The Sunday Read: ‘Could I Survive the “Quietest Place on Earth”?’
The Daily22 Jan 2023

The Sunday Read: ‘Could I Survive the “Quietest Place on Earth”?’

In a room in a modest concrete building in a leafy Minneapolis neighborhood is silence exceeding the bounds of human perception. Technically an “anechoic chamber,” the room is the quietest place on the planet — according to some.

What happens to people inside the windowless steel room is the subject of wild and terrible speculation. Public fascination with it exploded 10 years ago, with an article on The Daily Mail’s website. The article left readers to extrapolate their own conclusions about the room from the short, haunting observations of its proprietor, Steven J. Orfield, of Orfield Laboratories.

“You’ll hear your heart beating,” Orfield was quoted as saying. And, “In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound.”

Much of the lore about the chamber’s propensity for mind-annihilation centers on the concept of blood sounds. Hearing the movement of blood through the body is supposedly something like an absolute taboo, akin to witnessing the fabrication of Chicken McNuggets — an ordeal after which placid existence is irreparably shattered.

Despite this, Caity Weaver, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, wanted to give the chamber a go.

To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(2794)

Monday, Apr. 9, 2018

Monday, Apr. 9, 2018

President Trump has warned that there will be a “big price to pay” after yet another suspected chemical weapons attack on Syrians. But the suspicion that the Assad regime continues to use those weapon...

9 Apr 201822min

Friday, Apr. 6, 2018

Friday, Apr. 6, 2018

On local TV stations across the United States, news anchors have been delivering the exact same message to their viewers. “Our greatest responsibility,” they begin by saying, “is to serve our communit...

6 Apr 201824min

Thursday, Apr. 5, 2018

Thursday, Apr. 5, 2018

Many farmers across the Midwest voted for Donald J. Trump in the 2016 election but hoped he would never follow through on his threats to impose tariffs on China. They feared that they would suffer if ...

5 Apr 201818min

Wednesday, Apr. 4, 2018

Wednesday, Apr. 4, 2018

It started with a report on Fox News, and ended with calls for United States troops at the border with Mexico. We look at how President Trump’s approach to immigration transformed over just 72 hours. ...

4 Apr 201821min

Tuesday, Apr. 3, 2018

Tuesday, Apr. 3, 2018

The Second Amendment is just 27 words long. But those 27 words are among the most cryptic and divisive in the United States Constitution — and they are at the heart of one of the most contentious deba...

3 Apr 201822min

Monday, Apr. 2, 2018

Monday, Apr. 2, 2018

President Trump’s son-in-law wants to overhaul the prison system. The president’s attorney general bitterly opposes such a move. That has set the scene for a highly personal battle inside the White Ho...

2 Apr 201819min

Friday, March 30, 2018

Friday, March 30, 2018

Behind the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education was a girl named Linda Brown, whose story led to states being ordered to desegregate schools, mostly against their will. Ms. Bro...

30 Mars 201827min

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Thursday, March 29, 2018

As the special counsel built his case against Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, pressure was mounting for the men to to cooperate with the Russia inquiry. Then a lawyer for President Trump came to t...

29 Mars 201819min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

svenska-fall
aftonbladet-krim
p3-krim
rss-krimstad
fordomspodden
flashback-forever
motiv
rss-sanning-konsekvens
aftonbladet-daily
blenda-2
spar
rss-krimreportrarna
svd-ledarredaktionen
olyckan-inifran
rss-frandfors-horna
rss-vad-fan-hande
rss-flodet
dagens-eko
krimmagasinet
politiken