Is There A Noise Loud Enough To Kill You?

Loud noises suck. But are they deadly?​

CREDITS:
"Large European Acoustic Facility" photo by Guus Schoonewille

[calebshafer]

The loudest noise I've ever been exposed to was a 10 year old in an Xbox live party

[leuse]

Loudest sound i've ever heard was the sega startup sound when i tried to play while my parents where asleep

[BryanEdwardArmijos]

The loudest noise I ever heard was my Spanish mom.

[mayurp]

The loudest noise people probably get exposed to daily is when you connect your headphones and play something but you forgot it was on the highest. Poor Eardrums.

[Homogenisierer]

The loudest noise? Me on the toilet after mexican food.

[Kapsyloffer]

The loudest noise ever is your toilet flushing while your family's sleeping.

[Tranquility-Base]

The loudest sound I've experienced is a FA-18 Super Hornet in flight from around 50-100m away at Brisbane River Fire. When it was flying towards me I was like "oh yeah this isn't to loud", but when it goes over and behind you it is the most extreme, chilling, and breathtaking sound ever. 

[visvamoorthy]

dropping the shampoo in the shower is bloody loud

[DanielRenardAnimation]

Loudest noise was when I was in military training. Our tanks were in position, doing test fires. I thought they were done after a long break of silence, so I go to set up my biwak up against our armored vehicle. I'm sitting there, concentrating on that, when all of a sudden, the nearest tank fires a round. Now, the ear facing the tank was fine, but the ear just two feet from the armor-plated vehicle next to me, experience severe pain, as the blast resonated off the solid surface and got amplified. Didn't feel so good. :(

[Guitarfollower]

Forgot to wear ear protection one time I was sighting in my AR-15. Fired two rounds and my ear drums were hurting me for literally two days. Not just ringing, but like a headache in my ears.

[lz]

You can't get a sound louder than 194db. Above that it becomes a shockwave

[GLASSB]

I was really stupid one time when I was 14 and I lit a firecracker, one picked off from those Chinese poppers. I thought I could light it and throw it before it exploded but it popped in my hand immediately and made me deft in my left ear for about 40min haha. Glad it wasn't that bad.

[Shroudheim]

Damn it... now I can never live out my dream of having a meaningful conversation with a Blue Whale. At almost 190 Decibels his vast girth of wisdom would fall on dead ears...

[BrainStuffShow]

We did a new episode on whether noise is loud enough to kill you. Turns out IT CAN. Find out how!

[Volodimir_Druzhkin]

I put my ear next to a hollow metal tube, and an asshole hit the tube as hard as he could with his knuckles.

[grannysvids]

I was splitting water molecules once into hydrogen and oxygen using a device i made also known as an HHO generator and i let light to the resulting gases by accident and the bang was so loud that my left ear was ringing for 2 weeks, i thought I did permanent damage but all is ok now!

[Ayverie]

My dad went shooting ONCE without hearing protection and permanently damaged his hearing. It's got slowly worse since then and now he's pretty much half deaf. My loudest sound was probably also a gunshot.

[tailspin]

When I was in the US Navy, I was stationed on an aircraft carrier.  I'll tell you that when they are ready to take off, and turn on the after burner, the noise is painful.  You have to cover your ears, and your chest vibrates.  Not fun at all.
JohnC. vetreran, US Navy

[grantmacdonald]

They don't lie when they say RIP headphone users...

[flaviuscountry]

Kanye's noise, at any volume, will make you want to die.