My favorite sound factoid has to do with rocket launches. The pads at Cape Canaveral have these MASSIVE water pump systems on them that flood the launch pad with thousands of tons of water as a rocket takes off. Not because the heat from the exhaust of the rocket might melt the concrete, but because the "sound" is so loud that it would actually liquefy the concrete just from sheer pressure waves if there wasn't that much water present.

One thing that really struck me about this video is what an amazing job you did recording your voice so that it sounds consistent in different environments. The first few scenes were quite jarring as I was trying to figure out if you'd recorded your voice indoors and were miming outdoors, but then decided that was silly. Super interesting video - thanks for making it.

The “loud distorted voice with noise” vs “soft voice with no bg noise” bit was really cool. Great video!

I’ve never seen this channel before. YT just decided to recommend it to me today. I was quite impressed with the combination of quality, scientific skepticism, and clear explanations… right up until about 11:15. Then there was a duck and all of a sudden, I’d somehow hit the subscribe button without realising that I was doing it. I’m not even mad.

Man, the sound science content on this channel is always so fascinating and super interesting, amazing as always Benn

In some dreams (or actually more dream-like experiences like sleep paralysis and DMT trips) I've heard some incredibly loud sounds, it felt like somebody was tearing the world apart. Somewhat terrifying when it happened, but also wonderful to be able to experience such extreme sounds without destroying your ears :D

Stumbled across this channel, now I'm glad I get to watch all your other videos!

"Whever try to I break free from the pro audio or synth stuff[...]" it is always freaking amazing! Please keep doing these great videos! But also make sure not to die out on sea.

Just found this…. And subscribed. Probably less interested in “synth stuff” but the deep dive into science was so done much better than most media outlets…. You handle technical issues without dumbing them down OR getting boring… pretty rare… keep it up!

I studied audio engineering for 2 years in college, but we never went into the physics deeper than enough to know how a microphone works. This was really fascinating!

clarification I thought would be helpful: "decibels" is a generic magnitude term, the typical implication and I think the one benn meant through most of the video was decibels of sounds pressure level, dB SPL. sound pressure level is a formally defined measurement of pressure amplitude. another you see a lot is decibels full scale, dB FS - that's what's in your DAW; 0 means "maximum displacement" in that context.

I got into audio as many of us do, through music. But stuff like this is what keeps me interested. It’s so endlessly fascinating, and I could (and do) get stuck in the scientific minutia for hours. Great video, Benn!

Just casually holding a duck 😅 Amazing video, Benn! Thank you for an entertaining and well informed video!

The two loudest sounds I've heard were the Concorde at Heathrow Airport in the UK and the SR71 at Paine Field in Everett in Washington state. I was inside a plane on the taxiway when the pilot announced that Concorde would be taking off next. I plugged my ears and felt my chest and the plane rattling. I'm thankful I wasn't outside like I was for the SR71 years later. Not only did it take off, but it did a "dirty" fly-by with the gear down and then a faster one with gear up. My whole body was rattling and it felt like someone was standing on my chest. I could barely breathe, but I still screamed with the enthusiasm of a little kid.

Thank you for taking the time to do this video, Benn!

7:24 - 7:49 is quite an experience. Always love watching your science vids!!

Please please please, do more science stuff, it's fascinating and you explain things really clearly!

You have some of the best science videos out there. Really excellent content. Thank you for taking the time to explain these things.

This is the first time I have seen any of your videos and I am mesmerised. I was raised like this. My father was a math and physics teacher, so he always explained the simplest things in a way that after the answer we were even more confused, but still we thought, he is omniscient. Subscribed.

Benn is an extraordinary person. I've been trying to be more productive and learn new things and pursue new goals but when I look at Benn it seems like he's accrued 80 years of knowledge. The dude makes incredible music, makes incredibly well produced videos, built his own studio, writes his own programs, knows a butt-load of science, and travels the world. I find myself wondering how a person can be so intensely focused and productive and what I can do to be a fraction of that.

wow man, this channel is amazing. How is it only now ending up in my feed?! Thank you for your time and sharing your experience.

As a sound engineer appreciate your efforts mate, before answering the question explaining the basics of sound to make every person to understand who ended up seeing this video by accident. Only few youtube channel can be recommended to childrens to gain knowledge in simple terms and you nailed by doing it 👏👏👌👍

The duck at the end made my day ❤ I absolutely love these type of videos, ever since you made the video on sonic weapons, I've been hooked on these topics and your brand of presentation. Hope there'll be more in the future!

I just found this video. And I have to say, I absolutely LOVE how creative you are with your videos. Earned my sub instantly!

So, on Earth, with typical means of sound propagation, there's definitely a limit to how loud things can be, but, I mean, if you try hard enough you can always cram more air molecules into a finite amount of space... until it becomes a black hole.

