The world's worst sounds

[faceless]

Revealed: the worst sounds in the world
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The sound of fingernails scraping down a blackboard is more likely to make us stick our fingers in our ears than the dreaded whistle of the dentist's drill. Other sonic nasties that will have us reaching for earplugs include barking dogs, crying babies and the spinechilling screeches of the Tasmanian Devil. But when it comes to auditory assaults, someone throwing up is the most horrible sound in the world, according to scientists.

Vomiting topped a list of 34 horrible sounds voted on by more than 1.1million people in a worldwide online experiment. It beat microphone feedback (second), violins (sixth), farting (seventh) and soap opera arguments (ninth) as the noises we hate most. Surprisingly, irritating mobile ringtones, such as the Crazy Frog, came in only 12th, while squeaking polystyrene was a new entry in the top 20.

Prof Trevor Cox, of the acoustic research centre at Salford University, which carried out the study, said: 'We are programmed to be repulsed by horrible things such as vomiting because it is fundamental to staying alive to avoid nasty stuff.' The explanation for some of our other noise no-nos is less obvious. 'The sound of fingernails scraping down a blackboard has been compared to the warning cries of monkeys – again, something we might instinctively respond to because of our ancestry,' added Prof Cox. The one sound calculated to have more men than women running for cover was babies crying. Prof Cox now plans to research the nicest sounds.

THOSE APPALLING SOUNDS IN FULL:

1. Vomiting
2. Microphone feedback
3= Babies crying
3= Scrape or squeak (eg: train wheels)
5. Seesaw squeaking
6. Violin
7= Fart
7= A baby crying
9= Argument on a soap opera
9= Mains electricity hum
11. Tasmanian devil
12= Cat spitting and howling
12= Coughing
12= Mobile ringtones
15. Creaky door
16= Dogs barking
16= Sniffing
16= Fingernails scraping down a blackboard
16= Polystyrene squeak

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I think the puking sound is all about proximity, but I'm surprised they've not got forks against teeth, that always gets me... grrrr

[Marcella-FL]

here's my top ten:

1. Coughing (that loud unproductive "Oh my god get a lozenge!" kind)
2. Microphone feedback
3. Dogs barking for no damn reason!
4. Parrots squawking because the kid next door won't leave it the F*@! alone!
5. Loud Belching (you could muffle it or at LEAST say excuse me!!!)
6. Farting
7. Mobile ringtones (especially if they continue for too long - you're just showing off then!)
8. Crunching snow under foot
9. The styrofoam thing - excuse me - polystyrene
10. knife scraping on a plate and/or utensils clicking on the plate.

[6ULDV8]

My top ten would be:

1. Barman calling "Drink up, time to leave"

2. Police siren (behind me)

3. Kids asking "are we there yet"?

4. Knocking hard drive (you know you have only a matter of time before it's dead).

5. Sound of all the machines in an emergancy room (machines that go PING etc...).

6. Badly dubbed fake orgasms in pr0n movies.

7. Leaky / faulty toilet cisterns (continual dripping or running as they constantly fill).

8. 95% of DJ's who insist on talking on a mic instead of playing music (except of course radio DJ's then it's about 85%).

9. The sound produced in the stall next to me in a public toilet as somebody suffers from a liquid erruption from their botty...

10. The quiet after a massive exposion in a populated place (been too close to a few...).

[girldorksrule]

I like soap opera arguments, personally.

I don't really have a top 10, but I'd say my number one is the sound of the cash register beeps as they scan the bar codes...over and over and over and over. And you can hear every f'ing one in the store. Drives me batty.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

Mind would be:

1. People who eat loud
2. Fingernails scraping down a blackboard
3. Someone that has a whistle in their speech
4. Dentist drill
5. Scraping forks/knives on a plate
6. Burping loudly
7. Dogs barking endlessly
8. Faucet dripping
9. Creaky doors
10. Nasty smokers cough

[eefanincan]

I think you guys have covered most of the really "grating" sounds. Something that annoys me at times are someone rapping their nails repeatedly on a table or some hard surface while you're trying to concentrate or do something. The other is someone who repeatedly clicks their retractable pen over and over and over and over and over .......

[pirtybirdy]

One that really irritates me is when I'm staying at my dad's house in Florida, and the night animals make the constant, repetitive noises over and over and over again. There is one animal that I can't even tell what it is from the noise it makes, but I can't fall asleep 'cause it drills in my head. That is in the top 5 somewhere.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[girldorksrule]

I have to add one more to my list of one: the thumping of car stereos...especially when it is parked next door and is played all day.

[eefanincan]

[Skylace]

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[Skylace]

[faceless]

Here's the offending cat... she's trying to shag my bike!