The room at Orfield is called an anechoic chamber, meaning there is zero echo as the room absorbs 99.99% of sound. Rooms like this, and a similar one developed by Microsoft on their Redmund campus in Washington State, are used by various manufacturers to test product volume and sound quality, or by NASA to test their astronauts. Space is like one giant anechoic chamber, so that makes sense.

A typical quiet bedroom at night measures about 30 decibels (dBA). This chamber measures an average of -13 dBA, with a global record of -24.9 dBA.

The chamber is actually a six-sided steel double-walled box, suspended by springs, inside a five-sided steel-over chamber. The two rooms are inside the acoustical laboratory, which has 30cm-thick concrete walls. The door to the anechoic chamber is made of steel panels covered in 100cm-thick fiberglass acoustical wedges, which also line the interior of the chamber.

Rooms like this can also drive people mad.

In the absence of outside noise, ears adapt to the silence, enabling one to quite clearly hear the sounds of heartbeat, blood circulation, stomach, lungs … and even the sound of eyelids opening and closing. It can be a disorienting experience. After a while the sound of blood coursing through the vessels in their ears can turn into quite a roar.

All in all, it’s a very weird thing to experience.

Most people leave the room very shortly after entering, tortured by the eerie sounds of their own body. “In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound,” says Steve Orfield, president of Orfield Laboratories.

Orfield explains that the only way to stay in the room for an extended period of time is to sit down. A person’s orientation is largely secured by the sounds made when walking or standing, and as those sound cues are taken away, perception becomes skewed, and balance and movement become almost impossible feats.

Orfield's chamber has become a tourist attraction in Minnesota … a place where silence can be heard and felt. So, next time you’re passing through, think about booking a spot HERE.

Story Idea: Remo Giuffré
___________________________

References

orfieldlabs.com
wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber
cnn.com/style/article/anechoic-chamber-worlds-quietest-room/index
smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/earths-quietest-place-will-drive-you-crazy-in-45-minutes
theplaidzebra.com/quietest-room-earth-makes-people-go-insane-45-minutes-video

Images

1. The inside of Orfield Laboratories' quiet room. Photo credit: Holly Riddle.
2. Steve Orfield
3. The exterior of Orfield Laboratories, Inc., in Minneapolis
4. Minimisation of the reflection of sound waves by an anechoic chamber's walls
5. Ear illustration credit: Neurosurgeons of New Jersey
6. Crazy making quietness. Photo credit: The Plaid Zebra.
7. Video: This Strange Room Holds a Quiet Secret, ABC News, 2016