Should alarm clock have pleasing or unpleasing sound?

I see that Mudita Pure promotes pleasing sounds when you’re waking up. I understand why. But also other manufacturers like Apple promotes a bit aggressive/unpleasing sound when you’re waking up. Remember that old analog alarm clocks have unpleasing sound too. Explanation why (true or not) can be seen in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px7L3w0YY_8

Which is right?

I usually put some upbeating alarm clock (Road Trip like music) when waking up so I can start my day motivated.

What about you?

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Pleasing sounds do not wake me up. Even mildly unpleasant sounds do not wake me up. If I need to set an alarm clock, it needs to be as obnoxious as possible in order to do its job.

(Fortunately, most days, I get up without need of an alarm.)

I currently rotate between “Military Trumpet” and “Electronic” from Kuku Klok. Most days, that gets the job done. Once every couple of years, I sleep through even that and am late for something important. And I hate being late.

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Best alarm for a critical “do not sleep in” day is analogue radio tuned between stations at full volume, located on the other side of the room.

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@sleinjinn OMG…I think I would have a heart attack with a “Military Trumpet” LOL

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@Fifty_Dinar I think it all depends on personal preference. However, I found some research by Dr James Giordano. He’s a Neuroscientist and neuroethicist- with a focus on neuropsychiatric brain health. According to him- it’s better to wake up with a calming sound than an aggressive tune. He studies stress response in the brain. He’s quoted as saying, “'the ideal alarm or wake-up cues are those that elicit a gentle, relatively gradual shift from deeper to lighter sleep, to then allow a more natural, less stressful awakening.” But like I mentioned in the beginning, I think it’s all a matter of personal preference. For me, gentle sounds work better. I wake up less agitated.

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When I was at uni, I lived in a building with a very overly excitable smoke detector. Like this thing will cry “fire” if a girl uses too much hairspray kind of overly excitable. And being a student residence hall, the fire safety standards were basically as high as can be built. So I lived in a practically fireproof building where the fire alarm was constantly going off.

Fortunately, instead of evacuating for fire drills at inconvenient hours, I could just ignore it, lock my door, go to sleep, and nap until the fire department arrived to shut it off.

So yeah, gentle alarm tones aren’t going to do the job. Honestly, for me, the best alarm is one that wakes someone else up who will then come and wake me up… but of course, that isn’t always possible, especially when living alone.