Like most living beings on Earth, feelings and sensations help a person navigate in space. And, despite the fact that people have only five basic senses officially recognized, in fact there are more. However, the sense of sound is one of the most basic, it helps us to capture vibrations (by generating pressure waves) through an intermediary, usually air, which turns into something completely different - sound.

Through this sense, we can listen to music, communicate verbally, and hear an approaching threat. The path that these vibrations take before being formed into a sound is truly amazing, it depends on it whether it will be pleasant or annoying to human hearing.

Perhaps, let's start our list with a truly terrifying and annoying sound - everyone remembers the gnashing of nails on a blackboard. In the list of sounds that annoy people the most, this one takes the lead. But why exactly is it so disgusting to human hearing? The same question tormented some scientists, and they decided to conduct a study in 2011. This unpleasant sound belongs to the mid-range and is in the range from 2000 to 5000 Hz, the human ear, due to its shape, amplifies the sounds of medium frequencies. Perhaps it's a matter of evolution: the danger sounds that monkeys make are also at about this frequency. This fact may well explain the reason that these sounds seem louder to a person than they really are. Many question this explanation.

However, the reason why it is so annoying to most people is still unclear. According to the aforementioned study, it all depends on the context. About two hundred people were involved in the experiment, during which they were connected to monitors that recorded changes in heartbeat, skin electrical activity and the level of sweat released under the influence of annoying sounds. After that, the subjects were asked to rate the level of unpleasantness of the sounds on a certain scale. Half of those participating in the test were given their source, the other presented them as part of a piece of music. But, nevertheless, the reaction of the body remained unchanged: a rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, etc. It should be noted that people who were told the source of the sounds rated them as more annoying than those who listened to them in the composition. musical composition. Perhaps the sound itself is not so unpleasant, the effect is enhanced by what we see. Other similar sounds, for example, from a working drill; from a knife that slides over a glass; a fork, which we pass over a plate or over teeth; sheets of foam that rub against each other - they all belong to the same category.

champing

Have you ever dined in the company of those who chew or champ loudly? If yes, then you, most likely, also wanted to give them a cuff. But, if suddenly this has not happened to you, then you are in luck. What we are going to tell here is based solely on personal experience. Chances are you've heard it too, but just ignored it. If this is the case, then you are twice lucky, because misophonia (intolerance to certain sounds) is unusual for you. The term itself appeared in the early 2000s, when a group of scientists began to study tinnitus. But misophonia refers not only to this phenomenon, but to the unpleasant sensations that people experience when they hear certain sounds: champing, heavy breathing, tapping fingers, yawning, crunching fingers, snoring, and even whistling. As it turned out, the point here is that the sound is repeated at a certain frequency. Surprisingly, misophonia is also associated with dislike of fidgeting, although this process has nothing to do with auditory perception of reality.

The normal reaction of people suffering from misophonia may be irritation, disgust, discomfort, even a desire to leave. But sometimes it happens that people react much harder, falling into a panic, rage, or experiencing intense hatred. Sometimes it even comes to the desire to kill a person who makes an annoying sound, or suicidal thoughts arise. Such people, of course, find it very difficult to be in society, they try to avoid dangerous meetings with others and eat alone or completely isolate themselves from society. Misophonia is not yet well understood, but there are really many people who suffer from it. Symptoms are usually associated with irritation, depression, and even an obsessive-compulsive (compulsive) state. What is the cause of such irritation is still not clear, doctors believe that both physical and psychological sides are involved here. Misophonia begins to manifest itself in adolescence, most common in girls. But the question of whether this phenomenon can be recognized as a disease, or is it just an obsessive condition, is still open.

Earworm (obtrusive melodies)

Has it ever happened to you that the same song plays in your head, as if the record is stuck? Of course, this has happened to everyone. Worst of all, it's not even the whole song, but a little snippet or chorus, right? This annoying nonsense is called an earworm, it has been tormenting humanity for a long time. There are always several reasons for this phenomenon, here are the main ones: stress, increased emotional sensitivity, wandering in the clouds, associative series. That's why you start singing the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen when someone says the word "mom". In fact, 90% of people experience this condition at least once a week, while a quarter of us experience it several times a day. Most often, this state occurs when we do routine work, which does not need much concentration.

By the way, we give a tooth, you are now humming "Bohemian Rhapsody", right? Okay, let's move on...

Most often, the chorus gets stuck in our head, because we memorize this part of the song the fastest. And because we don't know the whole song, we repeat the chorus over and over again in our minds, trying to get to the end that doesn't really exist. Earworms are to some extent also referred to as auditory imagination. To date, scientists cannot unequivocally say whether obsessive melodies have some higher purpose, other than the ability to give the brain a little rest. Studies have also found that people who do verbal exercises, read anagrams, or a thrilling novel don't hear haunting melodies in their heads. The idea is to keep your brain busy with something that is not very complex, then the earworms will never come to you.

Baby crying is one of the most annoying and unpleasant sounds.

If every time you fly in an airplane, it seems to you that a child is crying somewhere, we will tell you about the reasons for this phenomenon. It's just the way the human brain is programmed. It turns out that a baby's cry always grabs our attention more than any other sound in the world. Oxford scientists conducted an experiment in which it turned out that when a person hears a baby cry, several of his brain centers immediately react to it: emotional, speech, the “fight or flight” mechanism, pleasure centers for several senses at once. The reaction of the brain to it is so lightning fast that, even if it is only partially recognized, it is perceived as very important.

