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 ...

Robert Siegel talks to Michael Oehler, a professor at the University of Media and Communication in Cologne, Germany, about why people find the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard so irritating.

Just the thought of nails raking across a chalkboard is enough to send shivers down many people’s spines — but the reasoning behind this reaction has remained a mystery for decades. Scientists have ...

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A team of researchers from the University of Cologne and the University of Austria have discovered the reason why most of us shut our ears and contort our faces when we hear the sound of nails on a ...

The mere thought of fingernails scratching a chalkboard can be enough to set some people on edge. Now, a new study may help explain why. Researchers say the shape of the human ear may amplify certain ...

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 ...

I don't know, but I got chill run down my back reading the title of this thread. Forks across a plate to the same thing. LOL. He's right you know. More specifically, I think that the frequency hits ...

Screeeeeeeech. Even imagining the sound of a person's fingernails scraping down a chalkboard is horrible. Now, new research helps suggest why the noise is such a special kind of awful. Subscribe to ...