Dangerously loud speakers that are so loud you can see the shockwaves
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: u/Raoshard/Reddit
Hard-to-believe footage shows speakers blasting out music so loudly that you can literally see the soundwaves as they travel through the air.
I know what you're thinking - you can't see sound - at least, not usually. That's why we have ears, right? But this wall of speakers at an outdoor show has proven that it is actually possible.
The crowd evidently had no idea what kind of volume they were about to experience, but they obviously knew it was going to be interesting as multiple people recorded the moment on their phones.
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Like waiting for that first big wave in a wavepool, anticipation in the crowd grew as the speakers began playing some introductory music at an entirely reasonable volume.
And, just like being knocked backwards with the force of a giant wave, the crowd couldn't help but react as they were slammed with one extreme basenote as it rang at a much higher volume from the speakers.
The sound is both invisible and visible at the same time as it appears to create a glitch in reality, sending a transparent wave throughout the crowd and causing many to immediately try and stop the pain caused by the sound by putting their fingers in their ears.
It's unclear where the video was first captured, but it's impressed a lot of internet users after being shared far and wide online.
One viewer responded to the clip to joke that such loud speakers were 'how they moved the pyramid stones', while another pointed out one woman in the crowd and said her hair was 'dancing to the beat'.
Some brave people in the video didn't try to block their ears, but loud noise can be harmful to the inner ear and can even cause deafness.
The CDC explains that even 'one-time exposure to extreme loud sound or listening to loud sounds for a long time can cause hearing loss'.
"Loud noise can damage cells and membranes in the cochlea. Listening to loud noise for a long time can overwork hair cells in the ear, which can cause these cells to die. The hearing loss progresses as long as the exposure continues. Harmful effects might continue even after noise exposure has stopped," the CDC added.
The organisation stressed that 'damage to the inner ear or auditory neural system is generally permanent', meaning the speakers really could cause some damage for those who hung around them for too long.