This video just popped up in my recommended list and is the first time I have come across this channel. Superb explanation with an intriguing blend of philosophy, science, and history that could easily have been twice as long and gone into more depth. I especially appreciated the emphasis on how our perceptions are only approximately connected to reality. You have a new subscriber!

Im so glad i clicked the ‘ something new’ button. This is the first video of yours i have seen and it was so interesting that i subbed. Since it was your science content that brought me here then i would love you to do more. Thanks mate.

This was possibly the most interesting video I have seen in a really long time. I have an understanding of dB's from my job and this still really opened my eyes, or ears as it pertains to this video. Excellent work a pleasure to watch.

Man, I loved this so much 💚 Thank you for everything that you do. And the duck killed me, iconic move.

Hey Ben this was super cool and I love that you have almost hyper-fixated on such an overlooked aspect of life and the world around us. I wish I understood the physics associated with some of these principles in greater detail.

I'd love to hear more about the future of bionic hearing. As a mixing engineer and producer with hearing loss this is something I pray will be possible at a reasonable price some day.

Absolutely brilliant introduction to measurement, perception, and scientific thinking in general!! This should be taught in school to everyone

Yo no 🧢 this is one of the most entertaining yet informative video I’ve seen in a long time

So, I kinda work with acoustics in this scientific sense for a living. Let me know if you ever want to talk about beamforming and sound localization. Anyway, the visualization illustrating logarithmic perception starting at 5:31 is brilliant. Also, update about the anechoic chamber: it looks like you're using a photo of the lab in Minneapolis. If I recall correctly, the quietest place on Earth record has been moved to a lab at Microsoft in Washington state. It holds the record at -20.3dBA (Not sure about unweighted.) But Minneapolis is probably the best most people can hope to experience, as it is open to the public (or at least was. Not sure about anything anymore thanks to COVID.)

That was very interesting. I would love to hear more about sound science. Hope the algorithm agrees :)

My first benn jordan video and it was pretty awesome! Love the mix of down-to-earth and science, and of COURSE I loved the duck.

You didn't mention anything about frequency. Having personally listened to bass frequencies approaching 170dB without losing my hearing (yet, lol), I can tell you frequency matters.

The bit at 7:25 reminds me of how guitarist refer to distortion as "gain," when it's really something more like "attempted gain" or "failed gain" on the part of the device.

Love this video. Always love watching informative videos that broaden perspective on subjects taken for granted like sound.

3:12 I literally had a jaw drow, this is the coolest visual representation of a sound I ever have seen! Amazing content!

This was dope as hell. I love the continued realization that EVERY specialization and profession is incredibly complex, and gets more so the more you look into it. Well done on blowing my brain up.

11:20 that was a weapon swap!

dude this was really cool, I get if you dont like doing these things because youtube kinda sucks but I think this was really cool to watch, really appreciated how passionate you were about the topic too.

It's wild that I've been in love with music and noise for so damn long yet never entertained this question. I'm only a minute in and I already agree with him. His explanation is going to be very interesting.

Benn, paused @ 8 minutes cause laughing so much can't 'hear' the vid anymore. My new, NEW favorite channel.

11:03 cool duck

Keeping it simple while hinting at the complexity, love it.

Fantastic the way you build in the practical demos, like a great chem or physics high school teacher. The distorted yelling vs whisper in particular, and reminds me of how a 70dB clock radio sounds deafening and yet on good headphones you have to be very careful because no matter the volume, they never sound loud/harsh.

Since sound is pressure waves, it's really interesting to think that the pressure waves generated when you're recording your voice for this video, is then actually recreated (to the best of all the technology between you speaking and my speakers recreating the pressure waves abilities) in the room I am in. I hadn't thought of that until now and it kind of blows my mind. 😶

Is that your duck? Or did you just pick up a random duck?

Man, seriously… you have, by far, the best KZfaq channel I ever watched. And I’m not only talking about music.. kudos!’n

Absolutely fascinating video, very well done. A pity that the algorithm tends to punish you for this sort of work. (Thanks to Tom Scott for sharing this in his newsletter, I'd probably never have found it otherwise!)

as a science undergrad who's learning music production this channel feels like it was made for me

Great video! Thank you very much. I have always been confused about decibels and now I realize that decimals are extremely complicated and very, very confusing. Made me feel much better!

Very interesting. A warning at 7:24 that the sound will be (perceived) louder would have been nice. Shocked me a little bit.

I don't remember ever learning so many things i had never heard of before in one short video. Thank you! Curious what your take on human tech emited waves creating heat and does angle of incidence between them affect that at all?

You have a gift in explaining complex topics, very impressive stuff.

