Sound System Simulates the Roar of a Rocket Launch 113
retroworks writes "Located in Noordwijk, Netherlands, and part of ESA's ESTEDC Test Center, is the Large European Acoustic Facility (LEAF), a sound amplification system 'powerful enough to kill a human being.' LEAF is capable of generating more than 154 decibels, the sound equivalent to standing next to several jets taking off. It is used to blast satellites and spacecraft with sound. Large horns are housed in a sound-proofed room that is 16.4meters tall. One wall of horns stands 11 m wide by 9 m deep and 16.4 m high. LEAF requires all the doors to be closed, operating in steel-reinforced concrete walls to contain the noise. The walls are coated with an epoxy resin to reflect noise, producing a uniform sound field within the chamber."
the real question is (Score:5, Funny)
can it go to 11?
Re:the real question is (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like this one might go up to 12 or more...and is large enough that it won't be trod on by a dwarf.
Re: (Score:2)
Big deal, Black Flag already been there and did that back in the 80s.
Rockets have a ways to go to catch up.
Re: (Score:1)
The real question is can we lock the US Congress in it and turn it up to 11.
Re:the real question is (Score:4, Funny)
Since it's sound proof (and hopefully sealed air tight) lets just lock them inside and call it a day.
Re:the real question is (Score:4, Funny)
can it go to 11?
(sigh) bloody Slashdot posters.... If you bothered to read the referenced article you'd see it starts at 11. [mutter, mutter].
Re: (Score:2)
If you bothered to read the referenced article you'd see it starts at 11. [mutter, mutter].
No, you mixed up things: the one that starts at 11 is called DEAF.
Re: (Score:2)
If you bothered to read the referenced article you'd see it starts at 11. [mutter, mutter].
No, you mixed up things: the one that starts at 11 is called DEAF.
Call it Joelene if you want, 11 is what it says.
Oh, and that thing you call the "specific" - I'll continue to call "the Pacific" (ocean).
Re: (Score:2)
Whether it goes to 11 or not, it better have a 1/4 jack for Marty McFly to plug a guitar into.
Re: (Score:3)
And can it blow the cloths off girls?
Questions not addressed in the summary (Score:5, Funny)
1. Can it play Van Halen?
2. How can I have one installed in my living room?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Questions not addressed in the summary (Score:5, Funny)
They don't call it Death Metal for nothing, you know.
Re: Questions not addressed in the summary (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
This thing has Disaster Area written all over it. They must be scheduled for a gig on Earth soon!
the sound stage will be on earth, the band of course, will be on the moon!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
They must be scheduled for a gig on Earth soon!
I have 32 gig in my home server. Oh wait, nevermind.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course I wish you could install it in your living room. Given that the volume can kill a person, it is going to be more like dying room.
Heh! Well played.
Re:Questions not addressed in the summary (Score:5, Informative)
Given that the volume can kill a person ...
Can it really? They say it is as loud as several jets taking off. I have been on aircraft carriers where the flight crews were in close proximity to jets taking off, and none of them died as a result of that. According to this chart [purdue.edu] noise around 150dB can rupture an eardrum in someone wearing no hearing protection. Ruptured eardrums are rarely fatal.
Re: (Score:2)
Decibels are a logarithmic scale, not linear. 154 decibels are over twice as powerful as 150 decibels.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Questions not addressed in the summary (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't die from hearing it, you die from feeling it. So twice as powerful as what it takes to rupture ear drums is in the range of rupturing capillaries in your whole body. Internal bleeding in the brain is a quick killer.
Re: Questions not addressed in the summary (Score:4, Informative)
Having experienced the Notting Hill Carnivan, I can totally believe this...the sound systems they have on the floats are so loud I found it quite difficult to even breath and started to make me feel sick. They're powered by quite big generators on the floats themselves....quite nuts.
The floats/etc were a bit boring, imo. My wife and I didn't stay long.
I find that they can reach 140db: http://www.theinformationdaily... [theinformationdaily.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Not being able to hear a damn thing in a high risk environment is, uh deadly.
WHAT?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Given that the volume can kill a person, it is going to be more like dying room.
