At some point of time or other, all of us need a little peace, but what if the environment around you turns quiet beyond imagination.
The ‘special audio lab’ at Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington, USA holds the Guinness World Record for being the quietest place on earth.
The silence inside is -20.6 dBA which is described as ‘unimaginably quiet’ by the testers. Can you even imagine what it means? This means that once you’re inside the room, you can even hear your body organs work including the sound of your heart beating and your blood flowing.
Before this, the record was held by the Anechoic Test Chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, USA, the silence of which was measured at -13dBA (much lower than the Microsoft one).
People who dared to stay in the Anechoic Test Chamber at Orfield Laboratories haven’t had a pleasant experience. The longest stay was just for 45 minutes. Why, you ask? Due to an inability to stand, disorientation, and hallucination. Just imagine what could happen in Microsoft’s audio lab!
Such chambers are specially designed to test various devices and emerging technologies.
The walls are sound proofed to absorb (and not reflect) any sound vibrating in the chamber and this is what makes such places ultra-quiet.