What makes the strange sound of a faulty computer so unnerving? For example, I am thinking of the ones that are high pitched and similar to the old dial-up noises. It’s just a computer. Shouldn’t freak me out as much as it does.
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They’re very dissonant, which tends to be alarming/uncomfortable. And perhaps because of that, they’ve been used a lot in soundtracks and sound effects for horror and other uncomfortable/tense settings in media, which has given them a strong cultural association with fear or discomfort as well (kind of like booming organ music is associated with gothic horror).
Disturbing is subjective to the ears hearing the sounds. I have always had a strange fondness of internet dialup and fax melodies
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