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(2791)

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Thursday, June 22, 2017

We replay the dramatic hours at a hotel room in Chicago leading up to Travis Kalanick’s resignation as the chief executive of Uber. Plus: Part I of a two-part series on the opioid crisis ravaging Amer...

22 Juni 201718min

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Former prisoners subjected to “enhanced interrogation” techniques developed after Sept. 11 have filed a lawsuit — not against the C.I.A., which is protected, but against two psychologists. We discuss ...

21 Juni 201722min

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

The battle for Mosul is entering its final and most challenging phase, with Iraqi forces there engaged in the most intensive urban warfare since World War II. The Times embeds with one Iraqi unit. Gue...

20 Juni 201721min

Monday, June 19, 2017

Monday, June 19, 2017

Why Senate leaders are crafting the most important legislation of the Trump presidency in secret. Guest: Carl Hulse, who covers Congress. For more information on today’s episode, visit http://nyti.ms/...

19 Juni 201718min

Friday, June 16, 2017

Friday, June 16, 2017

Two closely watched trials are heading toward a verdict. We discuss the complexities of both cases. Guests: Katharine Q. Seelye, who has been covering a manslaughter case in Taunton, Mass., involving ...

16 Juni 201721min

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Moments before he opened fire, the gunman asked who was on the baseball field: Democrats or Republicans. And what happens when a 400-year-old play about one of history’s most infamous acts of politica...

15 Juni 201723min

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions took his turn appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. We discuss his testimony. Plus: a dispatch from...

14 Juni 201722min

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Her disclosure of classified documents in 2010 ushered in the age of leaks. Now Chelsea Manning has been freed from prison and talks about why she did it — and everything that followed. Guest: Matt Sh...

13 Juni 201725min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

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