People pay R10k to spend an hour in quietest room in the world
They say silence is golden, but would you be able to spend even a second in the world's most silent room?
Some people have no issue falling asleep or working in super noisy environments.
READ: South Africa's 2023 World Happiness report ranking has been revealed
Others need complete silence and if you are one of those, we have some delightful news for you.
Steven Orfield has designed the quietest room in the world.
READ: Wife reacts to husband getting tattoo of her most unflattering face
Orfield Laboratories in the USA has created an anechoic chamber which "is a shielded room that has radio-wave absorbing material applied to the walls, ceiling, and floor".
This chamber absorbs 99.99% of sound. An average room measures 30 decibels at night, this room reaches -20 decibels.
The room consists of three-foot brick and fibreglass chunks along the walls that help reduce the echo.
READ: Everything you need to know about Thabo Bester's escape
While the room is generally used for experiments and more science-based things, there have been people willing to spend as much time as possible in the chamber.
However, it is clearly not for the faint of heart.
We challenge people to sit in the chamber in the dark. When it's quiet, ears will adapt. The quieter the room, the more things you hear. You'll hear your heart beating, sometimes you can hear your lungs, hear your stomach gurgling loudly. In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound.
READ: Peet Viljoen dagvaar 'Carte Blanche'-vervaardiger
Speech and hearing scientist Hundraj Gopal even says that strange things can start happening when people spend too much time in the room, as the absence of sound can become deafening.
Some can experience ringing in their ears or feel a sense of fullness in their ears.
If you want to better understand the concept or see what a first-hand experience is like, here are a few videos to help create a pretty disturbing and interesting picture:
Tune in to 'The Drive with Rob & Roz', on weekdays from 16:00 - 19:00. Stream the show live here or download our mobile app here.
Follow us on social media:
Main image courtesy of Veritasium/YouTube