Scientists get to the bottom of what makes whoopee cushions funny
National Science and Engineering Week (6th-15th March 2009)
Acoustics Professor Trevor Cox from the University of Salford has revealed the nation’s funniest whoopee cushion sound following a two-week web experiment into what makes flatulence funny.
The result marks this year’s National Science and Engineering Week (6th-15th March), one of the world’s largest public science events, and Comic Relief (13th March), which features the whoopee cushion alongside the traditional red nose.
34,000 visitors to www.soundsfunny.org heard six of twenty possible sounds and rated them according to how much they make them laugh.
The experiment’s intriguing, often counter-intuitive, results are summarised below:
Sound Type:
• Longer whoopee cushion sounds are funnier – The funniest sound is seven seconds long so it is better to sit on a whoopee slowly for maximum effect.
• Whiny Sounds are funnier - three out of the top five sounds, scoring full marks for funniness were classified as ‘whiny’
Audience:
• Gender: Females find whoopee cushion sounds slightly funnier
• Age: Whoopee sounds get less funny as you get older
• Culture: Europe finds whoopee cushions funnier than America
• Sounds get funnier the more you listen to them
Professor Cox, one-time owner of the world’s largest whoopee cushion, is passionate about using sounds to increase the public’s involvement in science, adding:
‘The Whoopee Cushion has a great deal in common with the human voice and how instruments work, so it is a memorable way of portraying the principles of acoustics.’
The study’s audience findings also have great implications for the engineering of funny flatulence, Cox explains:
‘This research will enable us to engineer the ultimate whoopee cushion, and fine-tune the world’s funniest design.’
During National Science and Engineering Week around 1.5million people of all ages will attend over 3,500 events across the country, which will include stand-up comedy, concerts, talks and tours. Topics range from the serious to the surreal and include an in-depth discussion on how to levitate frogs, the pros and cons of DNA profiling and the renaissance of the bedbug. (see www.nsew.org.uk for a full list of events)
Annette Smith, Director of National Science and Engineering Week said:
‘The starting point for scientific research is often a basic curiosity about how things work and that’s just the spirit we encourage through National Science and Engineering Week – and even better if it helps raise cash for Comic Relief too.’
National Science and Engineering Week is coordinated by the British Science Association in partnership with the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) and funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
Acoustics Professor Trevor Cox from the University of Salford has revealed the nation’s funniest whoopee cushion sound following a two-week web experiment into what makes flatulence funny.
The result marks this year’s National Science and Engineering Week (6th-15th March), one of the world’s largest public science events, and Comic Relief (13th March), which features the whoopee cushion alongside the traditional red nose.
34,000 visitors to www.soundsfunny.org heard six of twenty possible sounds and rated them according to how much they make them laugh.
The experiment’s intriguing, often counter-intuitive, results are summarised below:
Sound Type:
• Longer whoopee cushion sounds are funnier – The funniest sound is seven seconds long so it is better to sit on a whoopee slowly for maximum effect.
• Whiny Sounds are funnier - three out of the top five sounds, scoring full marks for funniness were classified as ‘whiny’
Audience:
• Gender: Females find whoopee cushion sounds slightly funnier
• Age: Whoopee sounds get less funny as you get older
• Culture: Europe finds whoopee cushions funnier than America
• Sounds get funnier the more you listen to them
Professor Cox, one-time owner of the world’s largest whoopee cushion, is passionate about using sounds to increase the public’s involvement in science, adding:
‘The Whoopee Cushion has a great deal in common with the human voice and how instruments work, so it is a memorable way of portraying the principles of acoustics.’
The study’s audience findings also have great implications for the engineering of funny flatulence, Cox explains:
‘This research will enable us to engineer the ultimate whoopee cushion, and fine-tune the world’s funniest design.’
During National Science and Engineering Week around 1.5million people of all ages will attend over 3,500 events across the country, which will include stand-up comedy, concerts, talks and tours. Topics range from the serious to the surreal and include an in-depth discussion on how to levitate frogs, the pros and cons of DNA profiling and the renaissance of the bedbug. (see www.nsew.org.uk for a full list of events)
Annette Smith, Director of National Science and Engineering Week said:
‘The starting point for scientific research is often a basic curiosity about how things work and that’s just the spirit we encourage through National Science and Engineering Week – and even better if it helps raise cash for Comic Relief too.’
National Science and Engineering Week is coordinated by the British Science Association in partnership with the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) and funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
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