NASA heads to a lab in Minnesota to put astronauts through acoustic torture tests

By Mike Wehner, Tecca

If you've been to a crowded airport, sporting event, or even a kid's birthday party lately, a little peace and quiet might sound like the perfect thing to help you kick back and relax. Just don't let things get too quiet, or you might drive yourself a wee bit insane: the anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota can mute 99.99% of all sound, but visiting the silent oasis isn't as calming as you might expect.

The room holds the current Guinness World Record as the quietest place on the planet, and companies from all over the world seek out its unique acoustic properties. The walls of the chamber are lined with sound-absorbing baffles that can capture noise and mute it in an instant. This allows companies — both Whirlpool and Harley-Davidson have visited — to test just how noisy their products are without the risk of outside interference.

But while the super-silent oasis is a great testbed for various products, it holds a darker side: silence, it turns out, can put a great strain on the human brain. Researchers at NASA test the room's unique acoustic capabilities on humans rather than hardware. The noiselessness is used to simulate the silence of space — an environment astronauts would be well served to grow accustomed to.

What they've found is that when all outside noise is removed from an enclosure, human hearing will do its best to find something to listen to. In a room where almost 100% of sound is muted, people begin to hear things like their own heartbeat at a greatly amplified volume. As the minutes tick by in absolute quiet, the human mind begins to lose its grip, causing test subjects to hallucinate.

NASA then monitors how the would-be space explorers react, and whether they can get past the very obvious awkwardness of seeing or hearing things that aren't actually there. According to lab officials, the longest anyone has lasted is 45 minutes before being allowed to hear the sweet sounds of planet Earth once again.

In the end, the chamber has proven a valuable scientific tool, just don't plan on renting it for some peace and quiet — it may do more harm than good.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/unplugged/quietest-place-earth-mutes-sounds-messes-head-212556719.html

4/5/2012 12:05:18 AM

I thought this was going to be a thread about Nickelback.

4/5/2012 12:07:45 AM

That's Acoustic Castration.

I can see where you'd get mixed up.

ClassicMixup.

4/5/2012 12:08:35 AM

I want to go in this place. Also i want my solo project to sound like this room

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/5/2012 12:13:02 AM

NC State used to have an anechoic chamber in Broughton. NASA needs to take thier asses over there if it's still around

4/5/2012 12:13:15 AM

[Edited on April 5, 2012 at 12:19 AM. Reason : late]

4/5/2012 12:13:53 AM

it's amazing to think that you can't hear the sounds coming out of your mouth because they haven't had a chance to bounce off of something and get back to your ears

4/5/2012 12:16:21 AM

It's to test how astronauts react to absolute silence, when you hear an annoying so-called sound emanating from your ear. Can't describe it exactly, but it is static noise.

4/5/2012 12:24:25 AM

Quote :

"it's amazing to think that you can't hear the sounds coming out of your mouth because they haven't had a chance to bounce off of something and get back to your ears"

Not sure if true, wouldn't it bounce off your skin and bones internally?

4/5/2012 12:26:12 AM

well, i assume the room is completely silent...if all that makes it silent is the walls, how do you not hear sounds right as they are coming out of your mouth?

4/5/2012 12:29:12 AM

^^I can confirm from your mother, this is true, yadig?

4/5/2012 12:32:56 AM

Quote :

"well, i assume the room is completely silent...if all that makes it silent is the walls, how do you not hear sounds right as they are coming out of your mouth?"

Perhaps you can.

Perhaps it's only silent when you don't speak.

4/5/2012 12:49:20 AM

it's being touted as the quietest place on the planet

4/5/2012 12:51:53 AM

I thought this was a thread about Creed.

4/5/2012 12:59:39 AM

Quote :

" Not sure if true, wouldn't it bounce off your skin and bones internally?"

Probably, but it doesn't need to. You'd hear it directly from your mouth to your ear.

4/5/2012 8:19:00 AM

Harley Davidson once tested its products here

4/5/2012 8:22:21 AM

Quote :

"I thought this was going to be a thread about Nickelback."

4/5/2012 9:59:45 AM

^

4/5/2012 10:16:20 AM

i'm confused. how is this supposed to be torturous if they can just relieve themselves by speaking?

4/5/2012 10:50:42 AM

Probably because it's a controlled experiment to test what happens when your ears don't hear sounds.

4/5/2012 11:08:58 AM

I thought this was going to be a thread about dubstep

4/5/2012 11:09:33 AM

I visited an anechoic chamber once, and it's difficult to describe but it really feels as if all of the sound has been sucked out of the room. While you can hear yourself vaguely when you speak, it feels incredibly muffled, and the silences are lacking all of the minute sounds we take for granted every day. It's definitely a strange experience, and I don't think I'd want to spend much time in there alone.

4/5/2012 11:09:43 AM

Deaf people are reading this article, laughing at the rest of us.

4/5/2012 11:18:38 AM

^

4/5/2012 11:20:42 AM

Quote :

"I thought this was going to be a thread about Nickelback."

lolled


But seriously, when I was at NCSU the anechoic chamber in Broughton was still there. The MAE dept has since moved to Centenniel Campus though so I don't know what's up with it. We have one here at MSFC... it isn't quite as hoss as the one described but it's really eerie being in there. The silence is deafening and it sounds like you are wearing earplugs the whole time. You can kinda hear yourself breathing and stuff but if you try and talk it feels (as was previously mentioned) like the sound is being sucked out of you.

4/5/2012 12:33:00 PM

Ha, thank god I got tinnitus, bring on the silent room!

4/5/2012 12:34:36 PM

Quote :

"Deaf people are reading this article, laughing at the rest of us."

/ thread

4/5/2012 12:54:41 PM

It's not necessarily the absence of noise. It's the things you start to hear because there aren't any outside influences. Deaf people can't hear their own heart beat for example.

4/5/2012 2:20:59 PM

That room smells like farts.

4/5/2012 4:15:36 PM

just beatbox

4/5/2012 4:22:55 PM

I've never been in one of these rooms, but I have been in a studio where there's a live room and a dead room next to each other. The air feels completely different, even if you're not making a sound as you go from one to the other.

4/5/2012 7:09:43 PM

Quote :

"According to lab officials, the longest anyone has lasted is 45 minutes"

pussies

i would put 10 grand that i can last a whole day or 2 in there, and i would put a grand that i can last as long as i want.

4/5/2012 7:32:00 PM

I'll take that bet

4/5/2012 7:34:28 PM

yeah, those pussy-ass astronauts are some weak bitches

4/5/2012 9:22:22 PM

yeah i could last a few hours. NAPTIME!

4/5/2012 9:41:24 PM

Quote :

"I thought this was going to be a thread about Nickelback."

lol

4/5/2012 10:23:21 PM

Quote :

"I thought this was going to be a thread about Nickelback."

Low-hanging fruit there, man.



I've been in iso booths in some upscale studios and I can definitely understand the "sound being sucked out of you" sentiment. I'd love to take a spin in this badboy...I'll have to look into the anechoic chamber at state

4/6/2012 1:58:58 AM

Rape dungeon perfected?

4/6/2012 2:20:53 AM