Man made the 'loudest' sound in the world's quietest room and couldn't believe what happened
Sometimes you appreciate a quiet space, but this particular room might make you yearn for the loud echoes of every day life - and playing one of the world's loudest noises can really show that.
Sound is something you're aware of every single second of your life - but what if there was a room that was almost entirely silent?
That's certainly the case with the anechoic chamber at London South Bank University, as it's a purpose-built 'echo-free' chamber that 'achieves almost perfect quiet conditions'.
It works by removing any sound reflections from all surfaces alongside blocking out all external noise in an isolated chamber through heavy concrete walls and long foam wedges.
Advert
It boasts a background noise level of just 15.4dBA, which is somewhere between normal breathing and whispering from around five feet away - so pretty quiet!
What would happen then if you heard one of the loudest sounds in the world within this environment? Thankfully YouTube is here to give us the answers.
Scientific experiment channel The Action Lab specifically used the world's loudest whistle - likely the HyperWhistle - which can reach levels of up to 142dBA which is about as loud as a gunshot or an airplane taking off.
There's no doubt that the initial whistle sound is still fairly loud, but the remarkable aspect of the experiment is how quickly the sound just disappears afterwards, returning almost immediately to silence again.
This fact is made even clearer when testing the whistle in almost the opposite environment - the reverberation chamber - which is designed to maximize sounds through deliberate reflection.
In here the whistle is positively deafening and continues to ring far longer than it would otherwise, providing the antithesis to the short and sweet sounds within the anechoic chamber.
The Action Lab also test how a balloon popping sounds in both rooms, showing once again how powerful your surroundings can be when it comes to the sounds that you hear.
Popping it within the anechoic chamber barely makes a noise beyond a short and low frequency pop, whereas the reverberation chamber turns a standard pop into what can only be described as a high-powered rifle.
"That room made a simple balloon popping sound like a nuclear warfare," explains one commenter, whereas another user remarks that within the anechoic chamber "the complete lack of echo is heavenly. Everything sounds so clean."
Others point out their shock at realizing "how much what we hear is actually echo," and it's certainly something that you'll want to pay attention to next time you hear a loud noise. Listen out for the noise after the initial sound, and think how that could be different if it was accentuated or taken out completely.