Short: What mechanisms are relevant to the production of that noise and what are their parameters?
Up until a couple of years ago, I had only ever heard a quite, low, rubbing sound when the tires skidded on asphalt.
That was all on relatively standard sized tires (i.e. 28") and bicycles (i.e. upright non-folding or anything).
Now on my recumbent with 20" wheels when I brake sometimes I hear a loud screeching sound like on a car.
This happens when the wheel is skidding (i.e. speed difference of tire and ground somewhere between 0 (excluding) and forward speed), but not locked up (i.e. wheel not turning at all, speed difference of tire and ground equals forward speed). If it's locked up completely, then the sound is the quiet low rubbing noise I'm used to.
I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what causes the different sounds. Maybe it's the asphalt type (new one seems to promote screeching?), pressure (lower=more?), wheel size (smaller=more?), wheel width (wider=more?) or braking technique (the noise mostly seems to appear when I get it just right and am only almost skidding).
What I can say is that I've been riding disk brakes for years and those specific disk brakes for some fewer years. I have readjusted them, changed pads, had annoying noises appear, made them go away again. This never seemed to change the screeching noise I described above.