skip to content skip to search skip to navigation Listen Live skip to logon

WHy do we hate the noise of nails on a blackboard?

chalkboard.jpgQuestion

When you scratch a chalkboard, does it make you feel so weird and uncomfortable?
Janine, Weybridge

Answer

** Definitive **
Name: Paul, Tower Bridge
Qualification: I have problems with my ears where I can only hear high frequencies in one ear and low frequencies in the other.
Answer: It's to do with sound-frequencies. There are certain frequencies that irritate us at the high end of the spectrum. Squeaky breaks on the car are the same.
(James O'Brien: You get a round of applause for what happens, but why does it happen?)