Giving a closer listen to a sound most of us try to avoid – fingernails scraping on a chalkboard – has won Vanderbilt psychologist Randolph Blake an unusual and coveted award, the Ig Nobel Prize. The ...

SccrreeEechh. This and other kinds of excruciating noise make us shudder, but we’ve never really known why. Knowing what makes certain sounds painful could help engineers figure out the frequencies to ...

(Medical Xpress) -- Proving that science isn’t always just fun and games, two researchers with music backgrounds have conducted experiments to get to the bottom of why people are so adversely effected ...

The act of scraping nails down a chalkboard creates a sound so awful that most people have an instantaneous reaction: A shiver runs up the spine, and they slap their hands over their ears. Anything to ...

There are certain sounds nearly everyone dislikes: the sound of fingernails scratching a chalkboard, or of a fork scraping a plate, just to list a few. For many people, hearing these sounds, or even ...

Remember that absolutely soul-crippiling sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard? Of course you do. Unless you’re young enough to have had whiteboards at school, that is. But while it seems obvious ...

There are certain sounds that drive us batty. For many people, it's nails on a chalkboard. For me, it's the squeaking sound of styrofoam. What causes this reaction? —Brepark, via the Straight Dope ...