Annoying sounds

[Chacmool]

Nails scraping on a blackboard, polystyrene/styrofoam being broken apart or scraped together, knuckles cracking, a mosquito buzzing, coughing, someone slurping soup, gritting teeth, clicking nails...

 

Why are these such annoying sounds? Why do some people dislike the same sounds, while those sounds don't bother other people? What causes that shiver down your spine when you hear an awful sound? :hihi:

[LJP07]

Dirty smelly fart......

 

Or maybe, someone, getting their fork and accidently scraping it against the plate, similar to cat scraping blackboard.

[Mercedes Benzene]

Cicadas.

 

Annoying sounds are probably annoying because the wavelength and resulting pitch of such sounds bother all humans universally.

Also, some sounds, like cicadas are annoying because it is a constant, high-pitched droning.

I particularly dislike mockingbirds... especially at 6:00 in the morning when I'm trying to sleep.

[Jay-qu]

Some of these I believe are bad by association, ie they just have a negative connotation attached to them. For example, some of the sounds may have an unpleasent feeling associated with them.. but some of them just seem to be flat out annoying :D

[InfiniteNow]

Why are these such annoying sounds?

The quick answer is because we let them be. That's simple, true, and yet difficult to work into our mindset. :eek2:

 

Many of the above referenced sounds are my pet peeves too, which may imply some common frequency that is not pleasant to human auditory perception. I also dislike the sound of a car starter grinding when the car is already running, cats fighting, dogs crying, and air raid sirens. Fortunately, I haven't directly heard too many of that last example in person. :lol:

[ronthepon]

From what I've been hearing, this probably has reasons similar to why we enjoy some forms of musical tunes.

 

Just dropping in... had done some googling on this earlier.

[Turtle]

Why are these such annoying sounds? Why do some people dislike the same sounds, while those sounds don't bother other people? What causes that shiver down your spine when you hear an awful sound? :hihi:

 

Having recently listened to a talk on noise, it sounds to me like 'noise' and 'annoying sounds' have a strong relationship. As you say, some sounds don't annoy everyone equally but what is more amazing is that some sounds benefit many congruently. Ron mentions music as one example, however Bart Kosko -who gave the talk I mentioned- goes on to scientifically analyze the benefits to thinking and/or mood that noise offers.

Great idea by the way Chacmool!:hihi: Here is some reading from Professor Bart Kosko:

While noise has its detrimental qualities, it can also make people smarter, he shared. In some circumstances, it can cause more neurons to fire, heightening brain function.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2006/08/17.html

 

Bart has a new book out on noise, called appropriately enough Noise:

http://sipi.usc.edu/~kosko/books.html

:D :phones: :phones: :phones: :phones: :phones: :phones: :phones: :phones: