Inside world’s quietest room so silent you can hear your own BONES grind – visitors can’t stand more than an hour

ALTHOUGH you may have pondered about 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. The world’s quietest room is located at Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington Visitors can hear every sound their body makes inside the anechoic chamber The remarkable room located at the tech giant’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, certainly has people all ears. Crowned as 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 – as it is not as peaceful as you may have initially imagined. 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. 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’s 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 while being somewhat disconnected from the surrounding building. 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. Steve Orfield, who constructed his own anechoic chamber, said the experienced can be heightened further by switching off the lights. He added: “We get thousands of requests. Members of the public visit from around the world almost every week, and they are just about always excited by the experience. “Most of the experiences of sensory deprivation include turning off all lighting, so that you are in aural and visual quiet, with no sensory noise. “Under this circumstance, walking around the interior will make most people lose their balance after a short while.” Microsoft 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. The floor of the remarkable room is a grid of sound-absorbing suspended cables Hundraj Gopal said the absence of sound can feel ‘deafening’