The quietest destination in the world is Hawaii

Determining the quietest natural place on Earth is difficult because the level of quiet in the wild often changes due to the impact of many factors such as wind blowing, animals moving, trees shaking, tourists or airplanes moving by.

However, Haleakala caldera is a good candidate. This crater is located in Haleakala National Park, said to be the quietest national park in the United States.

According to the US National Park Service (NPS), natural sounds, panoramic views and dark night skies contribute greatly to the unique sense of space at Haleakala. The very low background sounds here play a key role in the health of the park’s natural ecosystem. This place is especially quiet thanks to the deep volcanic crater that helps block the wind, the landscape is arid, with few trees so there is no rustling of leaves, and there are also few animals living.

According to NPS, average daytime natural background sound levels range from 21 dBA (decibel units adjusted for human ear sensitivity) in remote wilderness areas to 45 dBA along the coast. Haleakala Caldera is one of the quietest areas measured in the US national park system, with sound levels sometimes approaching the minimum threshold of human hearing, as low as 10 dBA. This crater is so quiet that many visitors claim they can hear their own heartbeat.

Compared to the Haleakala caldera, the quietest man-made place in the world has even a much lower noise level. This title belongs to the anechoic chamber at the Orfield Laboratories research laboratory facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Orfield Laboratories said that an anechoic chamber is defined as a room with a very high sound absorption ability, up to 99.99%. Located in an acoustics laboratory certified by the US National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), the chamber can be operated completely anechoically or with the addition of a reflective surface on the floor. The chamber has dimensions of about 3.7 x 3 x 2.2 m.

Orfield Laboratories has submitted documents to the Guinness World Records organization for extremely low sound levels recorded in the chamber (-9.4 dB, -13.4 dB, -24.9 dB) and achieved the record for the quietest place on Earth three times (2004, 2012, 2021). Since then, this place has functioned as both an experimental facility and an attraction for those who want to experience a unique feeling.

For maximum sound absorption, anechoic chambers use fiberglass and foam, which dissipate sound energy and prevent standing waves. The chamber is also built on dampers to limit sound from entering from the outside.

Previously, there was some unfounded information spread around the chamber, for example that no one had survived being inside for more than 45 minutes. In 2022, a reporter for the newspaper New York Times was in the chamber for three hours to prove this was not true. Still, the experience here can be frustrating. Some visitors shared that they felt nauseous and disoriented, heard the sound of blood flowing in veins and arteries, and even heard the sound of blinking.