The effect of visual stimuli on the horribleness of awful sounds

Cox, Trevor J.

doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2007.02.010

Cited by 35 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…It is possible to get some insight into the cultural importance of this sound by examining the work done on audio-visual interaction and reported in a previous paper 1 . In a separate experiment to the one reported in this paper, the sounds were presented with different visual stimuli: an associated image, an unassociated image or a blank square.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scraping sounds and disgusting noises

Cox

2008

Applied Acoustics

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Thirty-four horrible sounds have been examined in an Internet-based psychoacoustic experiment. This paper presents the results for the scraping and disgusting noises used. It is not understood why some humans find certain scraping noises, such as the sound of fingernails being scraped down a blackboard, so terrible. In this experiment, the variation in rating with age, gender and location are examined. The results for one of the scraping sounds is consistent with the hypothesis suggested by others, that the response comes from a vestigial reflex related to the warning cries of monkeys. But this was not true for the actual recording of the fingernails scraping down a blackboard. An alternative hypothesis that the response is related to an audio-haptic interaction was tested and results indicated that this idea warrants further investigation. Other possible causes of the response drawing on work concerning dissonance are tentatively suggested. The disgusting sounds examined included the worst sound found in the experiment, the sound of someone vomiting. However, none of the disgusting sounds tested promoted responses consistent with a "disgust reaction" based purely on survival instincts. Cultural factors might be important in our response to the disgusting sounds, with the influence of manners and etiquette being suggested as a possible factor.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A previous paper gave some summary statistics for the contextual variables for the web experiment 1 . A Kruskal-Wallis test 4 was used to rank order the sounds over 487,335 votes.…”

Section: Voting Trends Across All Soundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scraping sounds and disgusting noises

Cox

2008

Applied Acoustics

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“…visualmodality. Thus, the effect of unpleasant noise like the squeaking of finger nails on a blackboard or the sound of a dentist's drill can be amplified in case that the situation is perceived visually, too 35 .…”

Section: Iconic Coupling/concrete Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced description of noise perception by analysis of cross-sensory interactions within soundscapes

Havercamp¹

2010

Noise Control Eng. J.

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Preliminary works indicate that a comprehensive assessment of soundscapes requires integration of cross-sensory data into the evaluation process. From those first assumptions, however, it remains questionable how this information can be represented and used for an overall estimation of the perceptual impact of soundscapes on an individual. Environments for living and working in general provide complex stimuli of various sources, like noise, light, smell, tactile information and others. The first step of perceptive signal processing is to handle stimuli of various senses separately. The perceptual system then correlates the processed attributes and provides multisensory integration. The aim of sensory data processing is to establish multisensory perceptual objects estimating the structures of the world exterior to the perceiving subject. This presentation does not provide measured data. Intention of the presented approach, however, is to provide elements needed to establish a cross-sensory model which serves to estimate the perceptual relevance of a given environment. Such a model is needed to incorporate information of other senses into assessment of soundscapes, cross-sensory measurements and design for laboratory tests. The discussed essential features for a model include correlations to non-auditory attributes (colors, forms, movement etc.) as well as associative connections and semantic representations. Finally, concepts for a comprehensive analysis of soundscapes as well as for an experiment set-up are outlined. © 2010 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.

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“…For example, participants rated the psychoacoustics of chalkboard squeaking as worse when they knew the original source of the sound (chalkboard squeaks) as compared when they were told the sound was pulled from a modern musical composition (Reuter and Oehler, 2011). Cox (2008) conducted a study to examine whether concurrently presenting an image that is thematically related to the sound could affect how negatively the sounds were perceived. Neurotypical participants heard horrible sounds (e.g., nails on a chalkboard, or a screaming baby) and disgusting sounds relating to human bodily functions (e.g., vomiting, eating, coughing, or spitting) that were paired with either a thematically associated still image (e.g., screaming baby sound paired with screaming baby picture), an unassociated still image (e.g., screaming baby sound paired with a picture of a lily flower and pad on a pond), or a green square as control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-Sensory Stimuli Modulate Reactions to Aversive Sounds

2019

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We propose that cross-sensory stimuli presenting a positive attributable source of an aversive sound can modulate negative reactions to the sound. In Experiment 1, participants rated original video sources (OVS) of eight aversive sounds (e.g., nails scratching a chalkboard) as more aversive than eight positive attributable video sources (PAVS) of those same sounds (e.g., someone playing a flute) when these videos were presented silently. In Experiment 2, new participants were presented with those eight aversive sounds in three blocks. In Blocks 1 and 3, the sounds were presented alone; in Block 2, four of the sounds were randomly presented concurrently with their corresponding OVS videos, and the other four with their corresponding PAVS videos. Participants rated each sound, presented with or without video, on three scales: discomfort, unpleasantness, and bodily sensations. We found the concurrent presentation of videos robustly modulates participants' reactions to the sounds: compared to the sounds alone (Block 1), concurrent presentation of PAVS videos significantly reduced negative reactions to the sounds, and the concurrent presentation of OVS videos significantly increased negative reactions, across all three scales. These effects, however, did not linger into Block 3 when the sounds were presented alone again. Our results provide novel evidence that negative reactions to aversive sounds can be modulated through cross-sensory temporal syncing with a positive attributable video source. Although this research was conducted with a neurotypical population, we argue that our findings have implications for the treatment of misophonia.

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The effect of visual stimuli on the horribleness of awful sounds

Cited by 35 publications

References 14 publications

Scraping sounds and disgusting noises

Scraping sounds and disgusting noises

Advanced description of noise perception by analysis of cross-sensory interactions within soundscapes

Cross-Sensory Stimuli Modulate Reactions to Aversive Sounds

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