diff --git a/task-launcher/src/index.ts b/task-launcher/src/index.ts
index c2185b2f..28ef159f 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/index.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/index.ts
@@ -56,9 +56,16 @@ export class TaskLauncher {
     const languageAudioBucket = getBucketName('shared', isDev, 'audio', language);
     const sharedAudioBucket = getBucketName('shared', isDev, 'audio', 'shared');
 
+    await getAssetsPerTask(isDev);
+
+    const taskAudioAssetNames = [
+      ...taskStore().assetsPerTask[taskName].audio,
+      ...taskStore().assetsPerTask.shared.audio,
+    ];
+
     try {
       // will avoid language folder if not provided
-      languageAudioAssets = await getMediaAssets(languageAudioBucket, {}, taskName, language);
+      languageAudioAssets = await getMediaAssets(languageAudioBucket, {}, taskName, language, taskAudioAssetNames);
       sharedAudioAssets = await getMediaAssets(sharedAudioBucket, {}, taskName, 'shared');
       taskVisualAssets = await getMediaAssets(taskVisualBucket, {}, taskName, language);
       sharedVisualAssets = await getMediaAssets(sharedVisualBucket, {}, 'shared', language);
@@ -77,16 +84,6 @@ export class TaskLauncher {
       await getCorpus(config, isDev);
     }
 
-    await getAssetsPerTask(isDev);
-
-    const taskAudioAssetNames = [
-      ...taskStore().assetsPerTask[taskName].audio,
-      ...taskStore().assetsPerTask.shared.audio,
-    ];
-
-    // filter out language audio not relevant to current task
-    languageAudioAssets = filterMedia(languageAudioAssets, [], taskAudioAssetNames, []);
-
     mediaAssets = combineMediaAssets([languageAudioAssets, sharedAudioAssets, taskVisualAssets, sharedVisualAssets]);
 
     // Expose resolved media assets for e2e validation (dev/test only)
diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getBucketName.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getBucketName.ts
index 4a7deabe..db453fc0 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getBucketName.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getBucketName.ts
@@ -10,5 +10,9 @@ export function getBucketName(
     ? TASK_BUCKET_NAMES_DEV[assetType as keyof typeof TASK_BUCKET_NAMES_DEV]
     : TASK_BUCKET_NAMES_PROD[assetType as keyof typeof TASK_BUCKET_NAMES_PROD];
 
-  return `${bucket}/${assetType === 'audio' ? language : taskName}`;
+  if (assetType === 'audio') {
+    return language ? `${bucket}/${language}` : bucket;
+  }
+
+  return `${bucket}/${taskName}`;
 }
diff --git a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getMediaAssets.ts b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getMediaAssets.ts
index 712f60d5..d888075e 100644
--- a/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getMediaAssets.ts
+++ b/task-launcher/src/tasks/shared/helpers/getMediaAssets.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-//@ts-ignore
-import { getDevice } from '@bdelab/roar-utils';
 import { camelize } from './camelize';
 
 type CategorizedObjectsType = {
@@ -21,64 +19,82 @@ type ResponseDataType = {
 export async function getMediaAssets(
   bucketName: string,
   whitelist: Record<string, any> = {},
-  language: string,
   taskName: string,
+  language: string,
+  requiredAssetNames?: string[],
   nextPageToken = '',
-  categorizedObjects: CategorizedObjectsType = { images: {}, audio: {}, video: {} },
+  categorizedObjects: CategorizedObjectsType = { images: {}, audio: {}, video: {} }
 ) {
   const parts = bucketName.split('/');
   const bucket = parts[0];
   const folder = parts.slice(1).join('/');
+  const prefix = folder ? `${folder}/` : '';
 
-  const baseUrl = `https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/${bucket}/o?prefix=${folder}/`;
+  if (requiredAssetNames) {
+    requiredAssetNames.forEach((assetName) => {
+      const path = `https://storage.googleapis.com/${bucket}/${prefix}${assetName}.mp3`;
 
