Where Silence Has a Sound
At Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there’s a room so silent that it’s been known to disorient visitors, reveal the sounds of their own organs, and once held the Guinness World Record as the quietest place on Earth.
Built to eliminate all external noise and echoes, this anechoic chamber is so quiet it registers at –24.9 decibels, a level below the threshold of human hearing. Some who enter attempt to stay as long as possible, only to be overwhelmed by the volume of their own bodies: the gurgling of a stomach, the thud of a heartbeat, or even the sound of blinking.
A Chamber Within a Chamber
The chamber gets its name from its design: “anechoic” means “without echo.” It’s a steel room suspended on springs inside a larger steel room, encased within a concrete structure. Sound is absorbed by thick fiberglass wedges on every surface—even the floor is a mesh platform.
No sound reflects, no ambient noise intrudes. The room was first recorded at –9.4 dBA in 2004, improved to –13 dBA in 2012, and eventually reclaimed the record from a chamber in Redmond, Washington, when it measured –24.9 dBA in 2021.
The Business of Silence
Beyond the unusual visitor experience, the chamber is used by companies and institutions to test just how much sound their products emit. LED screens, medical devices, and even Harley-Davidson motorcycles have been evaluated here.
NASA has also used similar facilities to prepare astronauts for the soundlessness of space. In the absence of external noise, even the subtlest sounds become significant. Orfield Laboratories’ chamber allows developers to detect and eliminate unwanted mechanical hums or vibrations.
Sit Down or Fall Down
In extreme silence, orientation becomes difficult. Steven Orfield, the lab’s founder, explains that people rely on background sound to balance and navigate. Without it, visitors often need to sit down after a short time. New York Times journalist Caity Weaver stayed inside for three hours during her visit, reporting on the intense awareness of internal sounds.
While most sessions are shorter, the chamber is open to the public: $75 for an hour with a group of five, $200 for a 90-minute tour including 20 minutes inside the chamber, or $400 for a solo one-hour session.
Constructed in 1970 as a recording studio, the building has hosted musicians such as Bob Dylan and Prince. Today, it draws those curious enough to explore what silence truly sounds like—and how long they can bear it.
In Minneapolis, there's a room so quiet you can hear your heartbeat, lungs, and even eyelids move.
It’s the anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories, once the world’s quietest place.
At -24.9 dBA, it's quieter than human hearing.
Some visitors can’t last a full hour…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/zXMDH90gDU
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) June 7, 2025