If we're talking about sounds within the human hearing frequency range (between 20 and 20,000 Hz), high-intensity sounds above 150 decibels can burst your eardrums, while sounds above 185 dB can impact your inner organs and cause death.
At 194 dB, the energy in the sound waves starts distorting and they create a complete vacuum between themselves. The sound is no longer moving through the air, but is in fact pushing the air along with it, forming a pressurized wall of moving air.
Common Sources of Noise and Decibel Levels
Noise above 70 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to your ears.
A sperm whale's click is 200 decibels, the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound, said Jennifer Miksis-Olds, associate professor of acoustics at Penn State.
A whisper is between 20-30 dB. On the other hand, a human scream can reach decibel levels between 80 and 125 dB.
Understanding Decibel Levels
For comparison purposes, a shotgun produces 155 dB on average. Prolonged exposure to high decibel levels can come from everyday sounds. When we're continually exposed to these noises, hearing loss gradually happens.
scream that is 129 dB (Finio, 2019). People, appliances, and vehicles emit different sound levels that can be heard depending on the environment where it is located or where the sound is emitted.
This car siren advertised as being 300dB loud, which would make it approximately as loud as 1000 nuclear bombs at once.
A nuclear bomb.
Decibel meters set 250 feet away from test sites peaked at 210 decibels. The sound alone is enough to kill a human being, so if the bomb doesn't kill you, the noise will. Fun fact!
(Photo by NASA/CXC/Columbia Univ./C. Hailey et al.) For the first time in history, earthlings can hear what a black hole sounds like: a low-pitched groaning, as if a very creaky heavy door was being opened again and again.
Firearms Are Loud
Almost all firearms create noise that is over the 140-dB level. A small . 22-caliber rifle can produce noise around 140 dB, while big-bore rifles and pistols can produce sound over 175 dB.
Car horn: 110 decibels. Nightclub: 110 decibels. Ambulance siren: 112 decibels.
The outside of aircraft engines (around 140 dB at takeoff) and conditions on other aircraft may have higher or lower noise levels.
Sounds above 150 dB have the potential of causing life-threatening issues. Sounds between 170-200 dB are so intense that they can cause lethal issues like pulmonary embolisms, pulmonary contusions, or even burst lungs.
Converting the energy of 1,100 decibels to mass yields 1.113x1080 kg, meaning that the radius of the resulting black hole's event horizon would exceed the diameter of the known universe. Voila! No more universe.
The Krakatoa volcanic eruption: Not only did it cause serious damage to the island, the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 created the loudest sound ever reported at 180 dB. It was so loud it was heard 3,000 miles (5,000 km) away. 3.
The grenade is thrown and explodes after a roughly 1.5-second delay. The explosion of magnesium-based pyrotechnic chemicals causes a very bright flash and a loud sound (160−180 decibels), which can cause temporary blindness, temporary loss of hearing and loss of balance, as well as a sense of panic.
The Loudest Sound, Naturally
The loudest sound in recorded history came from the volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island Krakatoa at 10.02 a.m. on August 27, 1883.
It is not possible for a sound to be 1100 decibels (dB) loud.
Modern sirens can develop a sound level of up to 135 decibels at 100 feet (30 m).
Audio devices and mobile phones including iPhone have a sound level of 100 dB or louder. iPhones can produce a maximum of 115 decibels (software limits European iPods to 100 dB; U.S. models have been measured higher), the equivalent of attending a rock concert amplification.
In general, women speak at a higher pitch—about an octave higher than men. An adult woman's average range is from 165 to 255 Hz, while a man's is 85 to 155 Hz (see sources). Men's voices are generally deeper because the surge of testosterone released during puberty causes their vocal cords to elongate and thicken.