[dylan604]

Finally, a headline that actually matches the content.

My initial reaction to reading the title was "there better be a play button involved". Check. Reading the article this page is associated to see how/why these sound like they do, and wondering what the first person to figure this out was like.

[Cheer2171]

Also, the sound is actually scary. I certify this headline as non-clickbait.

[caseyohara]

Indeed actually scary. This was in science news recently:

> A team of cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Zurich, has found that ancient Aztec "skull whistles" found in gravesites are able to instill fear in modern people. In their study, published in the journal Communications Psychology, the group recorded the neural and psychological responses of volunteers as they listened to the screams produced by the whistles.

...

> The volunteers exhibited similar reactions—certain low-level cortical auditory regions of the brain became instantly activated, indicating that they were on high alert. They also found that the volunteers said the sound made them feel frightened and aversive—they wanted it to stop. The researchers also found that the whistle sound tended to confuse the brain, leaving it reeling momentarily. This, they suggest, hints at the possibility that the whistle was used during ceremonies surrounding the dead, possibly as a way to frighten attendees.

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ancient-aztec-skull-instill-mo...

[computerex]

A common misconception is that this whistle produced a sharp shriek-like sound. However, these sounds credited as the Aztec death whistle are actually produced by much larger reproductions of the whistle. Music archeologist Arnd Adje Both, who has tested the original excavated whistles, reports that the actual sound produced is far softer, describing it as similar to "atmospheric noise generated by the wind."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_death_whistle

[morkalork]

Someone should send some to Ukraine to attach to their FPV drones like a modern stuka siren.