A survey of 2,500 adult Britons identified the karaoke as the most irritating invention. About 22 percent of survey participants picked the sing-along machine as their top choice.

It was followed by 24-hour sports channels with 17 percent, computer game consoles 12 percent, cellular phones 11 percent and alarm clocks 7 percent.

Kane Kramer, director of the British Inventors Society, said he agreed with the choice of the karaoke. He explained, quoted by the U.K. Telegraph, "When people are singing karaoke they are enjoying themselves, but as a member of the audience you are just watching somebody who can't perform - and isn't particularly pleasant to listen to - for as long as you can bear it... It is anti-social. You might have 10 people who want to sing some karaoke, which means 150 people have to suffer it."

The karaoke is credited to Japanese inventor Inoue Daisuke who came up with the device in 1971. However, he did not have it patented. The patent is held by Filipino inventor Robert del Rosario who had his Minus-One sing-along system registered, claiming he had invented it in the 1970s. Del Rosario won the legal battle and secured patents to the karaoke in 1983 and 1986.

The irritation over loud singing is not limited to Britons, but also among Filipinos. Although karaoke singing is very popular in the Philippines, reports of amateur karaoke singers being killed by fellow drunk singers hit the country's headlines every once in a while.

Joan Arbiter, daughter of Ivor Arbiter, who brought the karaoke to the U.K., said she was surprised by the result of the poll. She explained, quoted by the U.K. Telegraph, "It's odd, considering that things like the X Factor have come from it, which is one of the most successful things on telly. It might be irritating in the pub, but it's also given millions of people who didn't know they could sing the opportunity to discover they can."