All volunteers who took part in the study were given a chance to listen different sounds, including the cries of adults, the cries of animals in pain, none of the sounds caused such a violent reaction in the brain as the cry of a child. Moreover, none of the 28 volunteers had children, and none of them had ever been left alone with babies. This means that every person instinctively reacts to the crying of a child, regardless of whether he has his own children or not. Interesting fact- immediately after a person hears a child's cry, his body is mobilized, which contributes to a quick transition to care mode. So, whether you have children or not, you will still react to children's cries and there is nothing you can do about it.

Vuvuzelas

The history of the vuvuzela begins in 1910, with Isaiah Shembe, a self-proclaimed preacher and founder of the Nazarene Baptist Church in South Africa. Initially, this instrument was made of reed, then of metal, it was usually used in services in the church. And at the same time, as the number of followers of this church increased, the more widespread the vuvuzela became, in the 80s of the 20th century it began to appear on the football stadiums of South Africa. In the 90s, mass production of plastic vuvuzelas swept through South Africa, this instrument became an integral part of the sporting events in the country. The vuvuzela became widespread in 2010 after the FIFA World Cup, which was held in South Africa.

Being something new and having a very loud sound, the vuvuzela gradually entered other sports. But her loud fame was short-lived: with the simultaneous sound of several vuvuzelas, the sound was so loud that some fans lost their hearing for a while and it seemed that there was a crowd of evil dwarfs somewhere nearby. This sound irritates the ear even when the match is broadcast on TV, and worsens the situation when a person cannot control its source. In general, the whole story with the vuvuzela quickly came to naught, already at the next FIFA Championship in Brazil they were banned from using.

Gagging

Do you get sick when you hear someone vomit or when someone just talks about it? If your answer is yes, then we have two news for you: good and bad. We suggest starting with a bad one - you can’t do anything about it, the human brain works like that. And that's it. But the good news is that this reflex tells you that you are an empath. Yes, you can really feel what others feel and empathize with them. You are the one they call a good man or a partner. So-called “mirror” neurons work well in your brain, which make you copy the behavior and feelings of others.

The presence of these same neurons indicates that you have achieved higher level evolution, conditionally, of course. Believe it or not, this reflex could one day save your life. Scientists believe that such behavior is characteristic only of man, since he is a social being. Let's go back to prehistoric times, when people lived in very small communities: if one or more of the inhabitants of the community began to feel sick, this could mean that the food was spoiled or poisonous, and only a gag reflex could save the rest from poisoning. That is, such behavior simply helped our ancestors survive.

Swearing at other people

With the appearance on TV screens of various programs such as The Jerry Springer Show and, of course, the broadcast of the latest presidential elections in the US, it starts to seem that people just love to arrange showdowns and do not find them irritable at all. To some extent, this is true as long as you are on the other side of the screen and just look at all this. If you're lying on the couch watching TV, it's certainly fun to watch others swear. You may even start to feel better. But, for example, if you are in the kitchen and your neighbors begin to swear because of who was doing the dishes today, or who left the toilet seat up, then you will definitely feel uncomfortable being next to them. And it is not necessary for you to take part in the conflict, it is enough that these people are not indifferent to you at least a little. The subject of the dispute and your desire to take part in it also play a role.

Our attitude to conflict situations depends on how parents solved them. Children at any age, whether they are a year old or fifteen, are very sensitive to parental quarrels. This concerns primarily not the subject of the dispute, but the final result. For years, psychologists have studied the impact of parental conflicts on children, and while arguments are inevitable, even they can be beneficial. It is important that children see that after conflict is resolved, parents become a little better, then they can understand the true meaning of compromise, acceptance of other people and resolution. conflict situations. If this does not happen, then in adulthood such children will be afraid of conflict, avoiding controversial situations in all possible ways.

Chatting on the phone

In 1880, Mark Twain wrote an essay titled " Telephone conversation". It happened just 4 years after Alexander Bell invented it. In this essay, Twain is ironic about how a telephone conversation is perceived by a third person who hears only half of the conversation. What led him to write this work is still the reason that we are annoyed by other people's telephone conversations. The fact is that the human brain is prone to predicting events. It doesn't matter whether we do it consciously or unconsciously, when we listen to someone else's telephone conversation, we have insufficient information and cannot predict what the speaker will say next. All people do this, and there is no way to influence it.

This phenomenon is directly related to the main idea of ​​the "theory of consciousness", which is that a person has access only to his own consciousness, and you can get it through introspection, we can try to understand others by the same analogy and by comparison. And people are quite capable of it. There were cases when people repeated almost word for word what their interlocutor was going to say. But if part of the conversation is incomprehensible, the brain can't model a response, which drives it crazy. It is for this reason that other people's telephone conversations annoy us, because we cannot predict what a person will say in the next minute.

Spitting, coughing, sniffling, and of course farting

Each person will call all these unpleasant sounds disgusting or, at least, annoying. Some of this is due to misophonia, which we discussed above, but there are other reasons as well. First of all, these are some social factors. For example, residents of the UK find these sounds more annoying than people from South Africa, most likely this is due to the difference in cultures. Older people are more critical of them, perhaps because they have not heard them so often in public, or maybe because their libido has come to naught - scientists have not yet come to a definite conclusion.

