[norwaypinesavage]

"It can be as loud as about 150 decibels"

Going from a complete vacuum to double atmospheric pressure is well below 150 decibels. The only known sound louder than this is measured in the exhaust of a shuttle launch where the pressure is higher than atmospheric. I wonder what other facts in the article are wrong?

[Andy Ross]

Actually I think that the highest dB level in the atmosphere is in the region of 180dB.

The loudest car stereo is somewhere in the region of 178dB.

[the_Watchman]

The "newsies" may have been told that it is slightly less than twice a smoke detector and done their own multiplication, not realizing that they were on a log scale!? </speculation

[ArmstedFragg]

Twenty DB above the threshold of pain. What do they call that, "the threshold of Yikes"?

[Cobra64]

Going from a complete vacuum to double atmospheric pressure is well below 150 decibels. The only known sound louder than this is measured in the exhaust of a shuttle launch where the pressure is higher than atmospheric. I wonder what other facts in the article are wrong?

I agree. I think this report is a crock of...

[Joe Miner]

According to the company's data sheet:

Maximum SPL tone : 146dB sustained 151dB burst at 1 meter

Normal Operation : 120dB at 1 meter

Data Sheet

[TheBattman]

I'm not convinced of your numbers. I am aware of car stereo competitions that regularly exceed 148db. I witnessed one vehicle several years ago that was closing in on 160 db. Because of the danger, operators are not allowed to run the systems from within the vehicle, instead turning it on/operating it by remote.

It does seem unlikely that a hand-operated device could achieve such high db's, but then again, depending upon the frequency, it might very well be possible - I just don't know that the db would be so high at any distance.

[adnoid]

Asuming a pure sine wave tone and typical sea-level ambient pressure of 101 kPa, complete modulation of the atmosphere will happen at approximately 188 dB SPL. Assuming a square wave, for which peak and RMS values are equal, it would correspond to about 194 dB SPL.

However, air will cease to behave in a linear fashion before this point is reached, so this is approximate.

I'm in this industry, and know the company (but I don't work for them) and the devices are real and work - they are not magic or anything, they work in a similar way to a phased-array radar just with much longer wavelengths.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

WEIGHT :                     45 lbs
DIAMETER:                    33'' diameter x 5'' thickness
MAXIMUM SPL TONE:            146dB sustained, 151dB burst at 1 meter
MAXIMUM SPL VOICE:           Less than 120dB sustained, based on individual voice frequencies and harmonic characteristics
REGULATED POWER MODE:        Normal operations, tone limited to 120dB at 1 meter
DURABILITY:                  Thermal conditions have minimal effect on system performance.
                             System meets MIL-STD 810 environmental specifications
EMITTER, HARMONIC DISTORTION:Less than 1% THD at 126dB at 1 meter at 2.5kHz
MAXIMUM POWER HANDLING:      500 watts; 100-240VAC at 50-60Hz, 5 amps at 115VAC
NORMAL POWER USAGE (TONE):   240 watts, 2 amps at 115VAC
DIRECTIONALITY:              -20dB at +/- 15º at 2.5kHz