What was the loudest sound you ever heard?

[Ptah]

For me, it was the flightline, Castle AFB, B-52 and KC-135,
full throttle!!!

[bluesbassman]

1. FA18 at Mcclellan AFB

[Ptah]

6. I'm so old, the Thunderbirds were flying F-4

[Codeine]

2. I built a LOT of pipe bombs as a kid.

Terrifyingly loud on occasion.

[Ptah]

7. Whatr??

Huh?

Speak up, son!!

[TrogL]

3. an amplifier feeding back through headphones direct into my ears

Could hear properly for a week and still have tinitus.

[Flaxbee]

4. the sound of the car hitting my passenger door at 60mph

car crashes - when you're in the car being crashed into - are LOUD. Plus the pop of the airbag. Scary. Ears rang for ages.

[Ptah]

9. ok, now I'm crying

[Throd]

5. When a train carrying bombs and ammunition exploded in Roseville, CA in the early 70's.

Roseville, CA
April 1973- A railroad accident draws the Navy's attention to the hazards caused by fires and sensitive munitions. A train loaded with bombs had just entered the yard in Roseville, CA, when a fire was observed in one of the boxcars. Before the fire department could react, a massive explosion demolished the boxcar and spread the fire.

In the next few hours, 18 boxcars exploded in succession. There were no fatalities in this accident, but 48 people were injured and property damage totaled $24 Million.

[Lindsey]

8. Off the top of my head I'd say the Northridge Earthquake. I was

five miles from the epicenter and it sounded like a bomb had exploded...not to mention that it felt like I was in a shooting gallery since almost all of the glass in my apt. was crashing and flying throughout the entire place. Man, that's an event I'll NEVER forget and it was 17 years ago....

[applegrove]

10. I had a job on top of a mountain in Lake Louise. There was a jet base

not too far away. The sound of those jets passing by overhead and echoing in the mountains was incredible.

[bigwillq]

11. The thunder last night. I thought the house exploded.

It was loud. Scared the crap out of me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. A tie between the Concorde taking off and a Harrier jet hovering.

Actually, I think the Concorde wins. Damn, those things were loud.

[IADEMO2004]

13. Paul Black (R.I.P.) Silver City Iowa was my boss in the 70's

While we were building steel grain bins that S.O.B. would take the cutting torch and fill a 2 inch pipe cast into the concrete floor with acetylene and light it. The acoustics inside a round steel grain bin magnify the smallest noise and he just loved scaring the shit out of the crew. He knew more filthy jokes than anyone I have met and he was fun to work with. Thank You for making me remember him.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. Just remembered another one:

Back in the '80s a large office building caught fire and was completely gutted, and had to be imploded to build a new one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis_Thanksgiving_Day_fire

I witnessed the implosion and it was really cool and really loud. It blowed up real good.

[geardaddy]

22. I didn't see the implosion, but

I remember that fire. I miss Donaldson's and the Weather Ball.

[oneshooter]

15. A m-60 firing a 25 rd teaser belt 4ft from my left ear. n/t

[Kaleva]

16. A 20mm Vulcan gun firing 100 rounds over my head.

It was late at night while the ship was underway and I stopped by CIWS control to shoot the breeze with the gun captain on duty. He got word from CIC to ready the system for a PAK fire to port and he asked me to go topside to be the safety observer. It was damn dark and I was fumbling around with the sound powered telephone as I couldn't see anything and was going by feel and memory. Then I heard the CIWS mount train to port and I said "Ah Shit!" as it fired over my head and I hit the deck. I was more mad then anything and after CIWS returned to battery, I went down to the control room and did some serious swearing while my ears were ringing.

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. An EA-6B on the cats at military power.

Tomcats were nearly as loud. Nothing like afterburners going ape 50 feet from where you're standing.

[krispos42]

18. Probably my shotgun going off by my ear

When hunting, I didn't wear hearing protection. Most people don't, as you won't want to be in a group and miss something being said. Like "watch out!".


I think a shotgun blast is like 170 decibels. And it's incredibly short. Not like in the movies.



I've also listened to a military trainer jet spool up only a few dozen yards away... that was pretty loud and piercing.



And punch presses can be pretty loud, too, but not in the same league as the things above.


I don't think the car crash I was in was too loud. No airbag deployment.





Yeah, probably the shotgun, loaded with high-brass shells for pheasant.

[denbot]

19. Toss up between the first time I heard a 5" gun going off 20 feet from me..

I knew it was about to fire, and still jump so high I almost cleared the life lines of my ship. The second was probably louder: and F14 Tomcat made a deck high pass breaking the sound barrier less then 50 yards off our beam.. good times..

