Whining Wins as World’s Worst Sound! — Dave’s Diary

The Seahawks home stadium is the loudest football field in the world! GO HAWKS!  The noise made there actually registers as an earthquake!  The roar at Century Link field may be annoying to the opposition but it is certainly music to the ears of Seahawks players.

So then, WHAT IS the world's most annoying sound? It is whining. You know, that high-pitched, protracted whining sound that most teenagers, many children and even some dogs have perfected is the most annoying sound in the world, according to researchers from SUNY New Paltz.

The team asked volunteers to compute basic math problems while they were listening to what is often considered the most distracting and irritating sounds. These included a baby crying, a high-pitched buzz saw, nagging, silence, regular speech, baby talk and of course whining.

The results: For many, the sound of whining was actually ranked worse than a buzz saw. In addition, the volunteers made more errors on the math problems when they were listening to the whining than any other irritating sound. And this was true for both men and women.

The next time you tell your kids to quit whining because they are driving you crazy, they might actually be doing just that!