# Best Sounds in the World **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676 "2016-05-13T14:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/21 "2016-05-14T06:01:17Z")
Watching a big jetliner coming in for a landing and hearing the Churrp! of its tires touching the runway, followed by the roar of its engines reversing briefly to slow the plane down. The sound of a successful arrival, especially if someone important to you is on the plane. The Cling! Cling! of the lines on a school flagpole bouncing of the pole in the late afternoon breeze, after school is out. Kurt Vonnegut called it “The saddest sound in America” but it always brings up memories for me. The unbelievable roar of Formula One cars entering the first turn on the first lap Taps, being played by a bugler at the end of the day. The sound of a cat purring as I scratch its chin. Wind blowing through big trees at night. The sound of a passenger car door being slammed shut by the conductor after he calls out "'Board!"and the train pulls out of the station Waves breaking on a lonely beach, especially a rocky one, with the added sound of the rocks being tumbled and rolled as the wave recedes. Any steam locomotive, anywhere, at any speed. I just caught the Age of Steam Locomotives, and I am so glad I did, and I feel sorry for anyone who has not heard the thunderous roar of a big steam locomotive passing by, and felt the ground tremble. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/22 "2016-05-14T10:12:38Z")
Crickets and grasshoppers A babbling brook Carbonated drinks poured over ice in a tall glass Thunder Hoofbeats on turf (and shod horses on hard surfaces) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/23 "2016-05-14T17:41:20Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The sound of a really satisfying dump hitting the toilet water. The sound of a clogged toilet unclogging and flushing down. Aaaah! ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/24 "2016-05-14T19:55:25Z")
Silence. Sitting in the deep woods at the crack of dawn. Where you hear all the critters awaken, the tree leaves rustle, your ears ring from the lack of sound, and your camping partner has finally stopped snoring. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/25 "2016-05-14T23:32:18Z")
An orchestra tuning up. Especially when you can recognize snatches of the tunes they’re going to be playing. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/26 "2016-05-14T23:44:05Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > An orchestra tuning up. Especially when you can recognize snatches of the tunes they’re going to be playing. Ah, speaking of anticipatory sounds, the fanfare at the beginning of a movie! Everything lies ahead waiting to be discovered. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/27 "2016-05-15T01:52:18Z")
The happy sounding little whine and huffy noise my dog makes, as he dances arround when I come home. Today was the last day of an awful week. I’m so tired and I nearly had a breakdown at work. I’ve been there fifteen years and I nearly walked out. The stress was worse, I know, because of how tired I was, and next week should be better. But when I came home and Nathan did his happy dance, I started to feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/28 "2016-05-15T20:08:16Z")
The crisp crackle of sourdough crust, as the loaf cools ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/29 "2016-05-17T05:39:10Z")
Unbelievebly heavy rainfall pelting the metal roof on my home in Hilo on the Big Island in Hawaii. Conversation becomes impossible. And just when one thinks it can not possibly rain any harder, it does. ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/30 "2016-05-17T06:32:21Z")
A horse eating (1) an apple, lots of slurps; (2) a carrot, very serious chewing; (3) oats/sweet feed, you can fall asleep to that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/31 "2016-05-17T06:40:43Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Unbelievebly heavy rainfall pelting the metal roof on my home in Hilo on the Big Island in Hawaii. Conversation becomes impossible. And just when one thinks it can not possibly rain any harder, it does. I don’t know about you, but in those situations, I always get a sort of faint, perverse hope that _this time_ it will rain heavier than it ever did before. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/32 "2016-05-17T07:44:15Z")
My nephews saying “AUNT NAVA!” when they didn’t know I’d be there 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/33 "2016-05-17T10:17:41Z")
Rain Distant thunder My baby laughing (other babies laughing isn’t the same) The sound of the forest when riding my mountain bike alone in the morning (birds mainly). Any weather noise when it sounds like crap outside but it’s nice, warm and dry inside. ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/34 "2016-05-17T14:25:12Z")
I’m on board with snowfall…and all the other, quiet, distant sounds you can make out because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/35 "2016-05-17T14:40:03Z")
[Breakfast is served, lunch is served…](https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0684ca87-5724-4444-a9fe-f614cafd3d91) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/36 "2016-05-17T14:49:23Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Watching a big jetliner coming in for a landing and hearing the Churrp! of its tires touching the runway, followed by the roar of its engines reversing briefly to slow the plane down. This is always my favorite part of flying, right when the engines fire in reverse. I like the sounds of an airport a lot. I used to have a job that was near enough to the airport that jets would land quite close, and if the wind was right you could hear the sounds of them taxi-ing on the tarmac. I loved working outside and hearing those sounds. Another sound I like, but never could place until the thread a year ago, is the tadak-tadak of a train on the rails. A weird one: The sound of a hairbrush going through long, tangled hair. I don’t know what it is, but I always enjoyed the sound of my girlfriend brushing her long hair because of that crunch ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/37 "2016-05-17T14:52:17Z")
The sound of Don McLean singing live “A long, long time ago…” ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/38 "2016-05-17T15:21:41Z")
The beginning notes of any Mozart work The little nonsense ‘song’ my grandson sings to himself when he is drifting off to sleep The crunch of tires on a gravel road The sound of a late '60s muscle car growling as it prowls the street A music box ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/39 "2016-05-17T16:07:51Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Any steam locomotive, anywhere, at any speed. I just caught the Age of Steam Locomotives, and I am so glad I did, and I feel sorry for anyone who has not heard the thunderous roar of a big steam locomotive passing by, and felt the ground tremble. Yep, and the 'chuf…chuf…chuf as it starts up. Enjoy: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OgSNQOTw2U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OgSNQOTw2U) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676/40 "2016-05-17T16:14:13Z")
I imagine farts after GI surgery are a very welcome sound. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sounds-in-the-world/754676.md?page=3)