Monday, April 16, 2012

Tech Article 4/21

Orfield anechoic chamber - the quietest place on Earth
full article here
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Orfield Laboratories created a room that is 99.9% sound absorbent. The chamber is so quiet it can be compared to an outer space simulation. The room is made up of thick 3.3 foot fiber glass wedges, double walls of insulated steel, and a solid foot on concrete. Steven Orfield often challenges people to remain in the room in complete darkness. The longest anyone has lasted is 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, the human mind becomes concious of hearing the body's heart beat and breathing as well as the stomach gurgling. This sends the brain into a frenzy. People began to hallucinate sounds that weren't there, a way for the brain to compensate for the silence. The complete and utter silence confuses the brain, since it is used to background noise constantly. This room can also be used as test chambers for companies as well as labs to figure out how loud a product really is.

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