Another sound science topic I'd love to see covered: Why does music sometimes sound slower when running?

I don’t know how you came into my feed but, very interesting stuff! I love to learn especially when it comes to nature and animals. It helps to understand the tech when you’re referencing animals. Some of this was a little too technical for me, but it’s late Friday night, end of the week so no surprise lol😉 thanks for the share! 🕊🇨🇦♥️🕊

I am not sure I have ever left a comment on KZfaq (have all sorts of neuro-nontypical diagnoses and have lost a decade to drugs, booze and all sorts of music - more techno than rock'n'roll though 🙂), but I feel that I owe you one, as this is far from the first of your videos I have enjoyed! You seem to both pick so many interesting topics, posses a ton of interesting knowledge and deliver it with just the right mix of "proper" research/science, humor and geekiness, such that I often watch from start to end (even with one diagnosis being ADHD). And now with this video* I got the feeling that it was about time I gave credit, and also that I pick up a camera and went all out on some given topics, as experienced from a mind of an Asperger (another diagnosis). I think I can add something to the conversation and your videos have very much inspired me into thinking of a possible format, that I could thrive in. *The topic of sound levels might have hit a nerve, as I also have tinnitus and damaged hearing, causing me to get a hearing aid in a few weeks (being made/fitted for at the moment) ;-) Hats of to you for delivering both entertainment, knowledge and inspiration! Yours truly, Carsten

This is both informative and hilarious. When you did the experiment of the sound getting "louder" I heard my tinnitus (or what sounded like it) flare up for a second and had to pause and cover my ears only for myself to play the video and explain how my perception of volume is dogshit. I knew the first one with distortion was really quiet so I knew it was going to be an experiment, but it still kind of hurt a little bit. Just a thought here maybe this is a part of your point, but at some point when you keep adding energy to the source or the pressure wave, eventually it will convert into heat energy, and eventually light energy. As the energy increases, it enters new fields, which change it from sound to heat to light, but everything from the smallest lepton to the most complex black hole is all the same thing of differing degree, and we are somewhere in the middle of all these waves, surfing on a giant ocean we call the universe. Did I get that right?

Awesome so informative

Never saw your channel before but the way you delivered information has me curious for more! I enjoyed the way you explained the various ways we measure the sun. I'm subbed now!

Hey,!youtube algorithm, stop punishing Benn for making super interesting sciency videos just because they’re not about pro audio or synth stuff! Thank you :)

You definitely don’t lose hearing at 150db. There’s spl systems that have demos of many people sampling 40-60hz that are upwards of 165+db that people have sat in (at the ear not the source).

Excellent video! If anyone found this interesting, know that there is a whole, broad field of acoustics that scientifically analyzes sound and vibration. Some of the topics included in this video include psychoacoustics (how we perceive sound), nonlinear acoustic wave propagation caused by high intensity sound waves, fluid dynamics specifically in air and water, bioacoustics, and that only scratches the surface of what you can do in acoustics (and I never once mentioned the guitar 😁)! I myself am earning a degree in acoustics and wanted to let you know that it’s a large, on-going field of study that caters to a large number of interests. Sorry if I’m sounding like a salesman, but acoustics is not a very well-known field, or rather some people aren’t aware you can even make a living studying acoustics, and I just wanted to spread the word along. Again, great video and I love how you presented the information!

duck

8:00 that's a lie. I happened to have a Decibel meter in my house, and after your claim, I fired it up. You were louder when you were yelling according to the meter.

Best KZfaq content I’ve found in a very long time …. And you’re a must too… my kind of inquisitor!

An exceptional video. It addresses so many aspects of the subject in a brief 8 min. This would take a mini series on a dumbed down TV science program.

Worthwhile videos on KZfaq are rare, seemingly. This is one of those rare gems. Top notch stuff.

I heard that sound was used to cut with way before our time. For example to shape pyramids. Also it's said that what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and feel are all vibrations that we translate with what we have available of senses. Very interesting and it also really solidifies the idea that we are energy and that we can use energy to create whatever we want using our visualization and focus on something to manifest it into our own prefered reality. As reality isn't a place where we all coexist, instead reality is a reflection of the reality inside you. The reality within us consists of beliefs that we hold as truths about life. Thus life reflects back to us with all our senses the image we give it from what we believe. For example someone who has experienced trauma are often having feelings of being in a hostile and or unsafe environment. When that is never the case at all. Because the trauma literally shook the person's image/view of its reality, it over time in that unwanted situation started to believe more in the idea of the trauma experience, than in the idea it knows to be true: Which is that life is a safe place to be, the surroundings are peaceful and that we are all free to be happy and feel good. So a traumatized person is someone who is vibrating from a frequency that doesn't contain the feeling of love. Instead they are attracting unwanted feelings and thoughts because that is what they over time and continued exposure to started to believe in more than the truth. So they are essentially living in an illusion of their own creation. They also often tend to get stuck in the idea or need to blame past situations, circumstances and or other people for the way their life turned out. Which never serves them in a good way as that focus on blame is something that prevents them from realizing that it's over and that they can choose to let it go. The returning home part can be tricky though and that is because it requires the individual to ignore the reality they are facing as that is just an illusion anyway and instead connect to the feeling of what they know and remember reality is supposed to feel like. So in order to create that change they have to start vibrating from the place of love and not the place of being a victim of life. It is something that only they can change and it's always worth the journey because they know what's waiting on the other side: Home ❤️

