Warning: this episode includes audio recordings of sounds you may find extremely uncomfortable,
continue watching at your own risk.
Sound can hurt, not just emotionally but also physically. The sound of a
specific commercial jingle can create a memory which is painful to contemplate,
while the sound of an acoustic weapon will bring you excruciating physical pain. Some
of these effects have to do with the mind-body connection, but the sounds we're looking at today
are all about physical hurt- so get ready for some of the most painful sounds you'll ever hear.
Nails On Chalkboard
Probably one of the most widely recognized,
and awful sounds in the world is that of nails on chalkboard. (play audio clip)
This is almost universally one of the most uncomfortable sounds in the world,
though research has shown that if you are not already inclined to find the
sound painful or uncomfortable, then it likely won't be. This shows that pain can sometimes
be subjective when there's no physical effect directly on our bodies. However,
for most people, nails on chalkboards is a terribly uncomfortable sound.
Researchers aren't exactly sure why this sound is so painful to people,
though suspect it has to do with its very high frequency. Our ears are naturally created to
amplify frequencies around the 2,000 to 4,000 Hertz range, the same range a baby's shrill
crying falls in. This is likely an evolutionary adaptation, as children shrieking typically do so
for very good reasons. As we are programmed to reproduce and procreate our numbers,
ensuring the safety and survival of our offspring is hardwired into even our physiology. Unluckily
for modern students, nails on a chalkboard falls right into this extra sensitive range of hearing,
though the discomfort is typically accompanied by concern for physical harm to one's own nails as
well. One can't help but think of their own nails scratching on a blackboard
and being torn loose, and the accompanying pain. Thus this specific sound may be triggering not
just physical discomfort, but a prediction of pain, adding to the unbearable nature of it.
Our next sound is basically nails on a chalkboard but cranked up to 11.
Fork On Plate
If you thought nails on a blackboard was rough,
then this next one is really going to set your teeth on edge. (Play audio)
Who hasn't accidentally scratched their porcelain plate with a fork only to instantly wince at the
horrible sound of a fork scratching on a plate? Well, the reason for this extreme discomfort is
once again tied to the frequency range of the sound. Just like with nails on a blackboard,
this frequency falls into a range the ear canal naturally amplifies,
making it even worse to listen to. The next entry is a lurking danger,
waiting for you the moment you open your long-awaited Amazon order.
Styrofoam Rubbing Together
We call this next sound the third member of the sound annoyance axis of evil,
and it is truly unbearable to listen to for long. (play audio now)
The reasons why are unsurprisingly once more related to the frequencies of the sound,
and if you can withstand a ten hour challenge of this sound
then you clearly either have hearing damage or are a sadist.
This next sound is typically caused by very annoying kids with a sadist streak.
Metal Ruler on Glass Bottle
Yet another sound sure to set your teeth on edge,
the sound of a metal ruler running along a bottle can be painful to some. (play audio now)
Unlike fingernails on a chalkboard or the sound of styrofoam being rubbed together though,
a metal ruler running along a glass bottle isn't quite as universally annoying or painful. This is
likely because it doesn't quite emit the same high frequencies as those two previous sounds.
Our next dinner-time sound though can set your teeth on edge just hearing us describe it.
Fork on Glass
Back to dining implements, this time though it's a fork on a glass. (play audio now)
Emitting the same high frequencies as a fork on a dinner plate, this sound is all but
unbearable to most people- though luckily you're a lot less likely to encounter it
during dinner than you are accidentally scraping your plate. Unless for some reason you're eating
your drink with a fork, in which case you have an entirely different set of problems to worry about.
Now it’s time for sounds so loud, they can feel like a punch in the stomach.
Train Horn
Alright, it's time to take things up a notch- or a lot of notches really. Train horns are notoriously
loud, clocking in at a legally set limit of 110 decibels. That's actually ten decibels
lower than the average rock and roll concert, but it's the specific high frequencies that
are part of the train horn which again make this a very painful sound. (play audio here)
Another factor adding to the psychological discomfort of a train horn is its discordant
nature. When you listen carefully you can identify that there's not just one tone but multiples,
jangled together to create a very uncomfortable mix of painful sounds. That's on purpose-
as train horns are meant to warn people to get out of the way of the proverbial immovable object
bearing down on them. The discordant sounds help get people's attention
and elicit a small amount of healthy fear. Our next sound can get the adrenaline pumping,
but if you’re standing too close to the source you won’t be hearing anything for long.