Another explanation is that these sounds are associated with the secrets of the human body and excrement, which may be the result of pathology or disease, and therefore it is unpleasant for people to hear them. In addition, the study showed that women are more annoyed by these sounds than men. Perhaps this happens because a woman is genetically programmed to take care not only of herself, but also of the child. Although, of course, no one cancels the role of social factors.

Brownian noise

Let's treat the last annoying sound hypothetically and listen to Brownian noise, which few people know about. We hope that you are reading this article on your phone or sitting on the toilet, just as a precaution.

This is a low sound, its frequency is 5–9 Hz, which is unattainable for perception by the human ear. But, if the sound is loud enough, then our body can feel the vibration. You need to be careful, because they say that it is he who makes people put in their pants (in the literal sense). Not very pleasant, is it? The history of this noise began in 1955 and is connected with the aircraft. It was an experimental aircraft with a turbine engine and an ultra-high-speed propeller, the rotation speed of which reached nine hundred revolutions per minute. Even when idling on the ground, a working propeller caused nearby people to experience nausea, headaches and uncontrolled bowel movements. The project was closed, some crew members were seriously injured from shock wave. The plane was recognized as the loudest in history - the sound of running engines could be heard for 40 kilometers.

Nevertheless, experiments were carried out for quite a long time, but it was not possible to obtain this Brownian noise. Even NASA became interested in this phenomenon, they were concerned that the astronauts might need to change their spacesuit after takeoff. But the myth of Brownian noise is still alive. In 2005, Mythbusters tried to recreate it, but nothing terrible happened. According to the subject, he simply had the feeling that he was hit in the chest, as if it were a drum. It may be that the reaction of people to the sound from the aircraft was not created artificially, and Brownian noise really exists. Just imagine, if someone could recreate this sound and somehow release it to the public, what fun could any child have at a Sunday church service?

Sounds are definitely an integral part of our life. Even people who have lost their hearing can feel many of them. But they are not always pleasant to the human ear, and sometimes they can even adversely affect health. Today we tried to explain to you the nature of perception of only some of them, in fact there are many more of them.

There is a mass unpleasant sounds that annoy a person. For example, no one likes to hear the sound of fingernails scratching a board, let alone the scrape of a fork on a plate. When all the muscles are tense, a chill runs down the back, and a terrible sensation appears on the teeth, similar to a set on edge. In order to convey to you the full range of these “wonderful” feelings as accurately as possible, we specifically listened to the creaks and clanging of several objects. Brrr! But what can you do for our readers.

What is the explanation for such a reaction of the body?

Dr. Sukhbinder Kumar from the Institute of Neurology at Newcastle University (UK) suggests that this reaction originates in the tonsils, two small areas of our brain associated with positive and negative emotions. Perhaps this reaction is a warning reflex, passed down to us from our ancestors. To survive, they were constantly on the alert, listening for various sounds that could be associated with danger. All these factors caused their bodies to react in the manner described above.

The crying of a child, for example, is sometimes very unpleasant for our ears, but, nevertheless, it forces us to pay attention to it and soothe the baby. But in general, high frequency sounds are always annoying because they are often associated with danger. This is clearly seen in the animal world. When the monkey wants to warn the group about the approach of a predator, it always lets out a shrill cry. It is believed that our ancestors also signaled a threat.

The most unpleasant sounds for a person

We want to note right away that it is difficult to single out a particular sound as the most unpleasant sound in the world. Some people are more sensitive and irritated by more noises, clanks and grindings. So one person hears the creak of a rusty swing in the park and cannot be there, while the other simply does not notice him. Therefore, which sound is the most terrible is a personal matter for everyone. So, we present to you list of the most annoying sounds.

— The grinding of a fork or knife on a plate is perhaps one of the most disgusting. No wonder after him all those sitting at the table look very unfriendly at the person who accidentally published it.

— The sound of dripping water from a faucet.

— The sound of the violin when it is badly played.

- A high-pitched shrill sound when a very powerful whistle is set on a boiling kettle.

- Sound when the microphone is turned on. We are sure you heard it at a concert or at a conference.

— Door creak.

- The sound of fingernails or chalk being forced across a board.

— The creak of rusty chains on the swings.

— The sound when the car is rushing at high speed, and then brakes sharply.

- The cry of a child. Although a person is nervous, but thanks to crying, an instinct is triggered that prompts him to take care of the baby.

- The sound of power tools such as a drill, rotary hammer and others.

- The screech of wheels on the rails when the train slows down.

- Sound when rubbing foam.

- The squeak of a flying mosquito.

— The sound of a drill in the dental office.

And this is not the whole list. As we already wrote, it is individual for each person. We wish you to hear unpleasant sounds less often, so that your nerves are in order.

Like most living beings on Earth, we rely on our senses in our daily activities. And although we humans have five basic senses, there may be twenty-one in total. However, one of the main senses is hearing, which allows us to pick up vibrations passing through the atmosphere and then transform them into something else, namely sounds.

Hearing allows us to listen to music, conversations, and even helps us sense a potential threat (for example, hearing a lion stalking us). It is amazing how fluctuations in the atmosphere can turn into sounds in our heads and what is the reason that some sounds give us pleasure, while others are wildly annoying.

