Loudest sounds

[Brady Yoon]

What are the loudest sounds in the world that can be heard by people, and is there a theoretical limit to the decibel scale?

[Dark Helmet]

I believe that the theoritcal limit is when the surface that carries it breaks down to the point that it can no longer transmit it, I think that carrying sound creates a tiny amount of heat in it.

I beleive the loudest sound would be a supernova in a medium that could carry it.

I beleive the loudest one of earth is the eruption of the volcano Krackatoa (sp?) at about 200 dB

[Musashi]

Saturn V launch?

[beskeptical]

Very loud sounds mean very high pressure waves and your little eardrum will rupture. You can still hear after that because bone conducts sound but it would not be perceived as loud.

Loud noises also damage the receptor nerve cell fibers in your inner ear. Electron microscope images look like mowed down grass or trees. It isn't pretty.

[zebo-the-fat]

The loudest sound I ever heard was a shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral I heard it and felt it as well :D :D

(I hope the send another one up while I as there next August!)

Loud sounds cause the tiny hairs in your ear to fold down (a kind of volume limiting system I think) when the move back to the normal position they cause the "ringing in the ear" noise

[Staiduk]

Loudest sound?

My neice's stereo.

:lol:

[Amadeus]

Everybody knows that the loudest sound ever is "Disaster Area"
:D

[Donnie B.]

I'm not sure if it's possible to determine the "loudest possible sound", since that would depend (at least in part) on physiological details that could vary quite a bit from person to person, and on the spectral content of the sound.

Typically, the Krakatao explosion is cited as the "loudest sound ever heard on Earth", or at least in recorded history.

The loudest man-made sounds are considered to be nuclear explosions (in general, no particular one) and, after that, a Saturn V launch.

Third place is usually attributed to various rock concerts, but this may be an attempt at humor rather than authoritative. I'm not sure, as my ears are still ringing from a Kinks concert in 1979.

[ktesibios]

Yes, there is a theoretical limit to the loudest sound possible- at least for an Earth-normal environment.

Sound propagates as changes in the ambient air pressure; for example, for a pure tone at an SPL of 70 dB, if you had a very fast recording barometer, what you would measure would be a sinusoidal variation in pressure where the positive-going peak would be approximately 0.089 Pascal greater than your local ambient and the negative-going peak would be the same amount less than the local ambeint pressure.

If you increase the amplitude of the pressure variation, you hit a limit- if the negative-going pressure peak is equal to the ambient pressure, then the absolute pressure at that point will be zero- a pefrect vacuum. That's a brick wall- no further reduction in pressure is possible.

Asuming a pure tone (a sinusoid) and typical sea-level ambient pressure, this will happen at approximately 188 dB SPL. Assuming a square wave, for which peak and RMS values are equal, it would correspond to about 194 dB SPL.

Just FYI, sea-level pressure on Earth usually runs in the ballpark of 101 kPa and the 0dB reference for sound pressure level is 20 uPa RMS. dB SPL = 20 log(sound pressure/reference pressure).

Now for some fine print. The above assumes that air is linear. It isn't. For the sound pressures involved in things like communicatins and entertainment, which come close to small-signal conditions, we can usually get away with pretending that it is, which simplifies our figuring a great deal.

But, long before you get to the loudness of a Saturn launch, the tidy equations I would use, for example, to predict how loud my PA will be in the cheap seats have downed tools and gone on strike.

You could describe events like a Saturn V launch, a volcanic explosion or a Disaster Area concert as "so loud our concept of 'sound' doesn't really apply anymore". :wink:

[Humphrey]

I have a firm belief that the loudest sound ever achieved came from the dorm room above me in my freshman year.

My bed was shaking from it..... :o

[tuffel999]

My vote would have been for the 75mm pack howitzer we used to sound retreat, until one day we had a 155mm howitzer on campus tha they used for a special event. That thing was not only deafening loud but it also set off a ton of car alarms.

[Humphrey]

My vote would have been for the 75mm pack howitzer we used to sound retreat, until one day we had a 155mm howitzer on campus tha they used for a special event. That thing was not only deafening loud but it also set off a ton of car alarms.

Well take out the shell and point away from the parking lot. :-P

[tuffel999]

My vote would have been for the 75mm pack howitzer we used to sound retreat, until one day we had a 155mm howitzer on campus tha they used for a special event. That thing was not only deafening loud but it also set off a ton of car alarms.

