as a chinese person, let me tell you how terrifying hearing the count down start truly is. having any sort of time restraint always adds so much pressure lmao

That Japanese one is specifically for earthquakes. There are a bunch of other ones too for tsunamis, missiles, flooding, etc. I'd say the missile one is the scary sounding, but the earthquake one that gets automatically played from your phone at full volume when one happens is really annoying and catches you off guard (it's a different sound from the one in the video).

I'm surpised how you reacted towards Japan's earthquake alert. I'm from Japan and this sound is borderline traumatic. It's meant to alert people through music theory: the combination of tri-tone and half-step is supposed to grab your attention and take immediate action. This is crucial as people literally have to make split-second decisions to save their lives. I've been woken up to these sounds multiple times and it is honestly terrifying.

As a Canadian, waking up to our alarm in the middle of the night, in the dark, alone, it’s the most horrific feeling to have after waking up

The Canadian emergency alert has ripped me out of a medicated sleep before. Very powerful, 10/10.

Them: Germany has to be scary. Germany: 💃🕺💃🕺

The German Alarm sounds DEFINITLY an other way. I live in Germany, and I can tell you, that even a firealarm in a school is much scarier

Scotland's alarm gives me "it is too late to run, they have come. Hug your loved ones and find god. There is no hope for us now" also, the shepherd tones remind me of the underground trains coming to the station and passing straight through. Found myself expecting a service announcement telling me that the circle line is experiencing delays

let me say as a norwegian, they do test-runs of the alarm every once in a while here and let me tell you, it nearly gives me a heart attack even when i'm prepared for it

As a canadian, having that sound wake you at 4 am is an experience

The Australian one is absolutely terrifying when a wall of fire is coming towards you during bushfire season. Or when a cyclone is nearby. It’s honestly so traumatic.

“German’s gotta be scary” “It’s has to be” “Cmon now” *German EAS alarm plays a good beat*

Do alarms give anyone else irrational anxiety lol Except the sillier ones, but where I live, the alarms make you damn near expect an alien invasion

As a canadian, the alarm is 10x worse when youre in a big group like a classroom and everyones phones are playing this in unison

As a Canadian (from Quebec), I have only heard our alarm a few times, normally in the context of amber alerts and extreme weather warnings. But it definitely gets you out of bed and over to whatever device you have to get more information. You get kind of used to it but the frequency just wakes up your whole body lol

As a Norwegian, hearing those trumpets blare once or twice a year is is startling to say the least. We getused to it, but i cant imagine hearing them as an actual emergency is happening. Its a distant end-of-the-world sound for sure

to be fair if i heard Japan’s EAS it would be so UNNERVING because it’s not traditionally scary and could be an indicator of anything

A lot of these probably aren’t that scary because it’s not helpful for an alarm to be too scary in emergencies. For locals though, it’s the sound *paired with context* that makes it so anxiety-inducing. I’m from Japan, and I genuinely felt uneasy hearing that sound in this video.

Thing about the cute little Japanese one is it normally proceeds something legit scary (large earthquake or tsunami... or both) so that kinda makes the alarm scary in itself. Its one that you are probably more likely to actually hear so it kind of makes sense it doesn't sound like the end of times.

Your reactions to the Canadian one makes sense. It’s freaky, and canada usually isn’t dangerous

Japan's is made that way so it wouldn't be panic inducing but you'd know to get going. Italy's I'd start a rave 💀 America's is the most ear grating of them all IMO.

makes me giggle a bit because it looked like nick couldn't remember what the Australian flag looked like and had to go back to tell the difference between the 2

The german one is false, the alarm is wailing sirens that get gradually louder, reach a peak and slowly become silent and repeat. It's similar to the air raid sound

I live in Canada, and where I live there are a lot of forest fires coming in season, where I am we are in a forest fire alert. I have been hearing that EA sound every day so far. It is very terrifying, especially at night! A few times were in the car, It scared me so bad I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. It's like very quiet then out of nowhere that loud sound comes on. It is a jump scare for sure, and many Canadians will agree

The US one has actually always been really fucking scary for me. Im not sure if it’s because its grainy or if its the frequency but it’s always been very jarring for me.

