[HN Gopher] Screeching Sound of Peeling Tape
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       Screeching Sound of Peeling Tape
        
       Author : akshatjiwan
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2026-03-02 14:39 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (journals.aps.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (journals.aps.org)
        
       | qlm wrote:
       | "The screeching of peeling tape is a familiar albeit annoying
       | sound."
       | 
       | I don't find it annoying, I quite like it. The only time I've
       | experienced "ASMR" was from somebody peeling tape next to me.
        
         | ericyd wrote:
         | Agree, it really depends on the tape for me. Painters tape has
         | quite a nice sound as it's peeled
        
           | klondike_klive wrote:
           | I really like the doppler effect (?) of the sound as the tape
           | gets longer.
        
             | boothby wrote:
             | Not the Doppler effect. The tone gets lower, the wavelength
             | increases, with the increasing length of the resonating
             | body.
        
       | leni536 wrote:
       | Scotch tape just keeps on giving in science.
        
       | icosian wrote:
       | For a long time after my daughter was born, I wasn't sure if she
       | could hear or not. I tried to get her to react / turn her head /
       | wake up to voice, music, claps... Nothing.
       | 
       | One day I was taping up a box behind her and I pulled out a
       | length of packing tape. It made that awful screeching noise and
       | she was startled. It was a repeatable result. Her hearing was
       | fine, she was just super chilled about noise in general. I found
       | her limit with a roll of tape.
        
         | awakeasleep wrote:
         | Just where my mind went while reading the abstract. Babies hate
         | this sound!
        
           | mhb wrote:
           | To them, it's like a baby crying.
        
         | dmd wrote:
         | These days infants' hearing (including my own two childrens')
         | are tested _at birth_ , without them having to participate in
         | the process at all (they can even be asleep)!
         | https://www.audiology.org/consumers-and-patients/children-an...
        
       | etrautmann wrote:
       | This was a surprisingly satisfying and interesting read. Cool
       | setup and delightfully random but well answered question.
        
       | HelloUsername wrote:
       | Can also be used for apple biting sound effect
        
         | NackerHughes wrote:
         | Why not, you know, bite an apple?
        
       | OptionOfT wrote:
       | I remember buying the Scotch Magic Tape, the matte one.
       | 
       | I was surprised that it didn't make the sound. Probably because
       | it's a little bit more flexible?
        
         | birdsongs wrote:
         | I found "quiet" packing tape recently. I bought it, while
         | highly skeptical, for my last move. It was barely more
         | expensive. I don't recall seeing it before.
         | 
         | Super pleasant, did not make the rip crackle squeal sound at
         | all.
        
       | elteto wrote:
       | That's really cool. Scotch tape is just weird, peeling it also
       | generates x-rays (in a vacuum):
       | 
       | https://www.technologyreview.com/2008/10/23/217918/x-rays-ma...
        
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       (page generated 2026-03-06 23:01 UTC)