You might think that a library reading room or well-insulated basement is a quiet place, but compared to the anechoic chamber in Microsoft’s audio lab, they’re about as quiet as a jumbo jet. The chamber, housed in Building 87 on the company’s Redmond, Washington, campus, was recently verified by (who else?) Guinness as being the quietest place in the entire world, reaching an eardrum-bending -20.3 decibels.
That’s amazingly close to the limit of how quiet things can be on our planet: -23 decibels or so, which is the amount of noise made by…
Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News.
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- The Fight to Save the Salmon
- Inside the World of Black Bitcoin, Where Crypto Is About Making More Than Just Money
- The 'Great Resignation' Is Finally Getting Companies to Take Burnout Seriously. Is It Enough?
- Suddenly, Everyone on TV Is Very Rich or Very Poor. What Happened?
- Colin Powell Reflects on His Mistakes in Unpublished TIME Interview
- Business Travel's Demise Could Have Far-Reaching Consequences
- If the U.S. Spends Big on Climate, the Rest of the World Might Follow
Read More From TIME