-  let url = baseUrl;
-  if (nextPageToken) {
-    url += `&pageToken=${nextPageToken}`;
-  }
+      categorizedObjects.audio[camelize(assetName)] = path;
+    });
 
-  const response = await fetch(url);
-  const data: ResponseDataType = await response.json();
-
-  data.items.forEach((item) => {
-    if (isLanguageAndDeviceValid(item.name, taskName, language) && isWhitelisted(item.name, whitelist)) {
-      const contentType = item.contentType;
-      const id = item.name;
-      const path = `https://storage.googleapis.com/${bucket}/${id}`;
-      const fileName = id.split('/').pop()?.split('.')[0] || '';
-      const camelCaseFileName = camelize(fileName);
-
-      if (contentType.startsWith('image/')) {
-        categorizedObjects.images[camelCaseFileName] = path;
-      } else if (contentType.startsWith('audio/')) {
-        categorizedObjects.audio[camelCaseFileName] = path;
-      } else if (contentType.startsWith('video/')) {
-        categorizedObjects.video[camelCaseFileName] = path;
-      }
+    return categorizedObjects;
+  } else {
+    const baseUrl = `https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/${bucket}/o`;
+    const params = new URLSearchParams({ prefix, fields: 'items(name,contentType),nextPageToken' });
+
+    let url = baseUrl;
+    if (nextPageToken) {
+      params.set('pageToken', nextPageToken);
+    }
+    if (params.toString()) {
+      url += `?${params.toString()}`;
     }
-  });
 
-  if (data.nextPageToken) {
-    return getMediaAssets(bucketName, whitelist, taskName, language, data.nextPageToken, categorizedObjects);
-  } else {
-    return categorizedObjects;
+    const response = await fetch(url);
+    const data: ResponseDataType = await response.json();
+
+    data.items.forEach((item) => {
+      if (isLanguageAndTaskValid(item.name, taskName, language) && isWhitelisted(item.name, whitelist)) {
+        const contentType = item.contentType;
+        const id = item.name;
+        const path = `https://storage.googleapis.com/${bucket}/${id}`;
+        const fileName = id.split('/').pop()?.split('.')[0] || '';
+        const camelCaseFileName = camelize(fileName);
+
+        if (contentType.startsWith('image/')) {
+          categorizedObjects.images[camelCaseFileName] = path;
+        } else if (contentType.startsWith('audio/')) {
+          categorizedObjects.audio[camelCaseFileName] = path;
+        } else if (contentType.startsWith('video/')) {
+          categorizedObjects.video[camelCaseFileName] = path;
+        }
+      }
+    });
+
+    if (data.nextPageToken) {
+      return getMediaAssets(bucketName, whitelist, taskName, language, requiredAssetNames, data.nextPageToken, categorizedObjects);
+    } else {
+      return categorizedObjects;
+    }
   }
 }
 
-function isLanguageAndDeviceValid(filePath: string, languageCode: string, taskName: string) {
+function isLanguageAndTaskValid(filePath: string, taskName: string, languageCode: string) {
   const parts = filePath.split('/');
-
-  if (parts.length !== 3) {
+  if (parts.length < 3) {
     return false;
-  } else if (parts[0] === 'visual') {
-    // visual assets have task prefix
+  }
+
+  const assetType = parts[0];
+  if (assetType === 'audio') {
+    return parts[1] === languageCode && parts[2].length !== 0;
+  }
+
+  if (assetType === 'visual') {
     return parts[1] === taskName && parts[2].length !== 0;
-  } else if (parts[0] === 'audio') {
-    // audio assets have language prefix
-    return parts[1] == languageCode && parts[2].length !== 0;
   }
 
-  return false; // Not a valid path
+  return false;
 }
 
 // TODO: allow nested whitelisting (whitelisting within an already whitelisted folder)