Think you crave silence? Think again. It turns out that extreme quiet can make us feel physically uncomfortable, to the point where no one has been able to endure the quietest room in the world for more than an hour!
Curious about what it’s like inside? Take a peek at this video:
The room in question is Microsoft’s anechoic chamber, designed to be the absolute quietest place on Earth. Nestled within Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, the room took two years to perfect.
While you might imagine it’s the ideal spot for some peaceful reading and relaxation, most people find they can’t handle the silence for long.
Picture being in a quiet space and suddenly, someone next to you starts munching loudly. That annoying sound of chewing and swallowing is all you can hear. Now, imagine a room so quiet, you can hear the blood flowing in your veins, your own heartbeat, the ringing in your ears, and even the grinding of your bones. Not so peaceful anymore, right?
“The longest anyone has ever stayed in the chamber is about 55 minutes,” said Hundraj Gopal from Microsoft in an interview with CNN.
Steve Orfield, who owns a similar anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota, told The Daily Mail that your body eventually adjusts to the silence. “You’ll hear your heart beating, your lungs, and even your stomach gurgling loudly. You essentially become your own sound,” he explained.
With no external noise, even the smallest movements can become challenging.
“If you’re in there for half an hour, you’ll likely need to sit in a chair,” Orfield added.
So, how does this eerie silence come to be?
The chamber consists of six layers of concrete and steel to shield it from outside noises. Inside, a massive amount of acoustic insulation absorbs nearly 99.99 percent of echoes. Even popping a balloon makes scarcely a sound.
The chamber also rests on springs to further reduce any vibrations, contributing to its status as the Guinness World Record holder for the quietest place worldwide, registering sound levels 20 decibels below human hearing.
Microsoft uses this chamber for testing and developing new audio technologies. Gopal elaborated, “We use it for tasks like measuring the noise from an Xbox’s console fan or the sounds from Surface device components. These sounds are very faint, but they exist, and in this ultra-quiet environment, we can detect them without any interference.”