Why are some sounds or sensations like nails on a chalkboard inherently irritating?
user
Nail scraping on a chalkboard is an extremely high-pitched sound, with a grating quality that is often unpleasant for our sensitive hearing.  Sometimes people also describe sensations such as flashing lights or scratchiness as “painful” or “irritating”, which results from a similar combination of physical discomfort and high unpleasantness.  There is a lot of research into the underlying physiological and psychological factors that contribute to sensory sensitivities and intolerances, but these can often be very difficult to pinpoint and can vary significantly from person to person.  The inherent unpleasantness of many sensory experiences is closely associated with our innate mechanisms for survival, modeling, learning, and predicting: over thousands of generations of human evolution, high-pitched sounds or sensations
assistant
Why are some sounds or sensations like nails on a chalkboard inherently irritating?
user
Nail scraping on a chalkboard is an extremely high-pitched sound, with a grating quality that is often unpleasant for our sensitive hearing.  Sometimes people also describe sensations such as flashing lights or scratchiness as “painful” or “irritating”, which results from a similar combination of physical discomfort and high unpleasantness.  There is a lot of research into the underlying physiological and psychological factors that contribute to sensory sensitivities and intolerances, but these can often be very difficult to pinpoint and can vary significantly from person to person.  The inherent unpleasantness of many sensory experiences is closely associated with our innate mechanisms for survival, modeling, learning, and predicting: over thousands of generations of human evolution, high-pitched sounds or sensations
assistant
Why are some sounds or sensations like nails on a chalkboard inherently irritating?