Thr reason the Japanese one is so peaceful is so kids remain calm in case of an incoming tsunami for easier evacuation since trying to evacuate kids who just got scared the crap out of is a very hard thing to do.

15:30 the last thing you hear before you die to a flower or some shit

The Norwegian one is freaking _haunting_, can't believe it didn't make S tier

I actually think that the Japanese alarm is one of the creepiest ones because it's like a happy little tune while something bad happens. Imagine and apocalypse starts and then just: bring bring :) bring bring :) bring bring :) bring bring :)

as an Australian I can tell you they cut off the end of the alarm, it typically says 'evacute' or 'lockdown' depending on which situation a few times, it's the ones they use in schools primarily

as a Canadian I'm telling you our EAS alarm is the most terrifying noise to hear

UK here, I've never heard that alarm before (Though I think the government are trialing something similar for mobile alerts now), but for things like flood warnings, a lot of towns still use air raid sirens which are really haunting.

The Japanese one is only for earthquakes, and I believe it’s so uh.. nice- to not make people panic. Earthquakes are very much frequent and the last thing they want is people running and getting themselves hurt trying to get to shelter

This is a really interesting example of how where we grow up influences our emotions. I can see how all of these are scary or anxiety inducing because of the context even if they don't sound "scary" on a personal level.

As a Taiwanese, this is the last thing we wanna hear at school. We'll just be trembling and freaking out while immediately hiding under our table. The scarceness is so huge that I can't even feel the earthquake.

A Canadian here. Our eas actually put the fear of god in me as a kid. I remember being happy and playing with my dolls and watching cartoons . And then that shit intrupts my show. I still have flashbacks when it comes on for amber alerts and stuff

Some of these give me major dystopian vibes. Imagine walking out of you’re home to a destroyed city, buildings on fire, people running, and hearing, like, the Chinese alarm. Crazy scary.

funfact! every first monday of the month, the dutch have scheduled their alarm to go off in the middle of the day to test if it still works for real emergencies. it's terrifying but you get used to it.

The Japanese EAS alert sound was composed by Ifukube Toru, a relative of Godzilla's composer, and is designed to alert people by using dissonant and rapidly changing pitches. *Translated by DeepL

The Japanese alarm is really scary for Japanese people, because it's for earthquakes (mostly)

south korea is literally just the dialup internet sound & the fact that they don't recognize it makes me feel 100 years old

love how this tier list went from how scary they are to how musically interesting they are

canadians unite, we've all been jump scared at 2am by a test

A tornado warning alarm just went off on my phone while I was watching this 😂 what a coincidence!

hearing australia get a good tier is the closest I've been to nationalism in my life

As a Canadian who has woken up to the Canadian EAS sound many times, it is honestly so terrifying in the moment

the canadian eas alarm playing out of everyone’s phone in class at the same time always had me stressed tf out

As a Canadian, there’s nothing more annoying than watching some hockey on Tv at high volume when a public alert comes up and shatters your ears

The Japanese one doesn't sound so scary until you get woken up in the middle of the night by it. Those panicked few seconds where you think 'is that my phone alarm??' to then realising 'OH EARTHQUAKE OH NO' and you have to run for cover are genuinely terrifying lmao

I might be in the minority here but Japan's alarm is fucking terrifying to me. The juxtaposition of the lighthearted chimes and the terrifying chords, especially considering the context makes that one of the scariest for me

