The current shouting record has been held by Annalisa Wray since 1994. At the Citybus Challenge in Belfast, Northern Ireland, she ironically yelled the word "quiet" to a level of 121.7 dBA. That's almost as loud as a jet engine! Classroom assistant Jill Drake holds the scream title at an ear-piercing 129 dBA.
Flexi Says: The loudest sound ever made by humans was the detonation of the Tsar Bomba, a nuclear bomb created and detonated by the Soviet Union in 1961.
On the other hand, a human scream can reach decibel levels between 80 and 125 dB.
Sound is after all a pressure wave passing through the atmosphere, or through other materials. The 194 db limit is because at that level, the rarefaction part of the wave becomes a vacuum. The pressure waves can continue to increase in level, but are no longer linear.
The noise from the largest detonated atomic bomb, the RDS-202 Tsar Bomb, can be estimated at an incredible 224 dB. Since the decibels are logarithmic, it is a hundred times more deafening a noise than the Saturn V space rocket.
This car siren advertised as being 300dB loud, which would make it approximately as loud as 1000 nuclear bombs at once.
Whales: 230db
But the loudest is the sperm whale. It makes a series of clicking noises that can reach as high as 230 db making it the loudest animal in the world. The click lasts for only 15 to 30 milliseconds and can stay audible to a sperm whale as much as 10 miles away.
Big Whale, Big Sound
That's only slightly larger than the 200-decibel click of a sperm whale's echolocation, which speaks to the animal's impressive power. Pressure waves such as sound travel differently in water than they do in air, however, and the click would sound slightly softer on land, at around 174 decibels.
Levels and sources of damaging noise include: 85 – 100 decibels: For example, a hair dryer, blender, power lawn mower, forklift, or subway train. 100 – 120 decibels: For example, a bulldozer, impact wrench, or motorcycle. 120 – 140 decibels: Such as, a rock concert, auto racing, or a hammer pounding a nail.
Once you go past 85dB, you are on the clock. Here is a short list of common noises and their decibel levels: Aircraft at take-off (180) Fireworks (140)
110 dB is as loud as a rock-n-roll band. The siren emits a high frequency oscillating siren intolerable to the human ear. It does a great job at forcing a burglar to have to leave.
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.
Firearms Are Loud
A small . 22-caliber rifle can produce noise around 140 dB, while big-bore rifles and pistols can produce sound over 175 dB. Firing guns in a place where sounds can reverberate, or bounce off walls and other structures, can make noises louder and increase the risk of hearing loss.
Scientists believe the sonic boom was the loudest sound on earth to happen since the 1883 eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia, which was estimated to be 235 dB in the epicenter.
The intense heat from the detonation was capable of causing third-degree burns at a distance of 62 miles from ground zero. The shock wave was felt as far away as the Dikson settlement located 430 miles away, and windows shattered at a distance of 560 miles.
As only one bomb was built to completion, that capability has never been demonstrated. The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute Of Technical Physics, in Snezhinsk.
These range in intensity from 157 dBP (peak unweighted decibels) for a 5.56mm M16 rifle to 183 dBP for a 105mm towed howitzer. Warfighters are required to wear hearing protection during training and should do so during combat. Military regulations require double hearing protection for some exposures.
5,000dB is louder than a supernova, it can't possibly occur on Earth. If it did happen, it would disintegrate the solar system turning every living thing and rock into disassociated plasma cloud.
“The F/A-18 Super Hornet produces 118 decibels of noise, which is the equivalent of a rock concert,” Schrock said. “A reduction of four decibels would have a significant impact on noise issues related to our military aircraft.”
The sirens are loud (130db at 100ft), but are not designed to be heard indoors. If you're within a couple of blocks of a siren, you may hear them indoors, but their intent is to be heard by people outside. Why did I hear sirens going off, but there is no tornado warning? Several possibilities.
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.
Sounds between 170-200 dB are so intense that they can cause lethal issues like pulmonary embolisms, pulmonary contusions, or even burst lungs. As for exploding heads, you can expect that from sounds above 240 dB. However, such high intensity sounds are very rare.
Understanding Decibel Levels
For comparison purposes, a shotgun produces 155 dB on average. Prolonged exposure to high decibel levels can come from everyday sounds.
A change of 10 dB is accepted as the difference in level that is perceived by most listeners as “twice as loud” or “half as loud”. To produce an increase of +10 dB you need to increase power (watts) by a factor of 10.