1. Scratching nails on the board

Let's start this list with a particularly nasty sound: fingernails on a board. Among the many sounds that people dislike, it is considered one of the most unpleasant. But why? Why do we find this particular sound so unbearable? Apparently, this question has already interested even some scientists, so in 2011 they conducted research given sound. Firstly, it turned out that the sound received during the grinding of nails on the board is in the middle range of sound vibrations, somewhere in the range of 2000-5000 Hz. This frequency is actually amplified by the human ear due to its shape; some believe that this happened as a result of evolution. It is in this range that primates give each other alarm calls, and this may be why we hear these sounds better than others. However, this issue is still widely discussed.

However, that still doesn't explain why this sound is so annoying. According to the previously mentioned research, it turns out that context plays an important role here. Two dozen participants were hooked up to sensors that analyzed their heart rate, electrodermal activity and sweat rate, and then exposed to a series of annoying sounds. Participants were then asked to rate the extent of discomfort for each of them. Half of the volunteers were told exactly the source of each sound, while the other half were told that the unpleasant sounds were part of some musical piece of art. And while their physical responses were the same—increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and the like—people in the first half were more likely to describe these sounds as annoying than those who considered them part of a contemporary piece of music. So, as it turns out, we don't necessarily hate the sound itself, we hate the picture that appears before our mind's eye: the movement of nails across the board. The same goes for most other sounds, such as the noise of a working drill, a knife hitting glass, a fork grinding on a plate or teeth, or the creaking of Styrofoam.

2. Loud chewing

Have you ever been surrounded by people who chew their food so loudly and sloppily that it makes you want to hit them? If not, then you are very lucky. We are talking about our own experience here. You probably heard it too, but didn't pay attention. If so, then you're one of the lucky few who doesn't suffer from a mild form of "misophonia," or "sound-hating." The term itself was coined back in the early 2000s, when a group of scientists were studying tinnitus. But misophonia includes not only discomfort from ringing in the ears, but also the discomfort that some feel from other sounds made by a person, such as chewing, panting, snapping fingers, yawning, snoring, or even whistling. As it turns out, the repetitive nature of these sounds is partly to blame. And, oddly enough, misophonia can also extend to things like kicking your feet, which makes no sound at all.

A mild form of reaction of people who are exposed to these sounds is irritation, disgust, discomfort, or a desire to leave. But the reactions can be more serious: some people experience anger, anger, feelings of deep hatred, panic, desire kill the culprit, and sometimes even thoughts of suicide appear. And, as it is not difficult to imagine, it is extremely difficult for these people to fit into modern society. As a rule, they tend to avoid such meetings as often as possible, eat alone, or even try to live in complete isolation. Although misophonia is not fully understood or even thoroughly analyzed, it is known that a large part of the world's population is affected by its mild form, and its symptoms are often associated with anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, the true reasons for its appearance are still largely a mystery. Doctors believe that these causes are partly physical, partly mental. Misophonia tends to get worse around the age of 9 to 13 and is more common in girls. But whether it is a separate disorder or just a side effect of anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder, no one knows for sure.

3. Obsessive melody stuck in the head

Have you ever had the same tune in your head that repeats over and over again like a broken record? Of course yes. It happened to everyone. Worst of all, it's not even the whole song, it's just a small part of it that repeats endlessly, right? These pesky little passages have been spoiling the lives of mankind for a very long time. The reasons for their appearance are quite complex, but they include a combination of things such as stress, altered emotional states, scattered consciousness and memory associations. That's why sometimes when you hear the word "mom", "Bohemian Rhapsody" starts to sound in your head. What is interesting about these ringtones is that about 90% of people suffer from them at least once a week, while a quarter of the population has it several times a day. This often occurs when we do monotonous repetitive work that does not require much attention.

Most often, such an annoying melody is the chorus - as a rule, this is all that we remember from the song. Because we don't remember the rest, we tend to repeat this chorus over and over and over again, trying to find a possible ending that isn't really in our memory. It can also be described to some extent as involuntary auditory imagination. But scientists still haven't figured out if these melodies are just a by-product of our dormant brain or if they have a more important meaning. However, researchers have found that if you engage in word-related tasks like creating anagrams or reading a compelling novel, those haunting melodies tend to go away. The key is to find a challenge that is attractive enough but not too difficult, because otherwise your mind will start wandering again.

4. Crying baby

A person hears the cry of a child even against the background of a plane taking off, and there is an explanation for this. This is because we are all predisposed to it, no matter what the circumstances. All of us. And as it turns out, the sound of a baby crying grabs our attention more than any other sound in the world. A study by researchers at Oxford found that the sound of a crying baby immediately triggers an intense response in our brain, especially in areas of the brain that are responsible for emotions, speech, responses to threats, and in the control centers of various senses. The response to this particular sound is so fast that the brain marks it as very important even before it has a chance to fully recognize it.

All of the volunteers who took part in this study were exposed to a series of sounds, including crying adults or various animals that are in pain or suffering. No sound elicited such an intense and immediate reaction as the crying of a child. Moreover, none of the 28 volunteers was a parent or had any experience caring for infants. This means that we respond to the sound of a crying baby, whether we are the parent or not. Even more interesting is the fact that immediately after people hear this cry, their overall physical performance increases, and reflexes are accelerated, which can facilitate the necessary actions. So when you get on a plane with a crying baby, you involuntarily set off an alarm. And since you are not a parent and there is nothing you can do about this crying, you end up feeling frustrated and annoyed.