I actually like the USA EAS alarm not because its kinda scary (grew up in texas I affiliate it with tornados and severe thunderstorm warnings) but because the way it works is actually really interesting it is the SAME Header alert system, and it works by turning on automatically and broadcasting. The first 3 Beeps are data dumps which give out a set of letters when unpacked. These letters are codes which when decoded give commands to 1. start the broadcast 2. what is being broadcasted 3. what counties or areas are being broadcasted 4. who sent out the broadcast (the government, EAS participant for testings, civil authorities like mayors, police, and fire department.) 5. purge time which is intervals when the broadcast is being broadcast like 15 minute broadcast intervals through an hour and then after that hour the broadcast is purged. 6. time of broadcast being sent out along with day since start of the year. this is repeated 3 times hence the 3 beeps the ending is called the tail which is the short 3 beeps at the thend which each send out 3 ns like NNN which signify the end of the broadcast and repeated 3 times so radios can automatically turn off and return to normal broadcasting. (the starting 3 beep meanings are not in ones are not in order cause I forgot)

As a swedish person, iv never heard that alarm, we usualy expect the war alarm called "heesa fredrik, he's fucking terrifying

So it’s refreshing to see other Canadians agreeing on how ducking terrifying the Canadian EAS alarm.

For context Canadian alarms will force full volume on every single phone with a SIM card and power (the SIM doesn’t need to be in service just intact and in the phone). It happens frequently for things like amber alters and severe weather. It also often triggers in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. I don’t really think the recording of the Canadian alarm actually did it justice it felt a bit flat when it’s incredibly piercing. Despite hearing it almost once a month for my entire adult life I’m not used to it; It still strikes fear into me.

all of them kind of made my skin crawl. maybe it was the underlying eerieness

The Japanese tsunami alarm is far more horrifying. It sounds like an old landline telephone ring but from hell.

I love how arrhythmic the ones that have a rhythm to them can be, like they are causing you musical discomfort, just like the extreme dissonance in some of the sirens (which Norway nails). They make the notes or rhythms uncomfortable to listen to, because your brain wants harmony and rhythm. The German one repeats the last 2 notes too many times and made me notice that.

Riley is what you get if you give Dean’s voice to Kurtis.

as a canadian, the canadian one always gives me genuine panic and anxiety

I like how the Denmark EAS alarm says “you must eat the nuggies!” 😂😂😂😂

I remember that there was a day in Germany where they tried to test our alarm system all across the country. They tried to figure out if the sirens were still in tact and stuff and they failed miserably. Not even half of the sirens went off because they are all over 30 years old.

The American EAS alarm is really creepy when paired with the message on your TV screen. On its own, it is pretty spooky, but paired with a blank blue background and white text telling you about a tornado is just plain scary.

I may be biased as a Canadian, but you haven’t known fear until you’ve been falling asleep listening to ambience and then they hit you with the amber alert

When the Canadian EAS warning goes off on my phone I shit myself cause it's legit a jumpscare when that goes off.

I'm from Canada and that alarm is creepy when everyone's phones start going off with it (normally I've been at work when I hear it). Normally they do it for really severe weather warnings or occasionally amber alerts, if not just for testing.

As a German, I’ve never heard that sound. I feel like this is not the right one - I can guarantee the sound is WAY scarier…

The canadian ones starts on everybody's phones everytime there's an amber alert or a govt test and it is panic inducing even when you know it's a test

a year ago Video and still upset that they never full listened to the Egypt eas Alarm, THAT MIC QUALITY HAS ME JUMPING OUT OF MY SEAT FR

As a Mexican, I can assure you that there's nothing F-like about hearing that sound. It's always scary af and makes you shit your pants

As a Canadian, I can assure you that in a real life situation our emergency alarm is scary as hell!

as a canadian i can confirm i jump out of my seat when i hear That Sound

The German EAS alarm is a remix of the one we used in the Cold war. The new sounds completely different

I love how Nick and Riley expected something scary from Germany and instead started vibing to it My dad is German and said the alarm scared him as a kid but agreed it definitely wasn't intimidating to him anymore My dad said that he remembers something different though, I looked it up and it looks like the one they heard in this video is fake

I love that Nick immediately thought the South Korea alarm sounded like a fax machine. That is absolutely the sound of AOL dialup at 2am when you're hoping not to wake your whole fam up because you're not supposed to be online that late.

