Advertisement
Dublin: 8 °C Thursday 28 March, 2024
Sarah G... via Creative Commons/Flickr
Sound of Silence

How long could YOU stay in the world's quietest room?

The lack of sound, which has been described as “disturbing” by those who have entered the room, can even result in visitors beginning to hallucinate.

NOBODY HAS BEEN able to stay in the Anechoic Chamber in Minneapolis for longer than 45 minutes.

Why? Because inside the world’s quietest room noise doesn’t bounce off the walls as normal – creating an absence of sound that disturbs visitors to the point of hallucination.

A typically “quiet” room – for example a bedroom at night – measures about 30 decibels, and a normal conversation measures about 60 decibels.

However, sound inside Anechoic Chamber measures -9 decibels.

The floor of the chamber consists of a trampoline-like mesh, while the walls are lined with metre-long sound proof wedges.

The lack of sound, which has been described as “disturbing” by those who have entered the room, can even result in visitors beginning to hallucinate.

“When you sit in any rooms a person normally sits in, you hear the sound and all its reflections,” Steven Orfield, president of Orfield Labs told Minnesota Public Radio.

“When you go into an Anechoic Chamber, there are zero reflections. So if you listen to me talk and hear my voice, you’re hearing my voice exactly. And if I turn around and talk, the only thing you’ll hear is the sound bending around my head,” he added.

The room, located in Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, is used to test products in order to ensure they are not too loud.

Although the chamber holds the Guinness World Record designation as the quietest room, it was also housed in the building where “Funkytown” and Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” were recorded.

Your Voice
Readers Comments
25
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.