Imagine a place so quiet that you can hear your own heartbeat, your stomach growling, or even the blood flowing through your veins! This is not a made-up story—it is actually real. There is a room called an “anechoic chamber” at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and it’s known as the quietest room in the world.

What is an Anechoic Chamber?

An anechoic chamber is a room specially built to block all outside noise and absorb any sound inside it. The walls, floor, and ceiling are covered with thick, wedge-shaped foam panels that capture and stop sounds from bouncing around. This chamber absorbs 99.99% of all sound, making it the quietest place on Earth (Microsoft News, 2015).

How Quiet is It?

The room holds a Guinness World Record for being the quietest place, measuring at -20.6 decibels (Guinness World Records, 2015). For comparison, a whisper is about 30 decibels, and the rustling of leaves is around 20 decibels. This room is so silent that it’s quieter than what our ears can usually hear!

What Happens Inside?

The silence in the room is so intense that most people feel uncomfortable or even dizzy. After just a few minutes, people start hearing the sounds their bodies make. According to Gopal at Microsoft, people in the chamber can usually last only about 45 minutes before feeling disturbed by the overwhelming silence (Microsoft News, 2015).

In fact, because our brains aren’t used to complete silence, they try to fill in the “gaps” by creating sounds in our heads, which can lead to feelings of dizziness or hallucinations. The room is used by Microsoft for special testing, like checking the sounds of computers and other products to ensure they are as quiet as possible for customers.

However, some skeptics argue that the anechoic chamber’s ultra-silence is as much a marketing tool for Microsoft as it is a practical test environment. While it’s true that the room serves technical purposes, such as testing sound for products, critics think the attention it gets is partly to enhance Microsoft’s image as a leader in high-tech innovation.

The world’s quietest room is fascinating and a little spooky, showing us just how strange our senses can be when things are too quiet!