I wish they rated this on how startled they would be hearing these if they were like watching tv at night or something

The Canadian one man, being woken up at 1:00 AM and the first thing that you see on your phone is a message that says that some crazy killer is at large, then you read that he is 500 kilometers away

I like how people are defending their alarms in the comments going "guys!!in a real life situation its way scarier i swear you guys!!!??"

As a mexican i can tell that sound makes everyone run, cry or heartbeat to get faster, the earthquake that happened in 2017 is still so fresh in our memories that we put more attention if we hear it or any similar sound. Many people get more scared from the alarm than from the real earthquake, also nowadays it has a voice that says "alerta sísmica".

I gotta say my school's lockdown alert is pretty chilling "Attention staff and students. A hard lockdown has been put in place. Please move to a safe area" and then a minute of silence before that voice repeats the message. We did drills before and it never scared me. Then about two months ago we had a hard lockdown (not a drill) and seeing the panic in my teachers face... I'll never forget that. The alarm ended up being false, as some staff members have buttons on their lanyards and when both are pressed at the same time, it triggers the alarm. Turns out a teacher accidentally bumped theirs. Still scary when we didn't know it was an accident!

These guys are the yapping kings

as a norwegian who grew up getting scared shitless every time they tested alarms i appreciate the placement but to me its an s

also canada uses the EAS sound for like amber alerts on phones so we are frequently woken up by that nightmare sound

7:32 ooo this one’s a banger- *explosion*

I've tried to watch this video twice bc y'all are both awesome, but oh my God these are terrifying

When I was a kid, whenever I was chattering teeth because of the cold here in Denmark, I would make the sound of our EAS alarm. It's funny how you guys mentioned it sounds like someone shivering, because it really does, and it's very easy to make that sound when you're actually shivering

Actual polish siren is slower, more stretched out, this one sounded goofy 💀

I liked the hivemind guys from your vids, have no idea what their content is like. But the Danny brown reference? You have earned my respect.

to be fair to the german alarm, if germans were told "please evacuate. there is an emergency," that's all it would take lol

Honestly the Greece one was def one of the scariest for me

as a canadian, ours is just so unsettling that i’ve always gotten so much anxiety from hearing it. they use it mainly for amber alerts when there is kidnapping or children missing.

32:01 sounds like when u forget to put ur seatbelt on and ur car is beeping

i know im late but yall need to rate the old eas alarms (they were mostly calming sounding, i think they were used to calm people down)

the italian eas alarm goes hard as hell for no reason EDIT: NEVERMIND GERMANY FUCKS

I grew up in germany and I've never heard an alarm in my life, a couple months ago I moved to the netherlands and I nearly got a heart attack when I heard their alarm for the first time, turns out they just test it every first sunday of the month 💀

At 20:15 was Riley thinking of "send it up" off yeezus? That's definitely the song that came to mind for me 😄

4:46 I was in Japan for a job That sound went right off after the earthquake hit When North Korea plays with their bombs near Japan. Then you hear air raid siren

I needed the TV to sleep as a kid so when the American alarm went off id wake up in a panic, curl up in a ball, shut my eyes, plugged my ears rlly hard, and just sat there in irritated fear. Then I'd just be up all night. Def S tier imo or one lower

The one from Japan is not to make people panic more then they have to. Japan is the most tectonically active country so they endure a lot of natural disasters and hazards so it has to be something not to scary so they don’t add to the fear. Also the ones that aren’t as scary become scarier when the message plays that something bad is about to happen, for instance; if there is a tsunami you hear the alarm then a person will give an announcement about what it is for and tell u to get to high land

Brazil's might not be scary,but just like Japan's,it is the SITUATION,Brazil is extremely safe on natural disasters so hearing one emergency broadcast is signifying something big is gonna happen.

The emergency earthquake alert sound was produced by NHK. Its concept was to create a sound that prompts vigilance against shaking, alerts to danger, and prompts immediate action, while being easily audible to people of all ages and those with hearing impairments. After various field experiments in places like train platforms and busy streets, this sound was chosen from around 20 sample sounds.