No hot air! Beano’s academic study into what makes farting funny reveals the wind that will get everyone giggling
Scientists have sought an answer to the age old question of what makes farting funny, as a new in-depth study into flatulence, published today, reveals the world’s funniest fart sound.
Beano specially commissioned a ground-breaking scientific study – the Flatulence Report – which finally unveils the mathematical formula to the wind most likely to have listeners laughing.
With the help of Beano boffins, sound specialists Bose Professional and scientist Dr Helen Pilcher, the team studied recordings of 176 different farting noises.The full fart spectrum ranged in sound from low to high pitch, short to long, dry to wet and from loud to squeaking.
Focus groups across the UK then scored each against a number of metrics, including a funniness scale of 1 to 10. The top ten funniest farts were then tested and voted on by a broad sample group of Brits of all ages.
By statistically analysing the sounds and scores, Dr Pilcher and her team identified key factors and devised a mathematical formula to describe the world’s funniest fart sound.
The research revealed the ‘perfect’, side-splitting fart is ‘intense’. The funniest farts in the study were up to two times noisier than the least funny. It is also long. The funniest fart in the survey lasted four seconds; the least funny – one second.
A ‘gender factor’ means that any fart is likely to be found 5% funnier by men than women. Unsurprisingly, age is important with kids finding farts 23% funnier than adults, but with young adults 18-24yr olds being the least amused. The amusement of kids proved infectious with adults scoring sounds 25% funnier when kids are around
Dr Pilcher and her team concluded that socially embarrassing farts are funniest with messy-sounding, wet wind being more awkward than a dry delivery. A fart among friends is far less comic than a TV presenter letting one slip live on air.
Her formula for the funniness of a fart is explained as:
F = (I x L)Sx k
(A x g)
I = Intensity of the fart (dB)
L = Length of fart (sec)
S = Social embarrassment (rated on a scale of 1 to 3)
k = Number of kids present
A = Age of the listener (years)
g = Gender factor: If female, multiply by 1.05
The funniest fart of all, which had a mean score of 8.27 out of 10 in the public vote, was described by some of the 100 participants as ‘unfortunate’ and ‘potentially messy.’
Dr Pilcher said: “The funniest fart is long, loud and ever so slightly wet. This gives it the potential to cause major social embarrassment.
The research and our formula show how funny farts are. It’s as simple as that. Anyone who says they’ve never farted or found a fart funny has pants that are probably on fire.”
Mike Stirling, Editorial Director of Beano Studios said, “Beano has always been the authority on LOLZ, worldwide, so we hired some genuine boffins to prove it, by helping us release the funniest fart of all time – you know, for science.”
The public can also visit Beano’s audio partner Bose and request to hear the fart on their professional sound system at their flagship store in London’s Regent Street.
