WHILE you may have pondered the inner workings of your body, hearing every heartbeat may be going overboard.
But hundreds of daredevils still flock to Microsoft‘s anechoic chamber to listen to each grind, crunch and squeak our skeletons make.
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The remarkable room located at the tech giant’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, certainly has people all ears.
Crowned the quietest place in the world by Guinness World Records, it’s a space where you can hear each and every sound.
The echo-free chamber envelops those brave enough to step inside with a “strange and unique sensation”.
Although it is useful for testing audio equipment and varying sounds – the room also leaves visitors with a severe bout of dizziness.
People can’t last in the chamber for more than an hour.
Some have even bailed out of the eerily quiet room within a mere few seconds.
In just a matter of minutes, the thud of your own heartbeat will ring in your ears, the New York Post reports.
It’s soon followed by the chilling sound of your bones grinding, blood flowing through your body, and the endless clamour of your organs ticking away.
Hundraj Gopal, a speech and hearing scientist and the principal designer of the anechoic chamber at Microsoft, told CNN the absence of sound can feel “deafening.”
He said many visitors experience a ringing in their ears or a sense of fullness – and can even hear the movement of their heads turning from side to side.
“As soon as one enters the room, one immediately feels a strange and unique sensation which is hard to describe,” Gopal added.
It is because the incredible chamber has an average background noise reading of -20.35dBA.
In comparison, normal human breathing measures at 10dB, while the average threshold of human hearing is 0dB.
The lack of reverberation in the anechoic chamber removes any outside noise, as well as your spatial awareness.
People often lose their balance in the room, which took nearly two years to design.
It is made up of a whopping six layers of concrete and steel.
A series of vibration-damping springs are situated underneath the room, while the floor is a grid of sound-absorbing suspended cables.
The ceiling and walls are covered with fiberglass wedges which break up soundwaves before they have a chance to bounce back into the room.
Outside of the chamber, human ears are constantly subjected to some degree of sound, meaning there is always some air pressure on the ear drums.
Gopal explained inside the room the air pressure is gone, because there are no sound reflections from the surrounding walls.
Microsoft’s marvellous creation has become a niche tourist attraction that welcomes visitors from across the globe.
The firm typically use the chamber to test the audio of microphones, receivers, headphones and speakers.
They have trialled Xbox consoles, the HoloLens VR goggles and even Skype in the deafeningly silent room.
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Olivia Burke
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