Testing if 60 minutes of silence drives you crazy

Veritasium · 32.8M views · 2014-02-18 · 10:33

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Overview

Veritasium's Derek Muller spends an hour in a silent, dark anechoic chamber at BYU to test the claim that 45 minutes is the most anyone can bear. He reports on his experience and other people's reactions.

On Hacker News

HN links it in threads about silence and quiet rooms, as a good first-hand look at the anechoic chamber that debunks the madness myth.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2014–2019

Topics

Everyday physics & science demos Psychology & human behavior

What people said

Baeocystin · 2019-09 · Recommendation
It's really not that bad. Some people find it unsettling, but many find it kind of relaxing. Derek from Veritasium has a good video on it for the interested. [VIDEO]
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white-flame · 2017-04 · Recommendation
There's a nice Veritasium video of an anechoic chamber here, with different people's reactions to it: [VIDEO] I've been in sensory deprivation tanks, but never in an anechoic chamber (yet). However, I'm sure I'd love it. Many people live their life fleeing themselves, fleeing the thoughts in their head, and fleeing the realities they don't want to face. However, if you're emotionally healthy and are purposeful in establishing your identity and life direction, silence is simply golden. Not just auditory, but visual, social, and conceptual. Because of this, I don't think that there can be any singular preferable amount of noise for everybody. If there's some average, plenty of people will still find it distracting and grating, while others would find it too quiet and uncomfortable. Plus, I doubt it stays consistent even for a given individual. When you're stressed, you might want more quiet... or more distraction, depending on your preferences and reactions.
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gus_massa · 2019-03 · Reference
Veritasium did a video about this room (inside this room) and he says that this part is an exaggeration. [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Veritasium, played through YouTube.

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