[RandomThoughts]

20. Nice catch, you noticed the flyby.

Pete Rose



Jessica Alba - Sin City Bar Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfpKjRitYdE


Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5JkHBC5lDs

Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW9Cu6GYqxo

Bonnie Raitt - Nick Of Time
http://www.123video.nl/playvideos.asp?MovieID=407128

Dire Straits - Walk of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZxVC0GB838


Constantine - Bring me to life (Evanescence)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx8d3K_hngw



You know when 'they' are defeated, when they try to taunt with empty comments :rofl:

They been unloaded already.

They being them (the m), not the better songs and better ideas like Johnny Bench and Pete Rose of coarse :)

[grasswire]

24. that picture scares the **** out of me

I am so afraid of deep water.

[woofless]

21. F-4 Phantom

We were playing golf at Incirlik, Turkey. The course was at the end of the flight line. Two fighters came over very low, maybe a couple hundred feet. I literally fell over backwards I was so startled and frightened.

Woof

[sakabatou]

23. The DJ at my brother's wedding

First time I ever felt nauseas due to sound.

[hunter]

25. A lightening strike.

When I was a kid my friends and I were walking home from school when lightening struck a streetlight maybe twenty yards from us. That was almost beyond loud.

I've experienced a few sounds I know were louder than that, but I don't actually remember the sounds themselves. Trauma tends to interfere with memory.

[Glassunion]

26. It was the sound of 55 million heads exploding the night Obama was elected.

[RSillsbee]

27. A mortar going off 30 yards from my foxhole

Don't know how loud it really was but it sounded like the end on the world to me

[BlueJazz]

28. My dog....after eating a can of beans.

[rbnyc]

29. The inside of a...

...car crash.

[pokerfan]

30. Lightning strike

right on top of us with little more than a tent wall for safety. Ears rang for hours.

[Incitatus]

31. .44 shot right next to my head. nt

[Inchworm]

32. yup, flightline in general

flight deck.. even better ;)

:hi:

[sgsmith]

33. Launch of Apollo 17

Dad got visitor passes to the causeway.

[Gold Metal Flake]

43. Awesome!

[CBGLuthier]

34. Murrah Building Bombing

More than five miles away and it sounded like something being torn from the roof of the building I was in.

I can still remember exactly what it sounded like.

Otherwise I was right in front of the speakers at a couple of almost vintage (newly solo) Alice Cooper concerts. Better memories.

[SteppingRazor]

35. Three come to mind. In chronological order:

1. The opening note by the bassist of Bodycount when they opened for Metallica and Guns n Roses. Slammed the lowest note of his bass at impossible volume. Loudest note I've ever head in concert. I was on the opposite side of Mile High Stadium, and my teeth shook.

2. Monster truck rally at Bank Atlantic Center. Why they would ever hold one of these things indoors is beyond me. I actually had to leave the place. It was literally hurting my ears.

3. Standing behind a 757, just 20 feet from the edge of the runway at the St. Martin airport, and holding on tight to a chain link fence as it took off. Kind of a stupid thing to do. Like being in the middle of a hurricane, but louder.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

36. A train that crashed into a dump truck about 50 yards away from me. nt

[GCP]

37. A squadron of Vulcan bombers taking off

&zoomhttp://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://thevulcanbomber.blogspot.com/2011/03/winter-service-complete.html&usg=___We8ife7sM_nWbuuWLm-kZl5r_g=&h=282&w=466&sz=17&hl=en&start=23&sig2=zNAhpZMmNl0oETWtQd-KvA=1&tbnid=iefZ0VSeWiBfiM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=128&ei=KmQOTs2uGMHZgAf_wYHRDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvulcan%2Bbomber%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1449%26bih%3D914%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1

[Denninmi]

38. Honestly. A Genesis concert.

At the Palace of Auburn Hills, right after it opened, so probably late 1980s or early 1990s. It was SO loud I honestly didn't enjoy it, and my ears were ringing for the next 2 days.

Yes, I get it, its a rock concert, and you certainly should be able to hear it, but it doesn't need to be so loud it becomes a medical issue.

Phil Collins was great, though, made a lot of nice comments to the audience about the facility, the Detroit area, very gracious.

[krispos42]

39. I forgot... I once got to see them demolish a building with explosives

In Hartford... maybe 12 years ago. Maybe an 8 to 10 story office building. Demolition charges and a controlled collapse.

That was reasonably loud, although we were not too close.

[struggle4progress]

40. Lightning strike on a nearby powerline: simultaneous FLASHBOOM!

[Lucian]

41. What? I can't hear you!

[Gold Metal Flake]

42. X with Dave Alvin &Tony Gilkyson at Fitzgerald's in Houston.

Also Single coils into a Fender Super Twin (6 x 6L6) at full power about a foot away from my ear. An accident but a memorable one.

[laundry_queen]

44. Close lightning

A lightning bolt hit about 40 feet away from me when I was sitting in our camper with all the windows open. I thought my ear drums had burst. We were at my grandparents' farm and the bolt fried their phone line all the way to the house where there were black marks all over the side of the house. They were lucky there wasn't a fire. There was a big mark on the ground where the larger bolt had hit. Scary as hell.