Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-18736543-20140115190248/@comment-24539980-20140212204336

I'd say that the main thing that determines a sound to be truly "creepy" is when the sound delivers a negative emotional response to the listener. Another condition that could (and usually does) highten the drama of the sound is when things trigger our panic response to the unknown. For example, if you hear a woman's terrified scream during the day, you may feel uncomfortable or a little bit worried, but if you hear the woman's scream at night, your brain tries to piece together a plan to react to the scream (which is usually your imagination triggering, and forming a picture of an evil thing which took the woman, and will now take you). This reaction is known as the fight-or-flight senario, and is what activates our responses to potentially dangerous situations. In my mind, there is a very definative line between creepy and downright terrifying, and the sound being on the "creepier" side is a sense of forboding. Finally, one of the biggest determinations of a "creepy" sound is how close that sound is to our own species. If the sound is closer to a human's voice, the less creepy it is, and the further away the sound is from being human (demons, zombies, etc.) the "creepier" it is. It all depends, however, on the listener's own fears and attitude that truly determines the creepiness factor. I hope my explanation has been useful to you.