Extreme Engineering to Create the World's Stillest Rooms

There are labs so silent that most people can't stand being inside them, but that stillness lets us run some of our most sensitive experiments.

Hosted by: Olivia Gordon

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Sources:

[stuffums]

It's impossible to make a room totally free of vibrations on Earth, as the impact of Muscle Hank dropping his weights is felt through the whole world

[lilysleeper]

I was listening to this Bluetooth headphones and she said “noise canceling-“ and I was like “oh, ha ha, very funny sci show” and then it didn’t come back and then I realized that my headphones died

[jasonakers]

Disappointed. No, it's a good video, I just read the title wrong. Thought it said, "Extreme Engineering to Create the World's Silliest Rooms". lol

[PaleGhost]

_Sounds_ like the best vacation spot ever.

[sebastianelytron]

Still rooms? No thank you, I prefer my rooms sparkling.

[carthius]

But what about the "loudest room" a room with such amazing ability to echo sound that the echo seemingly never ends

[Zeldaschampion]

Tiny noises like a baby kicking inside a pregnant woman's belly.

[vanderj]

Well done! Seriously.
Much improved presentation.
Good to see you again.
Welcome back, Olivia!
And best of luck the coming weeks.

[hd_inmemoriam]

In order to debunk the rumor that people go crazy or can't stand such rooms, Derek from Veritasium visited one in total darkness and only left after an hour or so because he was bored. He found the experience quite peaceful, though. I don't know if there are any believable sources about people being freaked out by silent rooms, but it seems safe to say they don't freak out everybody.

[Kumquat_Lord]

It's a pity that I've got hyperacusis and by proxy tinnitus, all I hear is noise in silence.

[Aeturnalis]

I'm a mechanical engineer in a factory that makes orthopedic implants. I had the pleasure of designing the shock absorption system for a $1.5 million dual spindle dual turret CNC lathe that machines a $1400 knee implant, and the $400 thousand Laser CMM. That was a fuckin' headache! The machine is on six 4" rubber feet, on a steel platform with seventy-two 8" coil springs under it, and that still wasn't enough to fully eliminate the vibrations from the forge presses at the other end of the building. Ended up having the platform sit on a concrete block in a massive hole in the floor with rubber beams under and around it, sealed with high density foam to get the vibrations down enough to machine a good part. I couldn't imagine trying to eliminate vibrations the size of a proton, so... much respect :)

[rustyjr]

One of my former employers calibrated test equipment for NASA. I calibrated accelerometers and very sensitive microphones that were placed on test stands. I did some of this work in our anechoic chamber. I loved working in there. I would spend the whole day in there and be absolutely happy. None of my coworkers could stand being in there for than fifteen minutes.

[barbarusbloodshed]

Been in one of these. For a study. But their computer kept crashing and we had to repeat the tests several times.
In the end I was in there for several hours. I found the complete lack of noise (and light) very relaxing, but apparently my brain was a bit bored. I started hallucinating after an hour or so.
Which was kind of fun, just a bunch of very brightly coloured shapes floating around in the darkness.

[lonjohnson]

We have an anechoic chamber where I work. When you're inside, you feel a pressure on your ears. I speculate that the pressure isn't real, but merely the sensation of having your eardrums not move, such as when you are in a high pressure environment prior to equilibrating the pressure in your head.

[katherinehandcock]

I went into an anechoic chamber years ago as a grad student in music. The chamber was used to duplicate the acoustics of different concert halls with speakers embedded in the walls, but with the speakers off, it was so strange! My ears felt like they needed to pop, because that’s apparently what my brain associates with the sound dampening, and there was this strange hollow feeling in my chest from how the sounds of my pulse and breathing were effected. Hearing myself speak in the chamber was bizarre, too. I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to spend much time there because it was so disconcerting.

[ffggddss]

Sound & broadcast studios need anechoic walls, too; and one of the cheapest, and somewhat humorous solutions I've seen, was plastering all the walls with cardboard egg cartons!
Crazy-looking, but it actually works pretty well!

Fred

[Plarby]

i sat still for a second. i heard you talking. :P silly human, you didn't leave a space of silence! XP

[kensmith]

Magnetic shielding can reduce fields by as much as a factor of 10 per layer. What matters is how easily the lines of force can go past your chamber vs how easily through the chamber. Adding more layers tends to multiply the effectiveness. Thus if one layer does a factor of 3, two layers with an air gap between will so something like a factor of 9.

[lochinvar]

One particular technique I like is a room that is fully carpeted, floors, walls, ceiling, door.

[VariantAEC]

As long as both ears are detecting equal amounts of silence I'm good.