5. Vuvuzela

It appeared around 1910 and was created by Isaiah Shembe, a self-proclaimed prophet and founder of the Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa. The instrument was originally made from cane and wood, but later versions were made from metal. The vuvuzela was used as a religious instrument, played along with African drums during church ceremonies. But as the number of church followers grew, the vuvuzela became so widespread that in the 1980s it was used during football matches in South Africa. By 1990, the South African market was flooded with mass-produced plastic vuvuzelas. They soon became an integral part of the general atmosphere of sports in the country. Then, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the vuvuzela spread like wildfire across the globe.

Being a novelty among foreign fans and due to its loudness, the vuvuzela soon became popular in competitions in other sports. But her quickly gained popularity was short-lived. It is one thing when it is played by a professional trumpeter accompanied by drums or other instruments, and another thing when hundreds or even thousands of football fans use it in the stadium. In addition to the fact that some viewers suffered temporary hearing loss due to the volume of the vuvuzela, the sounds made by many instruments in different keys and at different frequencies resemble a huge swarm of angry wasps. This sound is so annoying that it can even ruin your TV broadcast. What's more, the fact that you can't control the source of the noise makes things worse. Therefore, FIFA banned the use of vuvuzelas during the next World Cup, held in Brazil.

6. Vomiting

Are you one of those people who starts to feel sick at the sight of another sick person? Or does it happen even when you hear just talk about it? Well, if that is the case, then we have news for you, both good and bad. Let's start with the bad news. You can't do anything about it. Dot. This is how your brain works, and there is nothing that can change this situation. But here's the good news: you're an empathic person. You are the kind of person who has the ability to feel the same as those around you, and you empathize with them. You are what some call a good friend or partner. Your brain has some kind of "mirror neurons" that make you copy what others are doing or feel the feelings of others.

Because of these mirror neurons, you can also consider yourself an enhanced human being - literally. Believe it or not, what irritates you when people around you feel sick may just save your life one day. Some scientists have concluded that this mirror image is an evolutionary trait of man as a communal being. Back in prehistoric times, when people lived in small communities, if one or more of them vomited, it was probably the result of eating spoiled food or poisoning. Thus it is mirror reflection was, in fact, a pre-emptive measure to get rid of any potential poison before it even began to act.

7. Other people's disputes

Judging by the TV shows, people seem to enjoy other people's arguments more than they annoy them. But there is a difference, and it is due to where the dispute takes place. If you're watching TV while sitting on your couch at home, it can be quite interesting to see people arguing about anything; it may even increase your personal self-esteem. But if you're in the kitchen and your roommates start arguing about whose turn it is to do the dishes or who lifted the toilet seat, it can be quite uncomfortable to be in the same room with them. Not only that, you can also get involved in the argument, declaring your opinion, or even - God forbid - take sides, but the fact is that these people are in any case not indifferent to you ... at least to some degree. The subject of the dispute also plays an important role, whether it affects your interests, and, first of all, whether you yourself want to take part in it.

But the main reason why we find these intimate arguments so annoying and unnecessary is rooted in our childhood, in our parents' domestic disputes. Children of all ages, both very young and teenagers, are very receptive to their parents' fights. And here it is not the fact of the dispute that is important, but rather its result. For many years, physiologists have analyzed the impact of family strife on children and found that even if an argument is inevitable, it can be productive. Children should see that their parents ended up arguing more peacefully than they started it. Thus, they learn the ability to resolve conflicts and accept compromises. If this does not happen, then they grow up with a fear of potential conflicts and will always try to avoid them, even if it is wrong.

8. Chatting on the phone

Back in 1880, Mark Twain wrote an essay called "Telephone Conversation". It was only four years after Alexander Graham Bell presented his invention to the world. In this essay, Twain pokes fun at how such a conversation sounds from an outsider who can only hear half of the conversation. But what made him write this essay is one of the most annoying reasons today. As it turns out, our brains have a habit of anticipating what's going to happen. Thus, whether we like it or not, when we listen to someone's conversation, we are actually not just taking in information, but at the same time preparing our answer and trying to figure out what this person wants to say next. It happens involuntarily and we all do it.

The "Theory of Mind" says that we only have direct access to our own consciousness; we perceive the thoughts of other people only with the help of analogy and comparison. And we successfully cope with this, on various shows there are people who repeat what was said in front of them as quickly as they express their own thoughts. But if speech becomes unpredictable, with random words, then our brain is in trouble. And that's what drives us crazy. This is the reason why we are so annoyed by telephone conversations when we hear only one interlocutor. We cannot predict what a person is going to say next.

9. Spitting, coughing, sobbing and, of course, farting

Almost everyone classifies these sounds as disgusting or at least annoying. In addition to the fact that all these actions can be annoying with the sounds themselves, they can be inconvenient for other reasons. First, there may be some social factors involved. For example, people from the UK find them more annoying and disgusting than residents South America Probably due to cultural differences. In addition, older people are also more likely to find them unpleasant, hinting at the idea that they are not used to hearing these sounds in public places. It can also be due to a decrease in sex drive. Scientists are still debating this issue.