Well take out the shell and point away from the parking lot. :-P

Well it doesn't sound a very good retreat theat way :wink:

Also some of those car alarms where in the town close to school, and boy did it echo for a while across the mountains.

[Argos]

The nazis tried to develop a sound cannon in WWII. I don´t have much of an info about it, but a prototype reportedly downed people standing 100 meters away (I don´t know if this claim was verified). I think it´s a very powerful sound, much louder than Krakatoa.

The sound cannon never got into production.

[Bawheid]

The nazis tried to develop a sound cannon in WWII. I don´t have much of an info about it, but a prototype reportedly downed people standing 100 meters away (I don´t know if this claim was verified). I think it´s a very powerful sound, much louder than Krakatoa.

The sound cannon never got into production.

Not the most practical weapon (http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/2833/wunderwaffen/supergun/soundcannon/soundcannon.html)

I'll stick with Motorhead as the loudest thing I've ever heard.

[Swift]

Of course there is Disaster Area from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_Area)

Hotblack Desiato is the lead singer of the rock group Disaster Area, claimed to be the loudest band in the universe, and in fact the loudest sound of any kind, anywhere. So loud is this band that the audience usually listens from the safe distance of a hundred miles away in a well built bunker. Disaster Area's performances usually include a stunt involving crashing a space ship into the sun. At the time when the main characters meet him, in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Hotblack is spending a year dead "for tax reasons". The character is named after an estate agency in Islington, North London.
I recall from the book that Disaster Area was banned from several planets, not because their music was bad, but because it violated weapons treaties. :lol:

[aurora]

Mt. St. Helens was heard from hundreds of miles away, and that was tiny compared to Krakatoa:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/frequent_questions/grp8/question312.html

[frogesque]

ktesibios has illuminated us all with a pretty definitive answer above but I think a simple sine waveform sound wouldn't be on the agenda. Interfering harmonics and out of phase elements could produce much higher peaks than 2 atm. It's probably irrelevent anyway because I expect the inner ear would be toasted fairly quickly after the eardrum at this kind of level.

[ktesibios]

I recall from the book that Disaster Area was banned from several planets, not because their music was bad, but because it violated weapons treaties. :lol:

Actually, it was because the band's PA system violated local strategic arms limitation treaties.

As an old sound man, I can only stand mute with envy. =D>

[wackywizjr]

My wife has all of these beat :o . When she yells I hear her about every thirty-three and a half hours for years :o . It just keeps going around and around the earth 8-[ . I always thought she was repeating herself :-? but she told me she doesn't do that [-( because that would be :-# ...

[Brady Yoon]

Cool! Thanks for all the info guys. :)

[Gullible Jones]

Ad-Aware, whenever it detects something "critical" (and the audio alert is turned on).

"BZZZHHOOOOPPP BZZZHHOOOOPPP BZZZHHOOOOPPP..."

God, that is one feature that should definitely not be turned on by default. :o

[Brady Yoon]

Hey that's exactly what I noticed too! :o

[publiusr]

I think Marshall had a huge blast horn that could produce 210 db

[Nicolas]

I just had a lollege by someone who had checked the JSF's weapons bay doors on vibrational tests @ 160 dB. They didn't have lab equipment that could create such a noise by itself, so they vibrated the panel itself untill it generated 160 dB.

I vaguely remember jets (Starfighters or F16s,, I think F16's) going through the sound barrier at about 1 km from my house when I was young. That sound made the windows ring, and not a tiny bit.

Some very loud noises I remember: jets with afterburner full on from close by and behind, and possible winner is the explosion of a BASF facility few km from our house (good thing we were inside, the whole house was shaking). Some parties however were very loud too, with the main difference that theses sounds lasted much longer.

But officialy the loudest sound ever heard on earth:

We are watching TV. The sound is too quiet, so we turn it up. A lot, because the TV doesn't seem to respond very quickly. It is an old one after all. At what appears to be stagnation point, the sound is loud enough, but it sounds metallic. My brother sees the headphones are still plugged in. So he pulls them out. :D

[Cylinder]

[I beleive the loudest one of earth is the eruption of the volcano Krackatoa (sp?) at about 200 dB[/quote]

That is theorized as the loudest sound heard by humans.

[Nicolas]

"200 dB heard by humans". That means they were standing closeby, or do they mean "a sound that reached a 200 dB maximum somewhere, was heard by people (standing at some other place)"

Without the human factor, I think the event that separated the moon from us would have been quite loud (or was there not enough atmosphere to create a loud noise back then?)

