The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
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The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#2Finally, 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.
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#3Finally, 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.
Also, the sound is actually scary. I certify this headline as non-clickbait.
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#4Finally, 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.
Also, the sound is actually scary. I certify this headline as non-clickbait.
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...
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#5I've been meaning to try to 3d print one of these. There was a meme video about someone doing a batch of 200 to give out on Halloween, and it made me wonder if a plastic one would yield the same sounds.
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, the sound is actually scary. I certify this headline as non-clickbait.
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 th…
Someone should send some to Ukraine to attach to their FPV drones like a modern stuka siren.
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#7I've been meaning to try to 3d print one of these. There was a meme video about someone doing a batch of 200 to give out on Halloween, and it made me wonder if a plastic one would yield the same sounds.
I've printed one, it kind of did sound the same. It didn't so much sound like screaming, though, as hoarse wind whistling.
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, the sound is actually scary. I certify this headline as non-clickbait.
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 th…
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."
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#9I've been meaning to try to 3d print one of these. There was a meme video about someone doing a batch of 200 to give out on Halloween, and it made me wonder if a plastic one would yield the same sounds.
I've printed one, it kind of did sound the same. It didn't so much sound like screaming, though, as hoarse wind whistling.
I printed a few for halloween this year. I found that the angle and strength of blowing made a huge difference. I'd say that I was able to pretty much recreate the sounds in the linked recordings. The benefit of the 3d-printed once is that you can have one with the face of Jeff Bezos.
Re: The scary sound of Aztec skull whistles
#10We had a group of six people using 3D-printed skull whistles for an outdoor festival/theatre/ritual event, emulating the sound of shrieking storm winds. It was incredibly atmospheric, and the sound carries surprisingly far!
Depending on how you place your lips and shape your mouth, you can get semi-white-noise sounds from soft to harsh, or you can shape the noise into something more like a scream/shriek.
It's funny seeing them turn up on HN just a month after using them in person :)