What Is the Loudest Thing You've Ever Heard in Your Life?

[Digital Doc]

Revolutionary era cannon shot at Colonial Williamsberg. At least it was short.

Eric Clapton at a loud, indoor arena many years ago. I can understand why he has bad T.

A friend playing his stereo so loud I could see the front windows of the house shaking and vibrating with the music.

The five Blue Angel fighter jets taking off, and I was at the fence line snapping picks, close enough to see the pilot wave at us before takeoff.

 

[newbieT]

Idiot coworker blasting a air horn canister next to my ear inside a small room

 

[ChrisBoyMonkey]

Firing the m109a6 howitzer on the reg. It was my part time job for 6 years. Hell of a lot of fun at times, I served honorably, but quite a price to pay for it. It's what got me here.

 

[Willysolman]

School bell.

Cobra fireworks, the windows shook and whole neighborhood heard it.

 

[JohnAdams]

JATO rocket assisted takeoff of a C-130.

 

[Mister Muso]

Idiot coworker blasting a air horn canister next to my ear inside a small room

Idiot bandmate unable to set up our PA system without huge blasts of feedback in a small room. Gave me multiple tones in my previously good ear. I've quit all my band activities now.

 

[Jason C]

The bloody alarm that caused my tinnitus, I didn't hear how loud it was but I felt it, like whooshing pressure over and over again, these alarms are rated at 125 dB at a distance of 1 meter and it was literally right in front of my face.
They should be banned along with a dB restriction on police and ambulance sirens.

How my ears ever recovered from that exposure I will never know but I am thankful every day that they did and will forever be careful with loud noise.

 

[threefirefour]

The microwave at 3:00 am

 

[linearb]

shooting an M1 with no hearing protection, I expect

 

[oceanofsound26]

The first time I worked with underway biogeochemical sensors in the bow thruster room of a ferry with the engines and bow thrusters running and the horns blaring that signaled we were leaving port - all with no hearing protection.

 

[Bill Bauer]

The first time I worked with underway biogeochemical sensors in the bow thruster room of a ferry with the engines and bow thrusters running and the horns blaring that signaled we were leaving port - all with no hearing protection.

Do ferries always use their horn when they leave a port?!

 

[Bill Bauer]

How my ears ever recovered from that exposure I will never know

Did you get to hear silence again, or did you get to the "quiet room stage"?

 

[Labyrinthine]

Hardcore festival in The Netherlands & a death metal concert.

 

[Emanuel Lourenco]

The bloody alarm that caused my tinnitus, I didn't hear how loud it was but I felt it, like whooshing pressure over and over again, these alarms are rated at 125 dB at a distance of 1 meter and it was literally right in front of my face.
They should be banned along with a dB restriction on police and ambulance sirens.

How my ears ever recovered from that exposure I will never know but I am thankful every day that they did and will forever be careful with loud noise.

IMHO it is remarkable how they allow such devices that they know for a fact are harmful for your ears, just shows how little regard they have for people as long as they don't get sued.

 

[Tex]

357 pistol without ear protection. A 357 to me has a louder crack, or higher pitch noise, than even a 44 mag.

 

[Elfin]

Pre/cause of T, it was the front row of a concert I went to at Wembley Arena. This was without earplugs. I have shot guns etc since then, with protection, and didn't find that to be as loud.

Post T - I was holidaying in Orlando and the fire alarm went off in the hotel. I had no earplugs in (this was about 2am) and was ripped from my sleep. The noise was so piercingly loud that I grabbed earmuffs (which didn't seem to cut the noise) and then tried to literally burrow my head into the carpeted concrete floor. I daren't try and leave the room as the alarm was directly above the door. This went on for about 40 seconds, but felt like a lifetime. My wife simply put a pillow over her head and tried to sleep through it...

 

[Bill Bauer]

Post T - I was holidaying in Orlando and the fire alarm went off in the hotel.

What happened to your tinnitus after this incident?

 

[Christophe_85]

Joe Rogan...

 

[Christophe_85]

Also Bruce Buffer...

 

[all to gain]

Guns and Roses concert and fire alarms in apartment building.

 

[linearb]

357 pistol without ear protection. A 357 to me has a louder crack, or higher pitch noise, than even a 44 mag.

They're both (generally) significantly supersonic; I would expect barrel length and revolver vs semi to matter as much as the cartridge. There's definitely something uniquely satisfying about the pop of a .357 but my main context for shooting it is out of massive revolvers.

Eventually I hope to own a .45 USP with a silencer

 

[HeavyMantra]

Stephen O Malley of Sunn O))) fame. That was horrible even with earplugs.

Probably contributed to my tinnitus honestly. I can only wonder how people standing by the amps without earplugs walked out of there. Myself, I was laying a fair bit away from the stage and feeling the sound pressure churning my intestines.

I listen to a lot of dark music, but man that was just warfare on the poor people in the venue. Darkest musical experience of my life

People familiar with psychedelics, look up a Sunn O))) live video and imagine being exposed to that on shrooms... While kowing those dudes probably drop acid before many of their performances

 

[oceanofsound26]

Do ferries always use their horn when they leave a port?!

Hi @Bill Bauer - Yes, ferries use their horns when arriving and leaving port as well as during periods of heavy fog to signal their presence to passing vessels in the immediate area as well as for several other reasons. There was a thread somewhere about ferries and their horns I need to find and reply to.

 

[MattS]

Every year when I was a child my parents would light firecrackers for chinese new years...it was the highlight of my life as a kid...I still do it every year (with triple protection and standing far far away).

I don't go to temple during this time though, at our local temple all the Asians would bring their firecrackers and light it all at once in the court yard...we're talking hundreds and thousands of people in one area...with barrels and barrels of family firecrackers all blowing it up at once.

Fathers getting wasted, mothers chasing their kids around, old men playing checkers and gambling on top of stone fountains...the smell of fine sandalwood, burnt fingertips from all the pink ash, and flashes of red silk charmeuse....I love my culture.

This is the second time I've heard about "triple protection". What is the third level of protection? ANC?

 

[MattS]

The gas bottle incident happened a few years before my tinnitus turned bad. The others don't seem to have made any permanent change. There was one other incident I now recall which may have made things worse and that was when literally a whole trolley of glassware smashed on a hard floor right next to me. Some guy was trying to move it through a doorway on his own. People heard the crash from a long way off. I happened to be standing with my back to him and couldn't see it coming. This did set me back for a long time.

Do you know what it was that did "make your tinnitus go bad"?

 

[Tweaker]

Do you know what it was that did "make your tinnitus go bad"?

Most likely noise from machinery in my old workplace.

 

[MattS]

Most likely noise from machinery in my old workplace.

But it was "low" before that? Did you continue working for some years with low level tinnitus? And then eventually it got worse?

 

[carolinet617]

Being inside my house as it was struck by lightning when I was 7

 

[Don Tinny]

Brief sound: a motorcycle with modified exhaust.

Long exposure: maybe a Slayer concert.

 

[Jason C]

Did you get to hear silence again, or did you get to the "quiet room stage"?

Sorry only seeing this now. Yes thankfully it's totally gone, I do get a lot of fleeting Tinnitus now maybe 2-3 times a day for a few seconds at a time then it's gone, It serves as a reminder to be careful with loud noise.