The Quietest place in the world, will make you insane....

Came across this article, did search, and nothing came up. So sorry if a re-post. Anyways, this is about how NASA uses a custom built chamber for testing. Supposedly the chamber take out 99.99% of sound. Leaving nothing to hear except your own heartbeat. Interesting read indeed. Take a look.

If you've been to a crowded airport, sporting event, or even a kid's birthday party lately, a little peace and quiet might sound like the perfect thing to help you kick back and relax. Just don't let things get too quiet, or you might drive yourself a wee bit insane: the anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota can mute 99.99% of all sound, but visiting the silent oasis isn't as calming as you might expect.
The room holds the current Guinness World Record as the quietest place on the planet, and companies from all over the world seek out its unique acoustic properties. The walls of the chamber are lined with sound-absorbing baffles that can capture noise and mute it in an instant. This allows companies — both Whirlpool and Harley-Davidson have visited — to test just how noisy their products are without the risk of outside interference.



games.yahoo.com...

Good article, thanks for posting.

I can imagine you would go crazy after a while. Also, i was reading a bit on the comments and some deaf people are saying "Im deaf and im fine... not hallucinating" or something to the likes of that...

I really dont think its the same thing at all. A deaf person cant hear anything, not even their own heart beat so i assume this room wouldnt make the 'go crazy'. If you put a person with good hearing in a room like that i assume that they will pick up any little sound produced and this may screw with your senses.

I wonder how you feel when you come out after spending some time in there.... there must be a big *WOOOSH* of sound flooding your ear!


Cheers~

Right about now, I would LOVE to go there for at least 20 minutes!

Good book, could really get into the silence.

I remember seeing an example of this in the movie "Rocket Man" when I was little. XD They sent them in there to test their sanity in situations like that or something and they had to stay in for 24 hours. The one guy was in there making sock puppets on his hands and singing songs to pass the time.

reply to post by Thisbseth

Deafening...

I remember sitting in Death Valley one sunny day and it was so quiet my ears were "ringing". I heard a crow or Raven or whatever you call them go caw! I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I looked around me at all the rock outcrops expecting to see him sitting there looking back at me. I looked up in the sky over head and shading my eyes I searched the horizon, still no sign. When I heard it again I finally looked way up directly overhead at the tiny black dot floating there and realized that it was making that sound from hundreds of feet away.

During that trip I also heard the buzzing of a big fly (the biting kind) droning around. We were on the valley floor at devils golf course and I kept hearing it getting closer and closer. The rangers had told us to be aware of the big "horse flies" that will sniff you out from down wind and try to bite for your blood. We were the only fresh blood for miles. As I listened to it I finally saw it tracking back and forth downwind in search mode following our scent. It sounded like a small plane. It was the oddest sounding thing because it was so quiet otherwise.

Thanks for reminding me of that trip with your story of the quietest place on earth.

reply to post by Thisbseth


I need this for my migraines, get rid of noise and light and the pain doesn't intensify.

Originally posted by Thisbseth
Anyways, this is about how NASA uses a custom built chamber for testing.

Surprised to hear they do this, since space isnt quiet at all.

Noisy ISS may have damaged astronauts' hearing

The living quarters of the ISS are the Russian Zvezda module, which is the noisiest module on the station.
At their peak several years ago, noise levels reached 72 to 78dB in the working area and 65 dB in the sleep stations.
Astronauts on the ISS used to have to wear ear plugs all day but are now only wear them for 2 to 3 hours per work day.

And elsewhere I read ...

The Mir space station noise levels have been measured at 59 to 72 decibels. A study of 50 Mir cosmonauts showed that virtually all suffered temporary hearing damage...

As James Oberg put it, in space no one can hear you scream.

Thanks all who reply , and yes it is very interesting. I would like to go and give myself a try in there see how long I could last...

reply to post by alfa1


Interesting. I didn't know that. But what about space? outside in deep space? and why WOULD they need to practice for that if they are rarely out there?