[Cylinder]

My vote would have been for the 75mm pack howitzer we used to sound retreat, until one day we had a 155mm howitzer on campus tha they used for a special event. That thing was not only deafening loud but it also set off a ton of car alarms.

We used a 105mm in JROTC, but the shell was modified to fire 10 gauge blanks - when I finaly got to yank the lanyard on a real one, I nearly came out of my boots.

[Brady Yoon]

"200 dB heard by humans". That means they were standing closeby, or do they mean "a sound that reached a 200 dB maximum somewhere, was heard by people (standing at some other place)"

Without the human factor, I think the event that separated the moon from us would have been quite loud (or was there not enough atmosphere to create a loud noise back then?)

Yeah, that's pretty loud. But destruction from the impact would be much more than the sound, i guess. - :lol:

[Nicolas]

"200 dB heard by humans". That means they were standing closeby, or do they mean "a sound that reached a 200 dB maximum somewhere, was heard by people (standing at some other place)"

Without the human factor, I think the event that separated the moon from us would have been quite loud (or was there not enough atmosphere to create a loud noise back then?)

Yeah, that's pretty loud. But destruction from the impact would be much more than the sound, i guess. - :lol:

"Oh no, I was standing right at the spot where the moon material got violently ripped of the earth! I might have suffered ear damage!!" :lol:

[publiusr]

Probably the loudest sound ever heard by people set up to record it occured near the 57 Mt Soviet Nuclear test of a few decades back.

The Grandcamp/High Flyer and Mont Blanc ship explosions of the middle and the beginning of the last century would rank as the loudest non-nuclear sounds heard near a populace.

[cyswxman]

In Star Trek TOS, during the episode A Taste of Armageddon, they used 18e12 decibels to try to destroy the Enterprise. Wonder what that would have sounded like at the point of emission? :o :o

[John Kierein]

I think sounds depend on the medium. Sound travels faster underwater and I think can be louder. Whales stun and kill fish by concentrating sounds on them. Must be pretty loud for that!

[kickersubssss]

mythbusters i think said and atomic bomb was about 280 dbs

haha my system in my car does 145 with 2 12s haha

[mugaliens]

I believe that the theoritcal limit is when the surface that carries it breaks down to the point that it can no longer transmit it, I think that carrying sound creates a tiny amount of heat in it.

I beleive the loudest sound would be a supernova in a medium that could carry it.

I beleive the loudest one of earth is the eruption of the volcano Krackatoa (sp?) at about 200 dB

Could have been Krakatoa. Might also have been Tsar Bomba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_bomba).

While Tsar Bomba released the equivalent of 50 MT of TNT, and Krakatoa released the equivalent of 200 MT of TNT, or four times as much, the energy released by Krakatoa occured over a series of explosion on August 26-27, 1883. For Krakatoa, the sound was reportedly heard as far away as Rodrigues Island, near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles away.

However, the Tsar Bomba event occured all at once. I haven't found any reference to how far away it was heard, except this: "The explosion could be seen and felt in Finland, even breaking windows there." Thus, if it's breaking windows in Finland, about a thousand miles away, it was probably audible at three to five times that distance.

The grandaddy of them all, however, was the asteroid impact which formed the Chicxulub Crater (Yucaton Penninsula), which was six orders of magnitude larger than Tsar Bomba. That's 100 teratons of TNT, which is 500,000 times larger than Krakatoa.

I'm quite certain that atmospheric shock waves travelled several times around the world for a period of at least several days. Additional effects included shock production of carbon dioxide caused by the destruction of carbonate rocks, sunlight filtered by the ash and dust which blocked out all sunlight for several years, shock waves which ripped through the planet causing massive earthquakes and volcanic activity throughout the world, megatsunamis, and global wildfires caused by the reentry of molten chuncks.

I'm quite certain some of the ejecta was in the form of life-bearing rock, which had more than enough escape velocity to reach Mars. So don't be surprised if/when we do find life on Mars, it turns out to have DNA.

[mugaliens]

mythbusters i think said and atomic bomb was about 280 dbs

At what distance? Ground zero? 100 ft? A mile? A league?

And which "atomic bomb?" The sub-5 kt "suitcase (backpack, actually) bomb? Or Tsar Bomba, the 50 MT fusion device detonated by the Russians (and the largest yield every by mankind).

