A room so quiet, no one can spend more than 45 minutes in it

BTW, Ron Sauro at NWAA Labs (<a href="http://nwaalabs.com/" rel="nofollow">http://nwaalabs.com/</a> or <a href="http://nwaalabs.ipower.com/pictures1.html" rel="nofollow">http://nwaalabs.ipower.com/pictures1.html</a>) was hoping to build a quieter chamber but his funding dried up. He built his acoustical testing facility at a nuclear plant that was constructed but never commissioned.<p>The original plan was to build a 50ft by 60ft by 55ft chamber, with about half of it being underground. Given the exterior noise level of around 20 dBA (the plant is located in the wilderness), the thick concrete walls of the facility, and some additional noise and structural isolation he might very well beat Orfield's record with a much larger chamber (meaning it will be anechoic down to a lower frequency). If he can get the funding.<p>If you're ever in the area, Ron is a friendly guy and he'll be happy to give you a tour (he's on LinkedIn).

I've worked in one of these for a happy summer making measurements of acoustic diffuser panels. I quite enjoyed it. However, it looks that that room actually has a regular floor; mine didn't. You lowered your own suspended floor (metal grill tiles) onto scaffold poles to get into the room, then tore it all up as you left. Falling off the "floor" was a Really Bad Idea; those foam pyramids have got a steel spike up the middle for rigidity, and you'd be in deep trouble if you fell onto them from 6 feet up (especially as no-one was going to hear you scream).<p>There was a safety microphone wired to the door switch for this reason (which also meant it wasn't QUITE such a good idea to say rude things about people in there :-)

Well apparently one can hear one's own circulatory and nervous system: <a href="http://theresonator.blogspot.com/2007/04/john-cage-visits-anechoic-chamber.html" rel="nofollow">http://theresonator.blogspot.com/2007/04/john-cage-visits-an...</a><p>&#62; Cage entered the chamber expecting to hear silence, but as he wrote later, he "heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation."

I'm sure many people could, starting with the Deaf. I'd certainly enjoy a break from the incessant yammering of humanity.

There was a small room like this at my university. It was fitted with a "panic" button, because if anything happened you in there, no one could hear you shouting.

I was hoping for more science-y details. Any HN folks care to give a better explanation of what's going on here?

I read that title and immediately thought. Challenge Accepted.

Being completely deaf in one ear, I'm sure I could last 90 minutest at least. A cool article, but a bit sensationalist.

He mentioned that people generally can't be in there longer than 45 minutes. I would love to test that theory. Give me a desk, a laptop, and let me get to work.<p>The most interesting thing would be whether or not my tinnitus is going to drive me insane or not :P

Here is a video of the effects in an anechoic chamber : <a href="http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CampusTours/Microsoft-Campus-Tours-Microsoft-Research-Part-1-The-Anechoic-Chamber" rel="nofollow">http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CampusTours/Microsoft-Campus...</a>

We used to have one at HP. I hated going in there, supremely disorienting and creepy, especially with the weird panels on the walls.

I wonder how this would equate to being in space (preferably in a space suit) ?

I wonder what it sounds like in units of noise cancelling headphones.

I've been in the Orfield labs anechoic chamber. I didn't feel too disturbed, but then I never got the chance to be in there alone -- some friends and I went together.<p>Steve's a great guy. He'll give you a little tour of everything going on at Orfield labs, but the price of admission is a $20 check to a local food-bank.<p>He told my friends and I a lot of interesting things. Like how corporate offices use subtle noise from the air-ducts to drown out coworkers' conversations; or how casinos use echoing plates to project the sound of a jackpot across the entire gaming floor.<p>I definitely recommend paying it a visit if you ever find yourself in Minneapolis.

I would love to hear what my drum set sounds like in there. Has anyone ever practiced a musical instrument in a chamber like this? I wonder what the advantages and disadvantages would be.

The reverb room actually sounds cooler:<p>&#62; ...a reverberation chamber with bowed aluminum panels in which he sounds the same from 300 feet away as 3 feet away.

I enjoyed a similar experience sitting in the middle of a mile-on-a-side clearcut area on a windless, zero-degree Sunday in January in the far north. No planes, no traffic, no animal noises. I sat on a frozen log and listened to the blood in my ears for a half hour.<p>Give me a good book and I'll spend 45 hours in one.

Brilliant idea.. though probably bait'sy title... I would love to spend as much time as i can over there... If it's becoming annoying i can always sit down and start practicing vipassana(<a href="http://www.dhamma.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dhamma.org/</a>) that would be fun to listen to only my body. :-P

The closest I think I've come to anything like this is a "soundproof" booth used for hearing tests. I remember that being eerily quiet (to listen for very quiet tones in headphones). Anyone know how this chamber compares to a hearing test booth? Sounds like it's probably quite a bit quieter...

I'm curious. If you speak in an anechoic chamber like this, what does it sound (or not) like?

There was an episode of 'Get Smart' where in order to keep the room quiet the words people spoke turned into word clouds. Eventually the room was so full they had to eat their words. This article reminded me of that.

I have tinnitus and I often wonder how I would feel in such an environment and what the whistling in my ears would sound like.

yes, noise is pollution. I would tax cars based on air and noise pollution and nothing else.

I don't get why people can't spend more than 45 minutes in there.<p>I understand that you begin to hear your heartbeat and so on, but surely anyone who is even slightly deaf (e.g. even from just prolonged listening to loud music) wouldn't hear these very low-decibel sounds?<p>So it can't be the lack of sound, as a slightly hard of hearing person hears the noise floor drop out quite frequently. (Correct me if I'm wrong here; it's just my assumption). Is it that these sounds become so annoying, such a nuisance?<p>If someone had a noise-free keyboard (maybe touch) and were coding in there, would anything be a distraction? Would anything limit your stay?<p>I find sitting into a dead-silent room with a laptop (e.g. somewhere where you can't even hear a clock tick, nor any street sounds, nothing) to be completely maddening initially...but then after about 2-3 minutes you can immerse yourself and do something with extreme concentration.