Put summaries and links to interesting research you learn about here.
Here are two interesting results from the world of Otolaryngology -
Otolaryngology or
ENT (ear, nose, and throat) is the branch of medicine and surgery that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the head and neck.
The Worst Noises in the World: Why We Recoil at Unpleasant Sounds
Brain imaging has shown that when we hear an unpleasant noise the amygdala modulates the response of the auditory cortex heightening activity and provoking our negative reaction.
"It appears there is something very primitive kicking in," says Dr Sukhbinder Kumar, the paper's author from Newcastle University. "It's a possible distress signal from the amygdala to the auditory cortex."
MOST UNPLEASANT SOUNDS
Rating 74 sounds, people found the most unpleasant noises to be:
- Knife on a bottle
- Fork on a glass
- Chalk on a blackboard
- Ruler on a bottle
- Nails on a blackboard
- Female scream
- Anglegrinder
- Brakes on a cycle squealing
- Baby crying
- Electric drill
LEAST UNPLEASANT SOUNDS
- Applause
- Baby laughing
- Thunder
- Water flowing
What You Hear Could Depend on What Your Hands are Doing
"Since the left hemisphere controls the right hand and vice versa, these results demonstrate that the two hemispheres specialize in different kinds of sounds—the left hemisphere likes rapidly changing sounds, such as consonants, and the right hemisphere likes slowly changing sounds, such as syllables or intonation," Turkeltaub explains. "These results also demonstrate the interaction between motor systems and perception. It's really pretty amazing. Imagine you're waving an American flag while listening to one of the presidential candidates. The speech will actually sound slightly different to you depending on whether the flag is in your left hand or your right hand."
