Aparently 180 dB causes eardrum rupture and intense pain and thus is extremely deadly.
For comparison’s sake, Krakatoa volcano’s eruption was measured at around 183dB.
In: Biology
Anyone have any good whale sound playlists on Spotify?
I’ve always found them mystical. They must be saying things. And perhaps they are things our small human brains can’t understand
There’s a theory that they stun squid with sound, called the (other) Big Bang Theory, but I only heard about it in class long time ago. Explains the huge head, and how they can catch squid with that tiny jaw
Anecdotally, being in the water with Cetaceans clicking and communicating is AWESOME, but it *hurt* ye old eardrums, even in the tiny timeframes, especially since they “talk” over eachother a lot – imagine a crowd leaving a sports/music venue. I make sure to wear a neoprene hood to muffle the sounds whenever I know I might be in the water near whales or other cetaceans to try and help muffle the noise.
Divers have talked about being “hit” by whale song at close ranges; the results are disorientation, partial paralysis, and body parts being numb for hours.
Found this years ago. I come back to it frequently. Here’s a sperm whale playfully turning divers inside out with clicks (not literally): https://youtu.be/zsDwFGz0Okg
Edit: there is a minute and a half of talking before an underwater video plays. Totally worth listening to the whole thing.
Also, turn your sound way up for that extra immersive experience.
Like someone said previously, 200dB in water is not the same as 200dB in air. But I heard stories from researchers: it does feel like your bones are shattering if the whale comes up to you and vocalizes at you. They’re probably thinking we’re too skinny to be in the water. 😂
Could they not just wear ear defenders?
Being 5 I guess you don’t understand that eardrum rupture and extreme pain are not automatically “extremely deadly”, or that “deadly” doesn’t get measured by any scale. Dead is dead. It’s always in it’s most extreme form.
Remember dB is a logarithmic scale so 183dB isn’t 3 less loud (to use a Spinal Tap reference) than 180dB, it’s half as loud.
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