Another reason may be that these sounds are associated with secretions and excrement. These things are often associated with pathogens and diseases, which explains why people tend to be disgusted or even distracted when they hear them. A study at the University of Salford found that women of all ages find these sounds more disgusting than their male counterparts. This may be due to the fact that traditionally women play dual role as protectors - they protect both themselves and children. But, again, this may be due to social factors.

10. The infamous "brown note"

Finally, let's analyze the hypothetically existing "brown note". This is a sound at an ultra-low frequency somewhere between 5 and 9 Hz, which is below the threshold of perception of the human ear. But if the sound is loud enough, it can be felt in the body as a vibration. And, as its name implies, this particular frequency is rumored to cause involuntary stools that turn pants brown. It can be very annoying, right?

The whole story with the "brown note" began with the Republic XF-84H "Thunderscreech" aircraft in 1955. It was experimental aircraft with a gas turbine engine and a supersonic propeller. It is reported that even when idling on the ground, this propeller made about 900 sonic pops every minute, and this caused nausea, severe headache, and sometimes involuntary contractions of the intestines in others. The project was canceled because some of the crew members were seriously injured as a result of sonic booms. It is quite possible that Thunderscreech was the loudest aircraft ever built, people could hear it for 40 kilometers.

In any case, after rumors about the possible unpleasant consequences of exposure to ultra-low frequencies, countless experiments were carried out over the years, but without any "brown" results. This was even done by NASA, which feared that the astronauts might need to change their spacesuits after launching into space. This is how the myth of the “brown note” appeared (it was even used in an episode of the movie “South Park”). In 2005, The Mythbusters did an experiment with Adam Savage, but all he felt was like someone was drumming on his chest, nothing else happened. Of course, it is possible that the conditions that accompanied the tests of a supersonic aircraft were not modeled with due accuracy, and the “brown frequency” does exist, but the chances of this are small. But what if it really is, and someone decides to find a commercial application for it - can you imagine what a child on Sunday in church can do with such an invention?

Misophonia is a rather rare anomaly in which certain sounds cause acute attacks. This was written in The Daily Mail. They know it.

Disease history

Faith Watson, 20, who lives in Suffolk, has been struggling with misophonia, a very rare condition, for years. It's about pathological rejection. various sounds. For example, a girl is extremely annoyed by the sounds that people make when they chew food. Worst of all, a woman cannot cope with violent fits of anger as a reaction to these sounds. The patient is forced to eat to loud music that drowns out all other sounds.

Condition symptoms

annoying sounds

Among the most common annoying sounds are the sounds:

• chewing food;
• exhalation;
• inhalation;
• coughing;
• sneezing.

How to treat misophonia

There is no official cure for the disease. But a lot of people are trying to turn to hypnotherapy, meditation, behavioral cognitive therapy. Often even making a diagnosis becomes a problem. For example, in Faith's case, she was diagnosed only at the age of eighteen. The situation was aggravated by severe stress, which caused the death of the mother. By the way,

Hearing allows us to listen to music, conversations, and even helps us sense a potential threat (for example, hearing a lion stalking us). It is amazing how fluctuations in the atmosphere can turn into sounds in our heads and what is the reason that some sounds give us pleasure, while others are wildly annoying.

1. Scratching nails on the board

Let's start this list with a particularly nasty sound: fingernails on a board. Among the many sounds that people dislike, it is considered one of the most unpleasant. But why? Why do we find this particular sound so unbearable? Apparently, this question has already interested even some scientists, so in 2011 they conducted research on this sound. Firstly, it turned out that the sound received during the grinding of nails on the board is in the middle range of sound vibrations, somewhere in the range of 2000-5000 Hz. This frequency is actually amplified by the human ear due to its shape; some believe that this happened as a result of evolution. It is in this range that primates give each other alarm calls, and this may be why we hear these sounds better than others. However, this issue is still widely discussed.

However, that still doesn't explain why this sound is so annoying. According to the previously mentioned research, it turns out that context plays an important role here. Two dozen participants were hooked up to sensors that analyzed their heart rate, electrodermal activity and sweat rate, and then exposed to a series of annoying sounds. Participants were then asked to rate the extent of discomfort for each of them. Half of the volunteers were told exactly the source of each sound, while the other half were told that the unpleasant sounds were part of some musical piece of art. And while their physical responses were the same—increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and the like—people in the first half were more likely to describe these sounds as annoying than those who considered them part of a contemporary piece of music. So, as it turns out, we don't necessarily hate the sound itself, we hate the picture that appears before our mind's eye: the movement of nails across the board. The same goes for most other sounds, such as the noise of a working drill, a knife hitting glass, a fork grinding on a plate or teeth, or the creaking of Styrofoam.

2. Loud chewing

Have you ever been surrounded by people who chew their food so loudly and sloppily that it makes you want to hit them? If not, then you are very lucky. We are talking about our own experience here. You probably heard it too, but didn't pay attention. If so, then you're one of the lucky few who doesn't suffer from a mild form of "misophonia," or "sound-hating." The term itself was coined back in the early 2000s, when a group of scientists were studying tinnitus. But misophonia includes not only discomfort from ringing in the ears, but also the discomfort that some feel from other sounds made by a person, such as chewing, panting, snapping fingers, yawning, snoring, or even whistling. As it turns out, the repetitive nature of these sounds is partly to blame. And, oddly enough, misophonia can also extend to things like kicking your feet, which makes no sound at all.

