Definition of Shrillness
Shrillness is the quality of sounds that have a high-pitched, strident, raucous, screeching or harsh character, such as those produced by a trumpet or piccolo. Some such sounds, in a widely recognised and puzzling phenomenon, are perceived as psychologically painful or aversive to a degree that cannot be accounted for simply in terms of frequency content or loudness. Such sounds include the sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard, the sound of chalk on a blackboard, the sound of glass being scratched, and possibly the sound of a baby crying. There have been attempts to explain the phenomenon, often in terms of frequency content, or evolutionary advantage, but so far no complete explanation or mechanism has been found.
Related terms
Pythagorean hammers
According to legend, Pythagoras discovered the foundations of musical tuning by…
Professional audio
Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category…
Auditory processing disorder
Auditory processing disorder (APD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the way…
Timbre
In music, timbre, also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is…
Electrophonic sounds
Electrophonic sounds are sounds heard far away from—and produced indirectly by—an event…
Pitch (music)
Pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in…
Perception of infrasound
Infrasound is sound at frequencies lower than the low frequency end of human hearing…
High fidelity
High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is…
Transient (acoustics)
In acoustics and audio, a transient is a high amplitude, short-duration sound at the…
Frequently asked questions
What is Shrillness?
Shrillness is the quality of sounds that have a high-pitched, strident, raucous, screeching or harsh character, such as those produced by a trumpet or piccolo.