Poll finds world's worst sounds are enough to make you sickIan Sample, London
January 25, 2007
A QUEST to identify the worst sound in the world has ended with top honours going to a Saturday night urban standard: a person vomiting.
The sound, re-created for acoustics experts by an actor with a bucket of diluted baked beans, won out over fingers being dragged down a blackboard, a dentist's drill and wailing babies in an online study that attracted 1.1 million votes from around the world.
Microphone feedback, crying babies and the scrapes and squeaks of a train on a track ranked second and joint third, with a cat howling and mobile phone ringtones coming joint 12th and snoring an unexpectedly low 26th.
The study, set up by Trevor Cox, a professor of acoustic engineering at Britain's Salford University, sought opinions on 34 sounds in the hope of learning what makes certain noises so objectionable.
"From a scientific perspective, we really don't understand why some sounds are so horrible, but our reactions are part of what makes us human," he said. "If, as engineers, we can learn what offends people, then in some cases we may be able to engineer them out of existence or at least reduce their impact."
The researchers expected sounds that evoke disgust to be near the top of the list, such as vomiting, coughing and spitting, eating an apple with the mouth open and a lengthy blast from a whoopee cushion. Revulsion to such sounds is partly governed by culture and partly an evolutionary legacy that helps us avoid picking up diseases.
In general, horrible sounds became worse as people aged, but for some sounds the picture was more complex. The sound of eating an apple revolted people less as they aged. The sound of a dentist's drill ranked worst among the under-10s and those in their 40s to 50s. "These are the ages when you are most likely to experience the dentist's drill, so these people could well be more sensitive," Professor Cox said.
Some scientists have tried to explain widespread shudders at nails being dragged down a blackboard as a historical reflex to the similar-sounding screech made when monkeys alert others to impending danger. But the sound ranked 16th, between sniffing and polystyrene being scrunched, suggesting the noise has less effect than expected.
The most annoying noises
1. Vomiting
2. Microphone feedback
3. Many crying babies
4. Train scraping on tracks
5. Seesaw squeaking
6. Someone playing a violin badly
7. Whoopee cushion
8. One baby crying
9. Soap opera argument
10. Mains humming
11. Tasmanian Devil
Guardian/AAP
http://www.sound101.org
