Researchers have shown that humans perceive approaching sounds differently than we perceive receding sounds. We overestimate how quickly the sound approaching us is moving (Neuhoff, 2001). There is ...

Long before radio became mainstream entertainment, Edgar Allen Poe was already writing for the airwaves. Throughout the last decade of his life, his poetry and prose bristled with words and phrasing ...

This article was featured in One Great Story, New York’s reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. Horror movies are a tennis match between the haunting absence of sound and ...

From eerie instruments that mimic human voices to fan-made reimaginings of cinematic soundscapes, horror sound design is an art of psychological precision. By blending experimental tools like the ...

Sound is, without a doubt, one of the most fundamental pillars of a good horror game. Everything, from the music to the creaks and footsteps, has to be in order to ...

Sound design is one of the most powerful tools in horror games, shaping fear through subtle ambience, sudden cues, and spatial audio tricks. From low rumbles to eerie silence, these elements ...

I was recently watching a scene from the 2025 film Weapons for a monograph I’m writing and noticed a familiar sound: a low, unsettling drone as a character walks down a hallway. It’s the same kind of ...