Why does hearing sounds like nails on a chalkboard and also imagining them, create such an irritating sensation?
In: Biology
People are designed to hear speech, people having conversations, especially well. Because you are so sensitive to the sound of people’s voices you are also really sensitive to any noise at the same frequency. Nails on a chalk board happen to be at the same frequency as people talking, but sound nothing like it. So it really hurts your brain to try and process it, but equally because you are so sensitive to it, you can’t ignore it.
Imagine it’s like the ‘[uncanny valley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley)’ but for sound.
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