High-Q resonances are rarely heard but intensely annoying when triggered.

Evidence

In contrast, the Q = 50 resonance is energized only when a musical component is precisely at the right frequency and remains there long enough to allow it to accumulate energy—to build up—which is easily seen in the center column of data. The amplitude of the ringing is of the same order as the tone burst itself, but it happens relatively infrequently. When the right frequency appears in music, as happens occasionally with voice formants or instrument spectral components at the same frequency as a resonance, it is very audible and very annoying. So, in long-term listening, the probability of hearing a high-Q resonance is low, but if circumstances are right, the problem can be severe. Long-term listening may be required before such a problem is revealed, but a measurement shows it immediately. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 499

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that a measurement reveals such resonances immediately — but that the audibility depends on probability of excitation — raises the question of how measurement-driven design should weight high-Q resonances vs. low-Q ones.