Richard

A year-long on-line study set out to find what people thought was the worst noise in the world -- the one that you just can't stand -- the one that makes you cringe. And the winner is -- the sound of someone vomiting! At least that's the conclusion of 1.1 million votes from around the world. Loud microphone feedback came in second followed by crying babies and the scrapes and squeaks of train wheels were tied for third. Strangely, some sounds that were expected to rank high on the list really didn't. Fingernails on a blackboard came 16th while the dreaded dentist's drill was only 20th. The study was created by Trevor Cox, a professor of acoustic engineering at Salford University in England and set up on his website: sound101.org. (Daily Telegraph)


Feel free to add yours :

...The sound of a pneumatic-drill at work on the road.. the high-pitched barking of my neighbor's Pompek(Pomeranian mixed with Pekingese) in the middle of the night!.. cars with racing mufflers screaming up and down the road, also in the middle of the night!.. anything at all coming out the mouth of Paris Hilton(right up there with my first two sound-peeves).. and last but certainly not least, my tummy growling while my mike is on, hearing it through my headphones, and knowing if I can hear it, then anyone listening to my radio show can too!

tan.b

i definitely think babies crying is the hardest noise to tolerate!! i'm fine with other peoples babies crying, but if mine cry it rips me apart and stresses me out! when i had a dog it drove me insane barking everytime someone walked past the house...more i think cos i was worried if it bothered anyone else! but wreching (sp?!).... i cant do with that....or the smell. thats enough to get me going!!! i think i may actually have a phobia of all things to do with sick!! is that possible?!!!!

guppygranny

Someone on the toilet with really bad diarrhea don't sound too good either. Sorry. Guppygranny

chickadee

Those things do not bother me after all my years as a nurse but an ambulance wailing, that bothers me as I can never get over the stomach tightening wondering what is coming in next. (even though I have been retired for 9 years now)* The sound of the neighbor's hunting dog wanting to be fed at 4:00am is another thing that kind of disturbs me.* The screech of a speaker that is not set right when the mike is turned on at a publice gathering is another.

Rose

Isabella

LOL ... Richard, that's a good poll, hehe I have to tell you that the worst sounds to me are: vomiting; as Guppygranny said - diarrhea (lol, it's true, hehe); and ESCPECIALLY fingernails on a blackboard or chalk on a blackboard AND the dentist's drill !!! YUCK !!! As for the babies crying ... not that this sound makes me "cringe" but it just makes me very worried you know, worried about the baby. Especially when the baby is very small - then it cannot tell you what exactly is bothering it, and you have to wonder what's wrong, and whether it's possibly hurting. A barking dog's sound doesn't really make me "cringe" either, hehe. But I suppose it would make me nervous if it were at night and I were trying to sleep.

Since we're on that subject, I also wonder if there are certain things (objects), instead of sounds, which you don't like to touch. I don't know if you know what I mean. Because I, for example, cannot touch styrofoam or flour!!! I mean, I can touch them, but touching (or crushing) a styrofoam for example, makes me feel the same way I feel when I listen to a chalk or a fingernail squeaking against the blackboard. I don't know - maybe it's psychological: maybe my mind is associating the chalk with the flour? (Both are powdery and white.) And maybe that's why I don't like touching flour? LOL ... but that's me. I know it's weird, hehe Anybody?

atmmachine816

I don't get what it is with fingernailis and chalkboards, I do it all the time just to tick people off, it's so fun watching them wince. I know I'm mean I have to agree, vomiting is pretty bad, it gets old after you see people do it in Track and Cross country, it's even worse when you see somebody who runs really slow do it. What I hate most is when people have their headphones on really loud but not loud enough to hear the words so all you hear is the fuzzy static noise, I hear it lots in school.

Isabella

Also ... if you ever watch those medical channels / programs on TV, try to listen to the scalpel during some televised surgery ... To tell you the truth, I can't watch too many of those programs, lol. I can't look at blood, much less on the insides of the human body during the surgery. Or ... the sound of the body being cut open with some drill or scalpel ... yuck. (I think the name of that surgical tool is scalpel ... I may be wrong though.)

cherryrose

FishFyer

I think the worst sound is when somebody is fileing their nails it makes me cringe

emilai333

Tornado sirens and the fire alarms at my elementary school.
When I was little I was terrified of fire... all the way through elementary and middle school. I got to high school and we had our first firedrill of the year, and I realized that I was completely calm. It clicked that the sound of the alarm had changed from a grating screech to a lower pitched hoot. The tension that had lead to my being so scared as a child was caused by the noise!!!

As for tornado sirens, same thing- they make the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and I connect the sound with fear.

shollia

People vomiting doesn't bother me at all. This house has gotten some bad bad stomach viruses that made almost everyone puke their guts out... I'd get it, then bf would get it.. or vice versa.. and I'd be in that bathroom with him as he was doubled over the toilet rubbing his back for him as he upchucked. It just doesn't bother me for some reason.. *shrugs*

Sounds that do bother me are any kind of monotonous sound. Like an alarm clock going off, or a fan making a squeeking noise, or a car alarm... ya know.. like a dripping faucet sorta thing... anything like that drives me crazy specially when I'm tryng to sleep b/c that's all I can hear and focus on.
We used to live in these apartments that was across the road from this medical place and almost every single night, their alarm would go off. I had to go to sleep every night with headphones on... or with ear plugs in my ears to hopefully drown out the noise.
Also anything that has a very low humming noise to it is just **** to my ears b/c it will get stuck in my head even if the actual noise goes away. You know that sorta hum that seems like only you can hear.. and when you try to point it out to someone they look at you like you're crazy b/c they can't hear it
Our ceiling fan makes that sorta noise, but thankfully we got a window unit so now the air coming from that is all I hear heh.

I also can't stand the sound of dogs barking. My own.. I can deal with most of the time b/c I can tell them to hush up. But like if it's someone elses dog in the neighborhood...... UGH.

boff

BABY'S CRYING AT 3 IN THE MORNING ,NEVER AGAIN