You know the sound: It's eerie and echoing, and it makes the little hairs on your arms stand up immediately. So many horror movies use it to create a chilling atmosphere, and even some reality shows ...

I was recently watching a scene from the 2025 film Weapons for a monograph I’m writing and noticed a familiar sound: a low, unsettling drone as a character walks down a hallway. It’s the same kind of ...

Researchers have shown that humans perceive approaching sounds differently than we perceive receding sounds. We overestimate how quickly the sound approaching us is moving (Neuhoff, 2001). There is ...

The brain has evolved to interpret these irregular sounds as potential danger, triggering that instinctive “fight or flight” response. It’s the reason the screeching violins in the movie “Psycho” or ...