Obviously, I was too young to have seen it in person, but here is a quote I pulled off the net:

The Saturn V Rocket averaged 180 decibels. It is the second loudest (recorded) man made machine. First is a Hydrogen bomb at 200 decibels.

That rocket produced 7.5 MILLION pounds of thrust at liftoff!!

I have been close by an F-14 going on the burner taking off, loud, turned into a dot with alacrity after he stood it on its tail.

I have been at top fuel drag races, very loud, felt it in my chest..

A hundred foot tall cottonwood tree turning into a burning stump and a yard full of smoking debris from a lightning strike was just way louder, knocked me right on my ass.

flight deck, catapult,pulling pins on the centerline of F-14s.
They were really,really high pitched.
Also, the hottest I ever got was after pullin pins, on the bow cats,you go crouch in a space almost even with the jbd,and when they went to afterburner, right prior to launch gave you a nice tomcat sunburn.

This summer in Yellowstone with family fishing Cascade Lake, storm came in,while waiting it out lightning strike hit and obliterated at tree on the other side of the lake, about 1/4 mile away. Shook us all to our core...mother nature ain't no joke.

I lived in south Florida for seven years back in the 90's, and I agree that the shock and awe of a lightning strike within 15-30 feet is indescribable. It's almost a "click-boom!!" type of sound. It's stop-your-heart shocking!

On a different note, Concorde had FOUR afterburning engines that EACH made more thrust than each of the TWO engines on the SR-71. Having experienced MANY Concorde takeoffs from the sidelines of taxiways as an airline pilot at JFK in the 90's, and twice as a passenger (something I will NEVER forget), I can tell you that NO jet ever made sounds like CONCORDE! Not even the mighty SR-71, which had less than half the thrust of Concorde. ;)

See I told you! :D Thanks 450

Gotta say I've been there. Response was completely involuntary. I ws six inches in the air before I realized what I was reacting to.
Thirty five years ago in a canoe in the river at the end at the end of the runway, we can hear an Argus doing mag checks at the other end of the runway. As he starts his take off roll, I realize he is headed our way. When he crawled into the air with full boost and water injection he was about the span of his wings over head. Our dog tried to jump out of the canoe and I could feel the pulses in my abdomen. :eek:
Next to that, having the guy rolling by in the 427 Vette with open side pipes clear his plugs inches from your head while you are busy working on a Formula Ford isn't that bad.
I just don't like loud noises.
Best
Les

Motorhead concert in the early 80's at a small club in RI with only about 100 people in the room..... I couldn't hear a thing for 2 days after...

Standing in the CPO berthing area located under the flight deck on a carrier and in between the arresting gear rooms. You hear the planes coming in, muffled of course, and then BLAM, the ceiling drops down about 4" and this incredible shriek as the arresting gear cable is violently yanked off of the spools and dampened by the huge hydraulic rams. Deafening!

Hearing a fitting being blown off of a 5000 psi air flask when installed incorrectly. Expected the building to be flattened when I ran out of the office. The guy who installed the fitting was lucky and only shattered his leg when the fitting blew off.

For sustained (high freq.) loud, I was thinking the same thing, and was there for that very demonstration. It was at a concours event where a bunch of MSFT millionaires (and billionaires) brought out their toys. One of which being a 3.0L V12 Ferrari F1 car. After passing out earplugs to everyone, they started it and revved it for the crowd. Even with the earplugs (and hands over your ears) it was ridiculously loud. Island and I were probably 5ft away at the time. IIRC, they had it limited to "only" 16k RPM. It hit you in the chest, but likely due to the higher frequencies, it was much more of a "cranial" experience, lol...

Here is the beast in question:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410582648.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1410582687.jpg


For transient (mid/high freq.) loud, I would have to say the medal goes to shooting guns without ear-pro. That will really get your attention as well. Not really something I would recommend.

For sustained (low freq.) loud, it would have to be while attending an IASCA SPL "sound off" event back in the day. I can't even remember now who the vendor was but one of them had a "demo" van that measured something ungodly @ 30hz (like 160db+). It would literally blur your vision, and suck the air out of your lungs. :eek:

a guy running an airhose to blow off grit..

bigass aircompressor you tow to a jobsite..long hose, some blow tool with a ball valve.

the noise will make your ears bleed. not only loud, but piercing. i think it is the most dangerous noise on a heavy construction site. hands down..

and i just got done pile driving. (more on tuesday :()

The loudest noise I've ever heard was one of the loudest I guess some people have ever heard. However I wasn't close enough for it to seem that loud. When I was a kid living in a small California town at the time they were still testing atomic devices in Nevada, I'd go out & sit on the lawn in the early morning in front of our house. They would announce a test and the time a day or two before. When it exploded, I'd see the flash of light and later hear the sharp clap. It seemed like a pretty weird thing to me even at that time.

One thing that would have been close to the top of the list for me if I had been closer was when a bunch of boxcars full of 500 lb naval bombs blew up in Roseville when I was a kid. Sounded like thunder from 15 miles away, shock wave broke hundreds of windows anywhere near the yards. They were finding wheels from the train over a mile away.

Yes Concorde for me too.
My 10yo son & I went to the end of the runway at Barbados to see Concorde take off.
Just outside the fence there is an old abandoned pill box with a flat roof so we climbed up onto it & waited.

The pilot used the full runway and once he cleared the fence at the end, he applied full power. The noise was overwhelming and we were nearly blown off the roof, sons mother was not impressed with my father/son bonding adventures!

My wife and I were enjoying a quiet picnic lunch on Bastille day in the town square of Dijon France about 1996. A French fighter jet buzzed us LOW at full tilt. Might be the loudest. Pretty impressive however.

Larry

When I was a young man and had angered my mother, the loudest noise?: "Your Fathers home." :cool:

Noise
 

On the flight deck of USS Hancock (CVA-19) during Nam flight ops. Got behind an A3 Whale, no headset on and he was getting ready to cat, went to full throttle, scared the s#%t out of me! couldn't hear for three days...

Been struck by lightning ... pretty loud, not the loudest though. Years ago... I must not have clipped a toe nail very well...about 3AM my toe scored the side of my wife's calf. What proceeded was a banshee sound that shook me to the core and to this day is echoing in my bones and soul.

A previous house I lived in, one summer evening I was surprised I could hear the Bull Elephants at the zoo roaring then realized it was the lesbian house next door