A mild form of reaction of people who are exposed to these sounds is irritation, disgust, discomfort, or a desire to leave. But reactions can be more serious: some people experience anger, anger, feelings of deep hatred, panic, a strong desire to kill the culprit, and sometimes even suicidal thoughts. And, as it is easy to imagine, it is extremely difficult for these people to fit into modern society. As a rule, they tend to avoid such meetings as often as possible, eat alone, or even try to live in complete isolation. Although misophonia is not fully understood or even thoroughly analyzed, it is known that a large part of the world's population is affected by its mild form, and its symptoms are often associated with anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, the true reasons for its appearance are still largely a mystery. Doctors believe that these causes are partly physical, partly mental. Misophonia tends to get worse around the age of 9 to 13 and is more common in girls. But whether it is a separate disorder or just a side effect of anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder, no one knows for sure.

3. Obsessive melody stuck in the head

Have you ever had the same tune in your head that repeats over and over again like a broken record? Of course yes. It happened to everyone. Worst of all, it's not even the whole song, it's just a small part of it that repeats endlessly, right? These pesky little passages have been spoiling the lives of mankind for a very long time. The reasons for their appearance are quite complex, but they include a combination of things such as stress, altered emotional states, scattered consciousness, and memory associations. That's why sometimes when you hear the word "mom", "Bohemian Rhapsody" starts to sound in your head. What is interesting about these ringtones is that about 90% of people suffer from them at least once a week, while a quarter of the population has it several times a day. This often occurs when we do monotonous repetitive work that does not require much attention.

Most often, such an annoying melody is the chorus - as a rule, this is all that we remember from the song. Because we don't remember the rest, we tend to repeat this chorus over and over and over again, trying to find a possible ending that isn't really in our memory. It can also be described to some extent as involuntary auditory imagination. But scientists still haven't figured out if these melodies are just a by-product of our dormant brain or if they have a more important meaning. However, researchers have found that if you engage in word-related tasks like creating anagrams or reading a compelling novel, those haunting melodies tend to go away. The key is to find a challenge that is attractive enough but not too difficult, because otherwise your mind will start wandering again.

4. Crying baby

A person hears the cry of a child even against the background of a plane taking off, and there is an explanation for this. This is because we are all predisposed to it, no matter what the circumstances. All of us. And as it turns out, the sound of a baby crying grabs our attention more than any other sound in the world. A study by researchers at Oxford found that the sound of a crying baby immediately triggers an intense response in our brain, especially in areas of the brain that are responsible for emotions, speech, responses to threats, and in the control centers of various senses. The response to this particular sound is so fast that the brain marks it as very important even before it has a chance to fully recognize it.

All of the volunteers who took part in this study were exposed to a series of sounds, including crying adults or various animals that are in pain or suffering. No sound elicited such an intense and immediate reaction as the crying of a child. Moreover, none of the 28 volunteers was a parent or had any experience caring for infants. This means that we respond to the sound of a crying baby, whether we are the parent or not. Even more interesting is the fact that immediately after people hear this cry, their overall physical performance increases, and reflexes are accelerated, which can facilitate the necessary actions. So when you get on a plane with a crying baby, you involuntarily set off an alarm. And since you are not a parent and there is nothing you can do about this crying, you end up feeling frustrated and annoyed.

5. Vuvuzela

It appeared around 1910 and was created by Isaiah Shembe, a self-proclaimed prophet and founder of the Nazarene Baptist Church in South Africa. The instrument was originally made from cane and wood, but later versions were made from metal. The vuvuzela was used as a religious instrument, played along with African drums during church ceremonies. But as the number of church followers grew, the vuvuzela became so widespread that in the 1980s it was used during football matches in South Africa. By 1990, the South African market was flooded with mass-produced plastic vuvuzelas. They soon became an integral part of the general atmosphere of sports in the country. Then, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the vuvuzela spread like wildfire across the globe.

Being a novelty among foreign fans and due to its loudness, the vuvuzela soon became popular in competitions in other sports. But her quickly gained popularity was short-lived. It is one thing when it is played by a professional trumpeter accompanied by drums or other instruments, and another thing when hundreds or even thousands of football fans use it in the stadium. In addition to the fact that some viewers suffered temporary hearing loss due to the volume of the vuvuzela, the sounds made by many instruments in different keys and at different frequencies resemble a huge swarm of angry wasps. This sound is so annoying that it can even ruin your TV broadcast. What's more, the fact that you can't control the source of the noise makes things worse. Therefore, FIFA banned the use of vuvuzelas during the next World Cup, held in Brazil.

6. Vomiting

Are you one of those people who starts to feel sick at the sight of another sick person? Or does it happen even when you hear just talk about it? Well, if that is the case, then we have news for you, both good and bad. Let's start with the bad news. You can't do anything about it. Dot. This is how your brain works, and there is nothing that can change this situation. But here's the good news: you're an empathic person. You are the kind of person who has the ability to feel the same as those around you, and you empathize with them. You are what some call a good friend or partner. Your brain has some kind of "mirror neurons" that make you copy what others are doing or feel the feelings of others.