Sound pressure levels decrease with the cube of the radius from the source. It gets a lot more complicated when the sound wave is focused (flat), but it decreases with something less than the cube of the radius, and if you source is the inside of a sphere rapidly oscillating in it's radius, the opposite is true - it increases with cube of the distance from the source until it peaks at the center of the sphere.


haha my system in my car does 145 with 2 12s haha

I'll bet if you held a stick of dynamite next to your head you'd easy pass the 200 db level...

And if you drive past me and I hear it with my windows rolled up, I'll note your license plate and call the Polizei who will gladly write you a ticket for disturbing the peace.

I've gotten three like that over the last two years. haha

[Delvo]

According to some folks at the NFL, the loudest sound ever measured from living sources instead of technology or natural catastrophes came from the fans at Arrowhead Stadium... who broke their own record at least twice... and it's not even an enclosed stadium.

[Kaptain K]

mythbusters i think said and atomic bomb was about 280 dbs

haha my system in my car does 145 with 2 12s haha

Inside the car, with the windows rolled up! Decibels are a logarithmic system. To hit 155dB in the same car, you would need 10 times the power and at least a few more speakers!

BTW The maximum SPL of undistorted sound, in air at one atmosphere of pressure is 194dB. That is because at that level, the pressure difference from trough to crest is two atmospheres. Anything louder is considered a shock wave!

[Frantic Freddie]

This is purely subjective,but the drunk that came up to the stage,said "What's in here?" then stuck his head in my bass drum seemed to think that was pretty loud.I think that's what he said,he was laying on the floor.

[cjl]

Ooohh - this must be close to the record for thread necromancy...

[Maksutov]

Ooohh - this must be close to the record for thread necromancy...Nah. Lately we've had a few resurrected after 5 years in the grave.

BTW, I was going to call the fellow who revived this thread, but figured why bother, since all I'd hear on the other end would be "What? What? What?"

[Kaptain K]

This is purely subjective,but the drunk that came up to the stage,said "What's in here?" then stuck his head in my bass drum seemed to think that was pretty loud.I think that's what he said,he was laying on the floor.

My brother had an old two 15 cabinet that hadn't been used for a few months. His girlfriend's ankle biter had been using it for a repository for anything that he could stuff through the ports. :( When my brother plugged in his electric piano and did some power riffs, there was a horrendous racket from the cutlery rattling around inside!
When we took the back panel off, we also found a trail of mouse droppings leading to one of the ports!
I think that inside a speaker ranks with a kick drums.

[DyerWolf]

Admittedly this is an undead thread,

However I found this interesting (what with all the army dogs talking about sounding "Retreat" with howitzers and what-not):

Link (http://www.milvet.state.pa.us/DMVA/Docs_PNG/Environmental/PAARNG%20Noise%20Mgt%20Plan%20(Jan%2006).pdf)

They show that firing an M1-A1's 120 mm cannon puts out peak 143 db (under 500 m at 0 deg) and 101 db (over 1800 m away at 180 deg), while the 155 Howitzer is only peak 141 db (under 500 m at 0 deg) and 91 db (over 1800 m away at 180 deg).

Which is why when lanyard yankers say theirs "go to eleven" tankers ask if it is easier to just make 10 louder...

Either way, you definately feel the bass.


ETA - Having heard live artillery and tank fire, I kinda doubt there is a car stereo system capable of putting out 145 db...

[cjl]

There are, but only inside the car when the car is well sealed and reflecting the sound inside. It's a simple matter of containment, and the same exact sound system if open to the environment would only put out a fraction of the sound pressure (and why the best home theater systems are in the 120db range while cars can go so much higher).

Of course, even though you can make a car system put out 140+ db of some frequencies, I still don't see why you would want to. It's kind of pointless when it's that far into the level where you'll go deaf...

[Maksutov]

[edit]Of course, even though you can make a car system put out 140+ db of some frequencies, I still don't see why you would want to. It's kind of pointless when it's that far into the level where you'll go deaf...That might be it. All these 4-wheel ghetto blasters are driven by deaf teens/young "adults". The only way they know they're making noise is by the tactile sensation caused by the bass sounds that are also slowly loosening the trim, etc., on their vehicles.

[ineluki]

The only way they know they're making noise is by the tactile sensation caused by the bass sounds that are also slowly loosening the trim, etc., on their vehicles.

and their pants...

[Maksutov]

and their pants...Good explanation of "low rider" styles.