If you're a dental professional, you want to do everything you can to ensure your patients can eat the foods they want to devour. The crunch of an apple, the chomp of a candy bar, or the snap of a fresh carrot signifies your patients have the necessary strong teeth and gums to enjoy these moments.
Enjoying those moments when they start is one thing, but how your patients (and maybe even you or your team members) savor their food after that point can exasperate others in close proximity.
According to a recent survey of 200 people in the U.S. by SoundProofPros.com, people who eat loudly provide the most annoying noise. On average, a person's heart rate increases to 135 beats per minute (bpm) when listening to someone chewing loudly, according to the site. That's an increase of 68% compared to a midrange average resting heart rate.
Here are the top five most annoying noises from the survey, as well as what momentarily happens to your heartbeat and blood pressure when those noises are emitted:
- Loud eating: 135 bpm, 136/94 mmHg
- Cutlery scraping on plates: 130 bpm, 130/88 mmHg
- Cracking knuckles: 120 bpm, 132/89 mmHg
- Clearing the throat: 109 bpm, 129/84 mmHg
- Dogs barking: 102 bpm, 127/84 mmHg
Yes, clearing your throat is fourth on the list, so two of the top five are related to the oral and oropharyngeal cavities.
You can view the entire top 10 list, which includes babies crying, people burping, and people kissing too loudly (picture that for a moment), on SoundProofPros.com.
So what do you think is the most annoying sound? Let us know in the comments area below.
