Why Do Things Sound Scary?

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Why are sounds scary? They're just vibrations. Blame your brain!

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Written and hosted by Joe Hanson
Special thanks to KLRU for help with this episode

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[pbsideachannel]

So good! This makes me think of a guy I used to perform with who made really aggressive, tone-clustery piano improv. He would get really upset whenever anyone described his music as "angry" or "scary". Maybe we should have been calling it "non-linear"?

[emiliogil-lane]

What if a t-rex roaring sounded like a bird chirping...but we assumed it sounded loud and scary due to its size.

[billsmith]

Is that why emergency sirens scare the crap out of me?

[OljeiKhan]

I was like nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope when that boy appeared.

[dannymendez]

I WATCHED THIS AT MIDNIGHT AND THAT LITTLE BOY. OH GOD. NO NO NO NOE. I NEED A HUG

[yazi]

Tbh it's not the boy that scared me, it's the whispering. Where I'm from, whispering is regarded as unpleasant and linked to the demons, so hearing that in the middle of the night I almost died. Took out my head phones in fear

[SuperNerd]

Man the music and that boy in this video, I'm on edgee

[Patapon]

So, about the eyes thing, Lag is Real?

[imanahmed]

I appreciated that Twilight Zone reference in the beginning ☺️

[silentbean]

This guy looks like Mr. Incredible's boss from The Incredibles :).

[srpilha]

Excellent video, and also very interesting article linked in the description.

HOWEVER, one can't really say the Theremin is the most nonlinear instrument - it can have the simplest spectrum of all! A violin is way more nonlinear by itself, we're just used to hearing it played by people who worked a LOT to make it sound 'nice'. :)

[rohengiralt]

Lol-waiting for a jumpscare at the end

[brandonboogers]

The only part that scared me was the part with the little boy, I don't know why but tey thing with the eyes always scares the ever living shit outta me

[ValE-sbhn]

In the Jurassic Park part you said 'blended' and then 'baby elephant', and for a second I got REALLY scared.

[besmart]

Since nonlinear sounds are found so often in animal alarm calls (namely the marmot, which has been researched a lot) as well as in human distress calls (like crying babies), my guess is that some of the response would be cross-cultural, ingrained in our brain in some way.

Also, a song about a guy coming back from the dead sounds pretty darn scary to me.

[sarahmckinney]

I just stared at the boy but the dinosaur made me jump a little.

[TheDanNoonan]

That would mean a deaf person would be hard to startle then.

[besmart]

Because like touch, it relies on mechanical stimulation (the vibration of hairs in your inner ear) to start the signal toward your brain. Contrast that with your eye, which relies on photoreceptors and chemical reactions. This means the ear can respond faster and to a finer degree than vision or other "chemical" senses.

[SallyLePage]

Really good video - love the theatrics - although I was expecting there to be a screamer all the way through!

Did you consider blindsight when comparing the speed of processing vision v sound? We have a very basal pathway to detect sudden movement separate from our normal vision pathway, meaning blind people can sometimes subconsciously detect movement. I don't know how this would compare to the auditory pathway.

[besmart]

Blindsight is so cool, but it seems so full of competing theories that no one is sure what is actually happening. Something to keep an eye on. Pun intended.