unpleasant sounds

[Christian Kaernbach <Christian@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear List,

I am interested in psychophysiological responses to unpleasant sounds.
In 2001 we had a discussion on this list on finger nails scraping on a
blackboard. (Were there other threads of relevance to "unpleasant
sounds"?)

My present question is: Have there ever been studied the
psychophysiological effects of these sounds, be it peripheral (from hear
beat rate to startle reflex) or central (fMRI or the like)?

Would you guess that the effects elicited by such sounds are the same or
different from other "emotion inducing techniques", such as the
"International Affective Picture System"?

>From the previous thread I have compiled the following reference list:

        Vitz (1973).
        Preference for tones as a function
        of frequency and intensity.
        P&P, 11, 84-88

        Halpern, Blake & Hillenbrand (1986).
        Psychoacoustics of a chilling sound.
        P&P, 39, 77-80.

        Todd (2001).
        Evidence for a behavioral significance of
        saccular acoustic sensitivity in humans
        JASA 110(1), 380-390.

I would be grateful for any hint, be it directly to the question of the
psychophysiological effects of such sounds, or to more papers trying to
get at the physical properties of unpleasant sounds.

Best regards,
Christian

--
PD Dr. Christian Kaernbach
Institut fuer Allgemeine Psychologie
Universitaet Leipzig