The irony, it BURNS! [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
And that day, Perry Como will re-take his rightful place in the pantheon, right?
Maximum Rock And Roll (Score:2)
This would have been awesome back in the days of Punk...
It's only a matter of time... (Score:5, Funny)
...before this is stolen and installed in a '94 honda civic.
WHAT????? (Score:1)
WHAT DID YOU SAY??????
Re: (Score:1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:1)
it's all part of the new SETI@home project... blast the aliens with annoying sound till they come tell us to shut the hell up cos even though space is a vacuum they can still hear us (due to the "star wars space sound travel phenomenon")
One of the first customers (Score:5, Funny)
Hotblack Desiato and his band Disaster Area
Re: (Score:3)
Hotblack Desiato and his band Disaster Area
With *everything* painted black, of course.
Re: (Score:2)
" ``It's the wild colour scheme that freaks me,'' said Zaphod whose love affair with this ship had lasted almost three minutes into the flight, ``Every time you try to operate on of these weird black controls that are labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. What is this? Some kind of galactic hyperhearse?''
The walls of the swaying cabin were also black, the ceiling was black, the seats --- which were rudimentary since the only important t
Re: (Score:2)
My neighbors will want one, too, but they might just rent one because they'll only need it around 4am on Saturdays.
154dB is not fatal, or unusual (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
"because we where[sic] peaking at 163db"
No actually you weren't.
Just because the meter says it doesn't mean its true.
Martin
Re: (Score:2)
Re:154dB is not fatal, or unusual (Score:5, Interesting)
Car audio competitors exceed 154db:
* In a very small enclosed space (not a 16 meter room large enough to test spacecraft)
* With an acoustic design to focus sound on the microphone (not intended to create a uniform soundfield)
* For just a few seconds before the speaker voice coils melt
* At a very small range of bass frequencies
* Strictly without nobody inside the car to avoid certain injury - or perhaps even death, we have no way to know
154db may not be unusual but what the LEAF facility is doing certainly is unusual.
Martin
Re:154dB is not fatal, or unusual (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Car audio competitors exceed 154dB all the time. That's not even close to the sound pressure levels achieved in world-class competitions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com]
That's 28.5dB louder than this testing facility, a factor of 707 times more power.
Decibels relative to what? Maybe not ambient...
Sound pressure level is measured relative to 1dB (duh), which is typically defined as 20uPa.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
I once had the opportunity to witness a night time test firing of an Atlas rocket engine set [three engines] at the Rocketdyne Santa Susanna Field Test Lab. We were put in an observation area at a distance of 3/4 of a mile away from the test stand. The test was about thirty seconds long. The sound pressure from the engines compressed the diaphragm enough to make breathing difficult or impossible.
Imagine trying to take a breath and you find you are unable to do so all the while you are hearing an impossibly
Re: (Score:3)
You found breathing difficult from 3/4 mile away?
That is impressive. The sound pressure 1m from the rocket must have been incredible, and well in excess of 154dBA I would guess!
Re: (Score:1)
Rockets are usually listed as MUCH higher. Saturn 5 was either 180 or 220 dB based on search results. Also about 200 dB is listed as lethal on a number of sites. Maybe this company calibrates their decibel differently. 0 dB has to be set at some pressure level.
Re: (Score:2)
It's one thing to do that inside a car (which is what, 6 x 4 x 9 feet ... or maybe a little larger than that?). It's quite another to do it inside a huge room that's 36 x 30 x 54 feet in size. It's also worth noting that car audio competitions use a single frequency. The LEAP facility is broadband, since it needs to simulate the sound of a launching rocket.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes I also thought that 154 dB, assuming they're using dBA, seemed a little low to be considered fatal. Wikipedia's table of sound pressure levels claim that rocket acoustic tests typically operate at around 165dB.
Confessions Of an Ex-SLASHDOT BETA user (Score:4, Insightful)
Day 1: It wouldn't stop, the redirecting. At first I thought it was malware. Had my first drink in a long time.
Day 2: Barely had the strength to carry on as the BETA REDIRECTIONS continue.. trying not to talk to hallucinations at the bar and in the bathroom which laugh at me about these redirections.
