Microsoft claimed an unusual title earlier this month: It set the Guinness World Record for the “Quietest place on earth,” according to that authority responsible for awarding the superlatives.
At its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company built a room so sound-proof that it not only blocks out noise on the outside, but also muffles sound on the inside. As a result, the room shattered the previous record for silence: Its average background noise only comes out to -20.35 decibels—or “unimaginably quiet,” Guinness said.
On its website about the project, Microsoft (MSFT) demonstrates its record-setting technology with a glimpse into the place it calls “Where sound goes to die.”
The company plans to use the room, officially known as an “anechoic chamber,” to test its hardware and audio technology. The chamber features absorbent wedges built into its walls and “a mannequin that rapid fires questions to Cortana while sound engineers try to stump her with a variety of canned background noises.”
Microsoft’s slogan accompanying the project: “Where precision is paramount, every decibel counts.”