Can noise kill you?

There is a simple and straightforward answer to the question, 'Can noise kill you?' Yes, you can! Noise can kill you in many different ways.

If we are talking about sounds in the human auditory frequency range (between 20 and 20,000 Hz), sounds with a high intensity of more than 150 decibels can explode your ear and sounds above 185 dB can affect your internal organs and cause death. They can do this by causing an air embolism in your lungs, affecting internal organs or even bursting your lungs. To be killed instantly, however, a sound must be as loud as 240 dB, which is hard to come by.

How much noise can kill you?

Noise is the pressure waves received by our ears and cause our eardrum to vibrate. Loud noise can build up pressure enough to break or even explode the eardrum or internal organs. Noises above 150 dB have the potential to cause life-threatening problems. Noises between 170-200 dB are so intense that they can cause life-threatening problems such as pulmonary embolism, pulmonary embolism or pulmonary eruption. For exploding heads, you can expect more than 240 dB of noise.