstream = init_vgmstream_eaaudiocore_header(sthFile, datFile, snr_offset, sns_offset, meta_EA_SNR_SNS, 0);
+    vgmstream = init_vgmstream_eaaudiocore_header(sf_sth, sf_dat, snr_offset, sns_offset, meta_EA_SNR_SNS, 0);
     if (!vgmstream)
         goto fail;
 
     vgmstream->num_streams = total_sounds;
-    close_streamfile(sthFile);
-    close_streamfile(datFile);
+    close_streamfile(sf_sth);
+    close_streamfile(sf_dat);
     return vgmstream;
 
 fail:
-    close_streamfile(sthFile);
-    close_streamfile(datFile);
+    close_streamfile(sf_sth);
+    close_streamfile(sf_dat);
     return NULL;
 }