That's the sound
The sound, it would seem, is something harmless. Even the loudest sounds can usually only make us wince; less often, after a loud sound we feel a ringing in our ears. However, it turns out that sound can not only cause trouble - it can kill. The loudest sound that scientists were able to create as part of military tests (USA) was 210 decibels or 400 thousand acoustic watts. To understand how truly loud this sound is, let's give a few examples.
The rustling of leaves in the wind is a sound at 15 decibels - it is barely audible. A quite distinct sound is a normal conversation, the noise level of which is about 45 decibels. Loud screaming and laughter are already quite noisy (75 decibels).
A subway car passing at a distance of no more than 7 meters produces a sound at a level of 95 decibels. Being near or inside a helicopter, you can appreciate the sound at a volume of 110 decibels. The jackhammer produces a sound almost unbearable to human ears with a power of 120 decibels.
Consequences of loud sound
At a sound level of 130 decibels, a normal person will experience ear pain; this noise is at the level of a jet plane taking off. The sound of a 145 power rocket taking off causes concussion.
With sounds at a level of 160 decibels, a person’s eardrums and even lung tissues rupture (due to the resonance of sound in the lungs), while a sound of 200 decibels is fatal.
So, the loudest sound, 210 decibels, created in 1965, was obtained by reflecting sound waves on a 14 m reinforced concrete test stand and an 18 m deep foundation. The shaft was built to test the Saturn 5 rocket in Alabama.
A sound of such strength made it possible to drill holes in solid materials, and its echoes were heard within a radius of 160 kilometers from the test area.
Loudest sound(Loudness Scale, Noise Level Charts) - an image of a sound volume scale, at the end of which there is usually an exaggerated example of something that, in the opinion of the author, is the loudest.
Origin
At the end of August 2017, a Reddit user posted a picture with a volume scale, in which the loudest option was an image of two laughing girls. Below them was written Two black chiks (“Two black chicks”). Thus, the author ridiculed the loudness of black girls, especially if they pair up.
The original scale image is from ChartValley, which provides various charts and graphs. On it, the author changed only the last picture, and in this form the meme began to spread across the English-speaking Internet.
It is worth noting that similar memes have already existed before. In 2016, a meme based on a typical infographic with decibels was popular abroad.
Meaning
The Loudest Sound meme makes fun of things that, under some circumstances, seem too loud. For example, everyone knows the situation when you open a package of chips in a quiet cinema hall, and it rustles terribly loudly. Other examples that have been ridiculed in memes include the sound of the Windows screensaver at 2 a.m., the microwave beeping, and the screams of 12-year-old streamers.
Gallery
Incredible facts
Interesting fact for those who like loud music: sound can kill, but only if it is above 135 decibels.
But there is a sound system at the European Space Agency which produces such a strong sound that “no man can bear it.”
A giant sound "horn" is the most powerful in Europe. If you turn it on at full power, there is practically no chance of survival.
It is part of the Large European Acoustic Facility (LEAF), a test chamber where acoustic tests are performed on spacecraft to ensure that no damage occurs during rocket launch.
Very loud sound
The sound test chamber measures 16.4 meters high, 11 meters wide and 9 meters deep. On one of the walls there is a huge megaphone. When nitrogen is fired through a horn, it produces an incredibly powerful sound - more 154 decibels. It's like being next to many jet planes taking off at the same time. This is enough to permanently deprive a person of hearing.
Such sounds can cause such severe damage that they may used as weapons. Less intense sound waves are released for crowd control, burglar deterrence, and counter-terrorism operations. These waves cause nausea and discomfort in a person.
Acoustic grenades can cause even more damage - they produce sounds of 120-190 decibels.
According to German research, an explosion greater than 210 decibels can damage internal organs, leading to injury and death.
Fortunately, the European Space Agency's mouthpiece was not designed as a weapon. It is isolated by reinforced walls and only operates when the security doors are closed. Epoxy coated steel walls contain sound and produce a uniform sound field inside the chamber.
So no one will be able to hear the true power of this system, and if they do, they are unlikely to be able to talk about their experience.
