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Can bass waves actually hurt you?

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#41
NASA expressed some concern in the press many years ago during the Apollo years, that a very low frequency signal of high enough amplitude could cause heart rhythm problems for astronauts. We are talking about 5-10 hz at some very high amplitude, such what as one might experience on an Apollo launch. N.B., apparently no astronauts died from this.
 
#44
You can’t always go by what Myth Busters says! I see them do WRONG thing all the time! Like the Brown note (7 Hz) they put that guy out side and tried to reproduce the 7 Hz. 1st outside is a NON controlled environment. 2nd they used pa speakers to achieve this. Not a good experiment to me at all.
 
#45
lposavad said:
Look up 'pneumothorax', or collapsed lung.
Apparently you can do this to yourself with one of those insanely overpowered car stereos...
Click to expand...

Stupid I know, but I sat in a van that played over 171.5 db @ 51 Hz (with ear protection)
.... I can feel the presser pushing and pulling air out of my lungs... I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGEN!


pic a few year ago
Link Removed
 
#46
GCool said:
You can’t always go by what Myth Busters says! I see them do WRONG thing all the time! Like the Brown note (7 Hz) they put that guy out side and tried to reproduce the 7 Hz. 1st outside is a NON controlled environment. 2nd they used pa speakers to achieve this. Not a good experiment to me at all.
Click to expand...

Mythbusters is entertaining, but like a lot of posters around here, they use just enough science to show that more often than not, they don't know what they're talking about.
 
#48
If you are prone to arrhythmic heart beats (as I am) enough sound pressure at bass frequencies can induce arrhythmia. While the couple of arrhythmias that i get are not life threatening there are some that are. Each time that blast of air hits your chest it's like a mini CPR compression, enough of them at high enough volume, out of sync with your heart rhythm and your heart essentially gets confused. So it's possible that someone with a pre-existing condition (particularly if they're unaware of it) could develop a fatal arrhythmia from exposure to high volume bass frequencies though it is, to be sure, unlikely.
 
#53
GCool said:
Stupid I know, but I sat in a van that played over 171.5 db @ 51 Hz (with ear protection)
....
Click to expand...
No, you didn't. The small confines of a van, or any car, 'fools' the meter into giving a much higher reading than is actually present. As I sit at my computer I can get a 130+ dB reading just by blowing at the meter mic, as it's air pressure that it actually reads, and then converts into dB.
BTW, with perfect speaker system with 120dB/watt sensitivity (and there's no such thing anyway) the following amounts of power would give these outputs:
1 watt/120dB
10 watts/130db
100 watts/140dB
1,000 watts/150dB
10,000 watts/160dB
100,000 watts/170dB
 
#54
there are times when my 15 year old half deaf beagle goes crazy when I'm playing bass in my living room. he starts dancing and running around more confused and happy I would say than pain. new years eve he running full speed around the first floor of the house when I had a couple of friends over and we playing a couple of songs with guitar and bass. and I'm just playing at pretty low volume and through a little Genz benz combo.

TW
 
#55
billfitzmaurice said:
No, you didn't. The small confines of a van, or any car, 'fools' the meter into giving a much higher reading than is actually present. As I sit at my computer I can get a 130+ dB reading just by blowing at the meter mic, as it's air pressure that it actually reads, and then converts into dB.
BTW, with perfect speaker system with 120dB/watt sensitivity (and there's no such thing anyway) the following amounts of power would give these outputs:
1 watt/120dB
10 watts/130db
100 watts/140dB
1,000 watts/150dB
10,000 watts/160dB
100,000 watts/170dB
Click to expand...

Thank you Bill!
 
#56
fenderhutz said:
Police were thinking about (maybe already have) using the 1/100th (much weaker) version of it for riot control to stun people.
Click to expand...
Won't ever happen; batons are just sooooo much more satisfying.

SuperDuck said:
There are a lot of big numbers being thrown around in this thread... 180, 200 dB. The amount of energy required to make a signal that loud is astronomical, and not likely to happen in any situation any of us will ever be in our lifetime.
Click to expand...
The only time you'll get levels like that is next to an explosion, or in the STUPID area of db drag racing which has no relationship to the real world of SR.

SuperDuck said:
GCool's (I'm assuming properly measured) 156 dB is so ridiculously loud that I wouldn't even want to be NEAR the vehicle creating that kind of noise. Even the best hearing protection available leaves from for substantial hearing damage being in or near something that loud.
Click to expand...
Again, only short term in a freak environment like the small enclosed space of a car. Actually being in there would be dangerous to your hearing.

This be 'the Man' when it comes to subs.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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