It can be the sound of a mosquito buzzing around your ear, something clattering in the boot of your car while you’re driving, or the loud creaking of a door – and it’s making you annoyed, stressed and maybe even angry. Why? There are various possible reasons that a common sound gets on your nerves. Sometimes it’s simply the pitch, because high-pitched sounds seem louder to us than low-pitched ones, says Eberhard Schmidt of Germany’s Federal Guild of Hearing Aid Professionals (biha). “Consequently, shrill, screechy sounds in a high-frequency range are often perceived as unpleasant,” he remarks:…