Because of these mirror neurons, you can also consider yourself an enhanced human being - literally. Believe it or not, what irritates you when people around you feel sick may just save your life one day. Some scientists have concluded that this mirror image is an evolutionary trait of man as a communal being. Back in prehistoric times, when people lived in small communities, if one or more of them vomited, it was probably the result of eating spoiled food or poisoning. So this mirroring was essentially a pre-emptive measure to get rid of any potential poison before it even started to take effect.

7. Other people's disputes

Judging by the TV shows, people seem to enjoy other people's arguments more than they annoy them. But there is a difference, and it is due to where the dispute takes place. If you're watching TV while sitting on your couch at home, it can be quite interesting to see people arguing about anything; it may even increase your personal self-esteem. But if you're in the kitchen and your roommates start arguing about whose turn it is to do the dishes or who lifted the toilet seat, it can be quite uncomfortable to be in the same room with them. Not only that, you can also get involved in the argument, declaring your opinion, or even - God forbid - take sides, but the fact is that these people are in any case not indifferent to you ... at least to some degree. The subject of the dispute also plays an important role, whether it affects your interests, and, first of all, whether you yourself want to take part in it.

But the main reason why we find these intimate arguments so annoying and unnecessary is rooted in our childhood, in our parents' domestic disputes. Children of all ages, both very young and teenagers, are very receptive to their parents' fights. And here it is not the fact of the dispute that is important, but rather its result. For many years, physiologists have analyzed the impact of family strife on children and found that even if an argument is inevitable, it can be productive. Children should see that their parents ended up arguing more peacefully than they started it. Thus, they learn the ability to resolve conflicts and accept compromises. If this does not happen, then they grow up with a fear of potential conflicts and will always try to avoid them, even if it is wrong.

8. Chatting on the phone

Back in 1880, Mark Twain wrote an essay called "Telephone Conversation". It was only four years after Alexander Graham Bell presented his invention to the world. In this essay, Twain pokes fun at how such a conversation sounds from an outsider who can only hear half of the conversation. But what made him write this essay is one of the most annoying reasons today. As it turns out, our brains have a habit of anticipating what's going to happen. Thus, whether we like it or not, when we listen to someone's conversation, we are actually not just taking in information, but at the same time preparing our answer and trying to figure out what this person wants to say next. It happens involuntarily and we all do it.

The "Theory of Mind" says that we only have direct access to our own consciousness; we perceive the thoughts of other people only with the help of analogy and comparison. And we successfully cope with this, on various shows there are people who repeat what was said in front of them as quickly as they express their own thoughts. But if speech becomes unpredictable, with random words, then our brain is in trouble. And that's what drives us crazy. This is the reason why we are so annoyed by telephone conversations when we hear only one interlocutor. We cannot predict what a person is going to say next.

9. Spitting, coughing, sobbing and, of course, farting

Almost everyone classifies these sounds as disgusting or at least annoying. In addition to the fact that all these actions can be annoying with the sounds themselves, they can be inconvenient for other reasons. First, there may be some social factors involved. For example, people in the UK find them more annoying and disgusting than South Americans, probably due to cultural differences. In addition, older people are also more likely to find them unpleasant, hinting at the idea that they are not used to hearing these sounds in public places. It can also be due to a decrease in sex drive. Scientists are still debating this issue.

Another reason may be that these sounds are associated with secretions and excrement. These things are often associated with pathogens and diseases, which explains why people tend to be disgusted or even distracted when they hear them. A study at the University of Salford found that women of all ages find these sounds more disgusting than their male counterparts. This may be due to the fact that traditionally women play a dual role as protectors - they protect both themselves and children. But, again, this may be due to social factors.

10. The infamous "brown note"

Finally, let's analyze the hypothetically existing "brown note". This is a sound at an ultra-low frequency somewhere between 5 and 9 Hz, which is below the threshold of perception of the human ear. But if the sound is loud enough, it can be felt in the body as a vibration. And, as its name implies, this particular frequency is rumored to cause involuntary stools that turn pants brown. It can be very annoying, right?

The whole story with the "brown note" began with the Republic XF-84H "Thunderscreech" aircraft in 1955. It was an experimental aircraft with a gas turbine engine and a supersonic propeller. Even while idling on the ground, this propeller reportedly emitted about 900 sonic booms every minute, causing nausea, severe headaches, and sometimes involuntary bowel movements in those around them. The project was canceled because some of the crew members were seriously injured as a result of sonic booms. It is quite possible that Thunderscreech was the loudest aircraft ever built, people could hear it for 40 kilometers.

In any case, after rumors about the possible unpleasant consequences of exposure to ultra-low frequencies, countless experiments were carried out over the years, but without any "brown" results. This was even done by NASA, which feared that the astronauts might need to change their spacesuits after launching into space. This is how the myth of the “brown note” appeared (it was even used in an episode of the movie “South Park”). In 2005, The Mythbusters did an experiment with Adam Savage, but all he felt was like someone was drumming on his chest, nothing else happened. Of course, it is possible that the conditions that accompanied the tests of a supersonic aircraft were not modeled with due accuracy, and the “brown frequency” does exist, but the chances of this are small. But what if it really is, and someone decides to find a commercial application for it - can you imagine what a child on Sunday in church can do with such an invention? (