That was an awesome video man and super interesting topic, thank you!

This has been one of the more fascinating video's I've watched in a while. Thank you so much.

I love this type of video. The science behind audio is just as interesting to me making music. Keep up the good work

Thorough explanations without condescension or meandering. Rare indeed. Thank you sir. Please continue the fine work.

My little brother had a Sound Off (a car built to have a competitively loud car stereo) BMW 5 series. It had 4 15" subwoofers, along with a bunch of speakers in the doors, rear parcel shelf etc with crazy large amplifiers and used the batteries normally used on trains to provide the necessary power to run everything. Most Sound Off cars are built to play a single note/frequency (previously worked out to be the loudest frequency) for a short period of time which is called Burping. Instead my little brother had built the entire system so he competed by actually playing music. Music that was measured at 157db! If he played his stereo while parked at the pumps of a petrol station it was so loud and powerful that it shook the canopy above and made the lights fitted at least 12ft above visibly shake like they were gonna disintegrate. He also set off the alarms in shops and warehouses with the incredible pressures he was putting out. He gave me a lift in this scary car once, i asked him not to turn it up too loud but theres a big difference between what he classed as loud and what i did as you can imagine. I was only in the car for 5 minutes or so and he said that the volume was only around a quarter of maximum and after stepping out i couldnt walk in a straight line after! Id even had my fingers in my ears but it did little to help as it literally felt like i was inside a speaker box, which was fairly accurate as the whole back end of the car from behind the front seats was all speaker box! Crazy!

I just found your channel today, and will say that I've quite enjoyed the few science/(non-audio) tech videos I've found and look forward to more.

Always love the science. Great format. Subbed

Very cool video!!! Awesome explanations !! Loved it!!

Fascinating, and instructive, and also amusing! Thank you

This is one of my fav videos of urs love it

Great video as always! Just a minor thing: We do not measure Sound in dB, we „display“ it in dB, aswell as that we display it logarithmicly. Makes even more sense, since dB does not have a Unit anymore, its just a Level.

First video I saw for you, props to the science algorithm mambo jambo! 😂❤ and the content, in-depth explanation made me subscribe and comment. Cheers keep it up !

That is some interesting science. Your explanation of these complex ideas is captivating and easy to grasp. Thanks for another kick ass video. Hi Lucy!

Wow! Hard stuff explained simply - and accurately - in a relaxed way is a skill!

I needed this to keep going for like an hour

This was a very interesting answer to a question I had never thought of, thank you.

Thanks to the YT algorithm for recommending Benn - this is some fascinating content!

First video of yours that I've seen. Loved it. Great stuff man

This is excellent. Thanks very much for making this.

Great info Benn!!

Hi Benn, been watching your channel for about a year now, and love your aesthetic and attention to detail. Fun to watch and very informative. I have an idea for a future video: tinnitus! I have it in one ear after an unfortunate accident with feedback and have found little information about possible cures. I see on reddit that there is a bunch of research being done but haven't found anyone that can do an up to date synthesis of all of this information. I always thought of it as a "modern" ailment, but this video made me realize that humans have been exposed to loud noises for much longer than the modern era.

@Ben Jordan>>> You're the first smart guy I listen to that I actually understood, good work dude. Cheers from Canada!

This is the first video from you and I subscribed this was great and please keep making more videos

The loudest sound, is the awkward silence on your first date😂

I found your video fascinating, thanks and please keep on with these science topics!

Just wow, I have no ideea how you managed to explain this topic so well. Great job! ❤🎉

This is an awesome video! You explained everything so well. Thanks for the really dope science video

Back around 2004 I also heard the low hum especially in the evening just after dark. Even the middle of the day but not as loud. I worked in construction around huge heavy machines processing Taconic for steel production and am only 5 miles from the plant. I experience it enough to shut down my electric power thinking that was the source. No body I knew heard it and finally just passed it off as a bad bearing 5 miles away at the plant. I am approaching 70 now and no longer hear the noise.