Easy. A loud fire alarm. It’s not just about volume - it’s the tone, too. I’d take a -9846, 10-inch bell, or an old IBM horn over nails on a chalkboard any day. After all, we’re “The Fire Panel” not “The Nails on the Chalk Board”.
Would probably depend on the alarms, my proximity to them, and the acoustics of the area. I’d go with the nails on the chalkboard over revisiting my early elementary school nightmare of Federal 30A’s in the gym. But an electronic or DC mechanical horn would probably be preferable over the fingernails, unless maybe I was standing right in front of the alarm.
LOL at “The Nails on the Chalk Board”. I’d be shocked if there actually was such a thing, but then again our interest is unusual enough as it is.
It depends if I didn’t know which one of them were coming. Its always the anticipation that kills me and I couldn’t deal with that and waiting for it when you know its going to happen just kills me. Probably nails on a chalkboard for both. Mostly because I never heard nails on a chalkboard before. LOL
Anyway, I would rather hear loud fire alarms going off than hearing fingernails scratching on a chalkboard… or hundreds, if not even thousands, of loud screaming fangirls at a venue* (sorry, I couldn’t resist making that comparison). I’d prefer fire alarms over the other two things because, more than likely, they’re going off as a way to save lives.
*Yes, I’ve been to a large venue at least once before – a story for another time.
If its a bunch of screaming girls or listening to a fire alarm, I would rather listen to the fire alarm because I HATE how obnoxious some girls sound when screaming in excitement and all their voices mix together.
Let me see if I can find it again. The video was of the earthquake in Mexico, there were a lot of people trying to get into a congested emergency staircase while the building was shaking heavily, with many people screaming, and the fire alarm was going off, which as I mentioned consisted of SpectrAlert Advance P2R-SP on continuous, probably high volume.