Stock Car Sounds
There's an undeniable draw to the sound of a beefy muscle car revving up that sends shivers
of joy down the spine of any race aficionado- but if you're one of the people that has to
work next to superpowered stock cars every day without the benefit of hearing protection, you're
going to be blasted by yet another of the most painful sounds in the world. (play audio here)
From the comfort of home with your electronic speakers you aren't getting the full experience
of this mighty sound, that would require you to be part of a pit crew so you can experience
the massive 130 plus decibel level of a stock car first hand. Well past the point of hearing damage,
prolonged exposure to this volume will be very detrimental to your health.
Although the sound of stock cars flying by is a pretty neat sound,
and to us sounds like laser beams being fired
A soldier’s life can be rough, but on the battlefield just firing his or her weapon
can cause permanent hearing loss.
Gunfire Movies do
a really bad job of portraying just how loud guns really are. Clocking in at 140 decibels,
a gun battle is one of the loudest, most chaotic experiences any human can ever experience.
Once more your speakers simply aren't conveying the raw power of 140 decibel gun shots,
which are so deafening that hearing protection is mandatory on military shooting ranges
for the long-term health of shooters. Consider that modern assault rifles are semi-automatic,
and typically accompanied by fully automatic squad weapons, and you have a
recipe for permanent hearing damage- something Hollywood does a really bad job of showing.
Yet another hollywood myth: pretending that anything less than a screamed conversation is
possible in the midst of a modern gun battle. Now we switch things up from high frequency
or loud sounds, to the opposite end of the scale for some startling results.
Infrasound
A lot of the sounds we've covered today are very high frequencies, or just stupidly loud.
Infrasound however is very low frequency sound,
and its effects on humans is startling. (play audio here)
For most people, you likely barely heard anything at all,
and that's what you would expect from a sound with such low frequency. However,
the other problem is that most consumer speakers simply aren't capable of playing infrasound.
If however you're one of the lucky few who have music studio-quality speakers, then you
probably felt a sense of dread and discomfort after listening to the sound for a while.
Though inconclusive, some research has found that exposures at 6 to 15 Hz
can severely impact sleep quality, and should be of concern for people with faulty heating or
air conditioning equipment as misaligned fans can produce this frequency range.
Infrasound between 5 and 10 Hz may cause feelings of fatigue,
apathy, depression, loss of concentration, drowsiness, and even vibration of the
internal organs. It might even directly affect the nervous, cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
In our increasingly mechanized world, concerns over infrasound's health effects
are becoming greater and greater. Though the research is still relatively new,
it's believed that many common woes of mental, and even some physical health,
may be directly related to long-term infrasound exposure from vehicles or machinery.
Coincidentally, most large predatory animals have roars that dip well
into the infrasound range, and it is not uncommon for people exposed to lion, cougar,
and other big cat roars to report immediate feelings of fear and even physical discomfort.
Our next sound may have been used to attack American diplomats in Cuba.
Acoustic Weapons
Man has weaponized everything from hunting tools to birds, so it was inevitable that
sound too would become a thing to kill each other with. Today acoustic weapons are mostly
used defensively, such as the use of acoustic weapons during various protests in the US in 2019.
However, in 2016 acoustic weapons may have been used against US personnel for the first time.
Workers at the recently reopened embassy in Cuba
began reporting strange symptoms- a high frequency noise they could barely hear
seemed to be present at their homes and in the embassy itself. One worker said that the
noise could only be blocked out by closing all doors and windows and turning the tv on
high. Eventually physical and mental symptoms began to develop amongst the embassy staff,
ranging from headaches to depression and extreme fatigue. Believing the embassy was under attack,
most of the staff was pulled out as the Department of Defense and the FBI began to investigate.
The sound was recorded several times, with one of those recordings leaked to the press.
Initially it was believed that an acoustic weapon was to blame, but as
the investigation wore on it was thought that a specific type of cricket, plentiful in Cuba,
may actually be the culprit. This cricket can emit frequencies that are outside the
normal range of hearing in humans, and may have adverse health effects after long term exposure.
However, acoustic weapons are definitely a thing and already deployed by police
forces and anti-piracy patrols on the high seas. The weapons elicit a great
deal of pain and discomfort, and can even lead to permanent hearing loss.
Now go watch Most Painful Things A Human Can Experience #3, or click this other video instead!