The Anechoic Chamber at Orfield Laboratories Inc., Minnesota, is officially the Quietest Place on Earth. How would it feel to experience negative 9.4 dB?

Silence is a truly rare thing. All reverberation is removed… all sounds that aren’t coming from your own body disappear. After a few moments in the anechoic chamber, you’ll begin to feel a touch jumpy. Hearing your heart beat, your blood pulse, the sound of your own ear buzzing and your body functioning like you’ve never heard before has a tendency to be a bit unnerving. And in complete silence, you lose all sense of space and surroundings. The absence of reflected sound and reverberation makes “feeling out” the room impossible.

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A Beacon in Treacherous Waters

Bishop Rock is the smallest island in the world, and one of the most remote locations in the British Isles. Open to the full force of the Atlantic Ocean, the original lighthouse tower was swept away in 1850 and had to be rebuilt. The present building was completed in 1858.

In medieval times, criminals were rowed out to the island and left on the rock to die (with just a loaf of bread and a Bible).

The lighthouse was converted to automatic operation in 1991, and the lighthouse keepers departed the following year. Up to four visitors can stay there for one to three weeks.

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