Day 3: Discovered the BETA redirections were random, and while at first they looked somewhat usable, when I looked at me and my monitor screen in the mirror, a horrible woman with flesh hanging off of her body looked back, trying to lead me into a dance as the word BETA appeared across her rancid breasts.
Day 4: These BETA corridors go on FOREVER! On the plus side, I've taken up disassembling vehicles to corner this BETA beast and sacrifice myself rather than lead others to discovering it. I ate some red snow.
Day 5: Finding it harder to concentrate. I've ate some more of the red snow. The taste is starting to grow on me.
Day 6: This typewriter is the only entertainment I have, apart from throwing things at the walls, trying to get some response from the BETA which is now taking over my mind.
Day 7: Hahahahahha! Would you believe it? I'M STILL BEING REDIRECTED TO SLASHDOT BETA PAGES! AHAHhahahaah! Type, type, ding, ding! Wooo!
Day 8: The hallucinations are actually real! Would you believe it? They have offered to help me if I agree to work for them. I'm thinking about patenting this delicious red snow, the taste is unreal!
Day 9: Having black out sessions where I cannot remember large passings of time. Found some makeup, thought I'd paint a joker smile on my face to amuse the people only I can see!
Day 10: Productive today, part of what I wrote for my new screenplay:
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slas
(drops of blood on paper)
Re: (Score:2)
"I'm still being redirected to SLASHDOT BETA"
Poor you. Try http://slashdot.org/?nobeta=1 [slashdot.org] .
Missed headline opportunity (Score:5, Funny)
Sound system simulates strident sonics of soaring space ships
Simpsons did it (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
powerful enough to kill a human?? mythbusters (Score:4, Funny)
powerful enough to kill a human?? sounds like the mythbusters need to test this!!
Re: (Score:3)
They should get Kari Byron to test it to see if they're so loud, they blow women's clothes off!
Pfttt... (Score:2)
That's nothing compared to what my neighbors use in their living room...
hmmm... (Score:1)
Or the equivalent of mentioning Obamacare to Congress
Re: (Score:3)
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/T... [sengpielaudio.com]
Whether or not your speakers are efficient at transforming electrical power into acoustic power is another story. If you can lift your speakers by hand, your efficiency is maybe 1% if you're lucky.
Glenn Research Plum Brook has one that goes to 163 (Score:1)
This is nice and all, but NASA built one of these for their Plum Brook Glenn Research Center that goes to 163dB.
wiki article [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:1)
Next milepost .... (Score:2)
move to Venus (Score:4, Interesting)
The maximum SPL on Earth is a trifling 193dB: the point at which the negative peak of the compression wave is a total vacuum.
Move to Venus with its 90atm ambient "air" pressure, and you could get up to 233dB!
Seriously, if you live near me and like thumping bass in your car, move there now! Ignore all that propaganda about high temperatures and acid rain... 233dB!!!
In space no-one can hear you scream. (Score:2)
The obvious interpretation, that this device blasts satellites and spacecraft while they are in space, is impossible. Actually all sorts of things (including the aforementioned) are placed into a chamber for sonic vibration testing. Satellites are tested this way for launch-worthiness, not space-worthiness.
Underwater version? (Score:1)
Can this be installed in a nuclear submarine and transported to the Marianas Trench?
Been around forever (Score:2)
He told me about the shaker table they used to simulate boost phase. It used a 500 watt McIntosh amp as the pre-amp driving several foot tall water cooled tubes, (valves for our British friends) as the output devices.
I've always wanted a setup like that for my sub-sub-sub--woofer.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, I had one in the 70's that I got off an excess list at the Air Force Research Lab. It was in a 6 foot cabinet with a bunch of big tubes. I think I tore the power supply out of it to use for something else, but I thought of hooking it up to a transducer and my guitar, but sadly never did. .
Get that noise maker off my lawn (Score:2)
I could still hear the Saturn V when the 1st stage dropped off. It had lovely base with a crackling. Figuring speed of sound, vs speed of light and wind and sound drop off over distance, I suspect this thing isn't that loud.