Loudest sound
We hear loud noises every day, ranging from barking dogs to construction noise. The human pain threshold is 120-130 decibels. Any sound above 85 dB can cause hearing loss, depending on the strength of the sound and the duration of exposure. Here are the 10 loudest sounds made in history:
· Rock concert – 135-145 decibels
· Fireworks – 145 -150 decibels
· Shooting – 145-155 decibels
· Racing car -155 -160 decibels
· Spacecraft launches – 165-170 decibels
· Blue whale – 188 decibels
· Eruption of Krakatoa volcano in 1883 – 180 decibels
· 1 ton bomb -210 decibels
· Earthquake 5 points on the Richter scale – 235 decibels
· Tunguska meteorite – 300-315 decibels
Hearing is one of the most important human senses. Not only humans, but also animals perceive information through hearing. With the help of sounds, they can communicate with each other and transmit information to their enemies. Let's look at the animals that can make the loudest sounds:
The hippopotamus is a very loud animal. Its roar can reach a volume of 110 dB. A hippopotamus can make loud noises not only on land, but also in water. Its terrifying roar can be heard within a radius of one hundred kilometers.
The sound of this volume is difficult for humans to perceive. Excessive volume can cause pain in the ears.
In the human world, sound of this volume is found at airports and train stations.
Even a kilometer from the runway, the noise level from an airliner taking off or landing is more than 100 dB.
- 2. Blue whale.
The blue whale is not only the largest animal on our planet, but also the loudest. According to research by American experts, it is capable of producing sounds with a volume of up to 189 decibels. These sounds can be heard up to 1600 km away.
By the way, sounds with a volume of 180 decibels or more are fatal to humans. Even metal begins to break down from a sound of such volume. For comparison, the shock wave from a supersonic aircraft is 160 decibels, the explosion of a powerful volcano is 180 decibels.
The sperm whale is also not small, and the sounds made by sperm whales can also be very loud and reach up to 116 decibels. Interestingly, newborn baby sperm whales can make sounds even louder than adults. Their screams reach up to 160 decibels.
By the way, for a person like that the mind is almost unbearable, loss of consciousness is possible, and eardrums may burst.
For comparison, when starting jet engines of aircraft or when launching a rocket, the noise level reaches 140 dB; when firing fireworks or during a rock concert next to a powerful speaker, the noise level can reach up to 150 dB.
- 4. Cicada.
An ordinary small insect called a “cicada” can make sounds of approximately the same volume. Male cicadas are capable of producing sounds, sometimes reaching up to 120 dB, during the mating season. Such “singing” is not at all to the taste of people living in the immediate vicinity of these insects.
Intense and long-term exposure to noise of such volume leads to headaches, hearing loss, and may develop “sound intoxication,” aggression and other disorders.
It is known that people who work in production with such noise levels suffer from hypertension twice as often as others. According to GOSTs, such noisy production is harmful.
Hyenas make strange sounds that resemble giggles. These sounds travel within a radius of up to 10 km. Scientists have concluded that the sounds made by hyenas may contain important information about the condition of the animal.
The power of an elephant's cry reaches 90 dB. Elephants can roar, squeal and blow their trunks. Through all these sounds, elephants express their emotions: fear, joy, fright, excitement. The sound travels for tens of kilometers. In addition, elephants are so heavy that when they walk, special vibrations are generated that can be detected by their relatives at a distance of up to 30 km.
The most interesting thing in the behavior of these monkeys is the choruses at sunrise, which are heard at a distance of 5 km and the volume of which exceeds 90 dB. They are performed by the males with the support of all other members of the herd, and are responded to by all other howler monkeys that are within earshot. With the help of these calls, monkeys give signals that the territory is occupied and find out each other’s location.
The volume of its roar can reach 87 dB. Its menacing roar can be heard over a distance of up to 8 km. No wonder the lion is the king of beasts.
- 9. Maral.