Originally posted by Thisbseth
But what about space? outside in deep space?

Of course they'd be in a suit then. And a quick search doesnt tell me what noise levels are found inside a suit, its enough that they're having to redesign things to solve that problem...

The microphone array and associated signal processing are needed in the integrated audio system to overcome decreased sound quality. Sound quality can be negatively impacted because the microphones of the integrated audio system are positioned on the inside of the helmet — farther from an astronaut's mouth.
This makes the microphones more susceptible to interference from noise created inside of the suit as well as noise from vibrations of the spacesuit structure

NASA

Couple this with the sort of total pitch black you only get deep in a cave and apart from smell you've got total sensory deprivation.Now that would freak me out.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by Thisbseth
Anyways, this is about how NASA uses a custom built chamber for testing.

Surprised to hear they do this, since space isnt quiet at all.

Anechoic chambers (like the one in this article) are used to measure, amongst other things, the level of noise emitted from machinery. It's not just about quietness, though. The surfaces of the chambers are nearly 100% absorbent to sound so that any sound emitted (be it humans, machinery, speakers, etc.) does not reflect off the interior boundaries. Although they're not designed with the intention of messing with human minds, they invariably do. For example, if someone is not facing you when they are speaking, you cannot hear them. If you spend long enough in one, eventually you hear a permanent ambient noise which is actually individual atoms bouncing off your ear drum. Human hearing really is amazing, the sensitivity and dynamic range of them is mind blowing

Anechoic chambers aren't all about sound, though. Chambers used to be completely non-interference and absorbent of, say, EMF is used to test all manner of electronic instruments, such as signal transmitters and receivers.

Edit: and no, it won't be the same for deaf people as it's not just the silence that bugs people out but other things such as the complete lack of directional cues from speech as well as the sound of your blood travelling through your body!

I would love to have a go-I bet I would beat the record-If I could bring my comfy mattress.
I would just go to sleep and have amazing dreams.
Ah,beautiful silence.

That is what I did in a flotation tank,without the mattress years back.
They had to pull me out of it when I went to sleep

I love true silence.
It feeds my dreams.
It is amazing,but hard to achieve.
Deep caves are are a good place to try,if you do not have access to the expensive silence room of the USA.


Oooh, sheeeit am I weird to like the silence??
If so,apologies for being so.

I would love to compose music in a completely silent environment.
complete freedom to sculpt sound with 100% of your own thinking and creativity.

Originally posted by yourmaker
I would love to compose music in a completely silent environment.
complete freedom to sculpt sound with 100% of your own thinking and creativity.

I'd imagine it would be pretty awful. Our brains are wired to expect directional cues from how the environment adds to the direct signal through early reflections. Take away those directional cues and it becomes very disorientating.

Just think how much reading one could get done in that room...once had the house to myself for an entire spring break and was dead silence. I don't think I went insane of course I thought I saw some things at night but other than that it was great. Got a lot of reading done and lots of relaxing, I wonder if I could build that type of room onto my first house...Plan ahead for kids and all that

Originally posted by Imagewerx
Couple this with the sort of total pitch black you only get deep in a cave and apart from smell you've got total sensory deprivation.Now that would freak me out

.

If you get freaked out then don't watch this older movie about sensory deprivation experiments.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse

Oooh, sheeeit am I weird to like the silence??
If so,apologies for being so.

Not at all. You are not afraid to face yourself and THAT is a good thing. Were so used to distraction, that the absence of it (thru all the audio visual input channels) makes people afraid. Afraid of what? Nothing really, its we just think we'll die if left alone with our thoughts? Not being afraid to face the void, that is special.

I'm not convinced...

Otherwise we'd see an awful lot of crazy deaf people around, and from what I can tell, most deaf people are fairly normal.

Kinda funny, today I thought about how our bedrooms should be underground since there's too much noise, even at night, to have 100% optimized sleep...guess i was wrong about that!