Engineering the Most Annoying Sound Ever

Alarms come in many forms; from the gentle ping of a text message notification to the wake-up wail of a bedside clock, these sounds are a part of our lives. That's why an alarm that could actually save your life needs to be so attention-grabbing—and intensely annoying. This is how Carryl Baldwin, a human factors psychologist at Virginia's George Mason University, designed the most annoying sound possible to warn drivers of head-on collisions.

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[yizhouzhou]

When I watched this on my phone without headphones, my mom was next to me then she said, "What was that noise!? Is it the smoke detector?"

[silkthyme]

this sound is nowhere near as earsplitting as the fire alarms in schools

[LaRusso]

I was expecting Jim Carrey's scream from Dumb and Dumber

[MsSBVideos]

How do you create the most annoying sound? Scratch your fingernails on a chalkboard.

[shoothemdown]

My alarm gives me PTSD every morning 😂

[TheClown]

The alarm that will always get my attention NO MATTER WHAT is the sound you get on NOAA radio when theres sever weather or a severe alert in tv. Scares the shit outta me.

[benedictentrampas]

They should also study the Japanese earthquake alarm. When you hear that alarm you know you either hold on to something or get out of the building pronto. It is both annoying and attention catching, making it perfect for it`s job.

[iamhappythingy]

it wasn't as annyoing as i thought it would be

[Marianis]

Wow i've never thought about something like that! This was super interesting.

[shaf.]

most annoying one is Friday by Rebecca black

[TheAkashicTraveller]

Why if a car can detect that it's going to crash would you make it warn the driver rather than just brake automatically?

[TheAndrewDan]

The most annoying sound is the loud default iPhone alarm that they use in movies and commercials. It was so obnoxious I had to switch the alarm sound to a different one

[skiddlydongdongdongdang]

What is wrong with Caryll's voice

[pec]

I think those alert sound when you have a missle locked on to you is the best

[jaredmorse]

Was I the only one who saw the Great Big Story logo on a sign in the simulation? Sure looks like it.

[Sara-L]

The collision alert sound .. seems like it would cause drivers to tense up in a situation where they need to be clear-headed.

[isis]

the most annoying sound is when you have work and you keep on getting stupid notification sounds in the background

[robertviragh]

I agree that the sound is annoying but if it will save my life from a front-end collision it is a small price to pay. One thing I noted while listening to this: the average human has a full range of hearing whereas the sound is concentrated in the High Frequency domain, it makes it the annoying sound. But many people have diminished hearing in High Frequency so I would recommend including a more ordinary warning at the same time. Then someone who is deaf to High Frequency warnings can still hear the ordinary warning if there is one.

[zizimugen]

Alarms that bother someone into waking up are inefficient, inadequate, and savage. It immediately puts the mind at an alert, defensive state as if there is a threat to well-being. A better alarm is one that gently carries a sleeper to wakefulness. There are alarms that simulate sunrise, and there are plenty of songs that start softly and get loud enough to certainly have woken someone up by completion. Buzzers, submarine alarms, and other bs like that just anger someone at the start of the day.

But waking up a sleeping driver is a decent use of it.

[gowomese]

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