Emily Brown
Sometimes you just can't beat a bit of peace and quiet, but one man who spent the longest-ever amount of time in one of the quietest rooms in the world would probably tell you there's such a thing as too much quiet.
If you're someone who always needs a bit of background music, then I can tell you right now that the 'Anechoic Chamber' at South Bank University in London would be your worst nightmare.
Far from just wearing noise-cancelling headphones or finding yourself enjoying the quiet of the countryside, the chamber is soundproofed to be so silent that sound is actually measured in negative decibels.
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Just 45 minutes in the chamber is the maximum amount of time people are advised to stay inside, as the chamber's designer, Steven Orfield, explained: "We challenge people to sit in the chamber in the dark. When it's quiet, ears will adapt. The quieter the room, the more things you hear.
"You'll hear your heart beating, sometimes you can hear your lungs, hear your stomach gurgling loudly. In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound."
Keen to see whether he could withstand the silence, YouTuber and musician Callux decided to try and set a new record for the amount of time spent in the chamber in 2019, which until then stood at 67 minutes.
In a video showcasing the challenge, he provided a brief description of the room and outlined the rules he had to abide by in order for his attempt to count towards the official Guinness World Records, which were as follows:
1. The challenger must be alone in the chamber.
2. No sleeping/fainting is allowed.
3. The challenger must be monitored and remain under constant supervision at all times.
4. Sound must stay below 25DBa.
5. The challenger is permitted to speak for up to one minute every five minutes.
6. The challenger is permitted to leave at any time.
7. Optional - the challenge must be completed in the dark.
It didn't take long for Callux to start feeling the effects, as after just five minutes spent in isolation, he immediately reported feeling disoriented, following an intense burst of tinnitus in both ears.
At the 15-minute mark, he claimed to be seeing lights dancing around him in the room, and after 30 minutes inside he claimed to be able to hear the sound of his own bloodstream.
After closing in on an hour and getting within spitting distance of the World Record, the YouTuber almost gave in as he reported becoming disturbed by hallucinations in the room.
Callux didn't give in though, and went on to smash the previous record by setting a new one of one hour and 26 minutes.
When asked to comment on how he found his time inside the room, Callux used just one sentence to sum up the experience: "That was f***ing weird."
Can't argue with that.