-20.3dBA

[vvv]

Inside the world's quietest room

I bet, if yer studio was this quiet, you could here the lava lamp ...

[Recycled_Brains]

I would lose my f*cking mind in there! I've been in those booths where they test your hearing... man, that's bad enough. The tinnitus. My god.

[drumsound]

I would like to experience an anechoic chamber. I'm fascinated by them. I (like most of us, I assume) always notice the different sound as a walk though buildings. I'd love that experience.

[Magnetic Services]

I've been in the anechoic chamber at Orfield Labs in Minnesota, which at that time they told us was the "quietest place on earth." Microsoft must have beaten the record I guess?

[drumsound]

I've been in the anechoic chamber at Orfield Labs in Minnesota, which at that time they told us was the "quietest place on earth." Microsoft must have beaten the record I guess?

What was it like, Dante?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

at first glance i was like wow, 20.3dBA! that is quiet!

then i noticed the minus sign.

[Magnetic Services]

I've been in the anechoic chamber at Orfield Labs in Minnesota, which at that time they told us was the "quietest place on earth." Microsoft must have beaten the record I guess?

What was it like, Dante?

I wouldn't call it "deafening" like the article does, but it's definitely a strange sensation you'll never feel anywhere else. It's like you're in an auditory vacuum and every little sound is a star out in the void of space, still emitting light but with nothing to reflect off. Imagine watching a movie in headphones with all the reverb taken off every bit of dialogue and foley. Just direct sound. Everything sounds impossibly close, like right up in your ears, without that spatial information. It really reminds you how much your brain relies on auditory cues 100% of the time.

I went on a class trip for an acoustics class in college. We got a group tour of the facility, then went in the chamber in smaller groups for 5-10 minutes each and just closed our eyes and listened. It's pretty awkward when bodily noises are the only thing audible, perceptually amplified by the lack of a noise floor.

Equally cool was their "loud room" (forgot what it was actually called), basically the opposite of the anechoic chamber where all the surfaces are maximally reflective. I think it was for testing STC/absorptive properties of materials.