Maral is a red deer. During the rutting period, male red deer emit a loud roar, somewhat reminiscent of the roar of an elephant. Females and young deer also communicate through loud sounds. These sounds can be heard in the forest for kilometers. Interestingly, both females and cubs make sounds at exactly the same pitch. For deer deer, sound communication is very important. Thanks to their voice, the cubs call their mothers, and the mothers always respond to them. By their voice, deer can also determine the mood of their interlocutor: whether he is calm or scared. Thanks to these vocal communications of deer, people even have a funny catchphrase: when a person hears a loud cry, he can say: “What kind of mating cry is that of a deer?”
Early on the morning of August 27, 1883, shepherds in the heart of Australia heard two loud bangs that sounded like gunshots. At that moment, more than 3,500 kilometers away, in Indonesia between Java and Sumatra, the island of Krakatoa was falling apart and going under water. According to scientists, the catastrophic eruption of the volcano of the same name was the loudest sound ever recorded by humanity. The sound wave from the explosion of Krakatoa circled our planet four times. This does not mean that the pops or boom were heard in London, Toronto or St. Petersburg. But in these and several dozen cities around the world, weather stations recorded surges in atmospheric pressure that repeated every 34 hours for five days—that’s exactly how long it takes for sound to circle the Earth. Krakatoa no longer exists, and it is unknown whether there are any volcanoes left capable of producing such an eruption, but there are many other sounds in the world of such intensity that they can kill a person on the spot. Science journalist Maggie Koerth-Baker talks about the loudest one in existence on the FiveThirtyEight website. For example, she writes, the living creature that makes perhaps the loudest sound on Earth lives under water - the sperm whale. Sperm whales use echolocation to navigate their surroundings: with the help of clicking sounds and the way they are reflected from objects, whales understand what the surrounding landscape is like and whether there is prey nearby. According to Jennifer Miksis-Olds, a professor of acoustics at Pennsylvania State University, the intensity of such sperm whale clicks reaches 200 decibels. The most powerful sound of our time is considered to be the sound from the first stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle: it is equal to 204 decibels. It would be a mistake to say that a whale can compete with a rocket - due to the different densities of air and water, the intensity of a sperm whale's clicks above water would no longer be 200, but 174 decibels - however, this volume is enough to rupture a person's eardrums. According to Kurt-Baker, approximately this sound level was recorded in 1883 by the barometer closest to Krakatoa, which was located 160 kilometers from the volcano. The explosion of a one-ton trinitrotoluene bomb (210 decibels at a distance of 75 meters from the epicenter), the cry of a blue whale (188 decibels) and the sounds produced by dragsters (155–160 decibels) will also be prohibitively loud for the human ear. The loudest single historical event, according to existing estimates, is the air explosion during the supposed fall of the Tunguska meteorite - the sound from it could exceed 300 decibels. It should be understood that people did not hear the sound of the Krakatoa eruption, although it swept across the world several times, because its frequency went beyond the limits of what the human ear could perceive, it was in the infrasonic range. The ability of low frequency sound to travel long distances makes it an interesting and important subject for researchers. Thus, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, with the help of 60 observation stations in 35 countries around the world, records infrasound and tracks illegal nuclear explosions. The USArray project measures infrasound across North America to record seismic activity. There are many inaudible sounds around us that can be studied: sensors can detect thunderstorms occurring hundreds of kilometers away, and “hear” when mining is taking place in remote underground mines. According to scientists, two specific sounds that constantly interfere with the work of laboratories monitoring nuclear tests are microbaroms (infrasonic vibrations generated by the collision of waves in the sea or ocean) and wind, which, by infrasound standards, reaches the same level as a motorcycle engine in audible range. If people heard the constant sound of the wind, they would not be able to communicate with each other. Infrasound, even inaudible, can still seriously affect the human body. Under the influence of infrasound above 110 decibels, people experience changes in blood pressure and breathing rate, feel dizzy and have problems balancing the body (the ear is responsible for balance). US Air Force experiments have shown that with sufficiently intense exposure to infrasound, a person’s lungs begin to expand and contract, against the will of their owner, due to changes in pressure. This effect can open up another side of the use of sound: it can not only be a deadly weapon, but also a lifesaver if medicine learns to use it - for example, for artificial ventilation. Irina Solomonova.
