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Sounds by loudness

Order by loudness, quietest first. You place all 20 cards in the right order, one at a time. You start with three lives, and ten right in a row wins a lost one back.

Sounds by loudness
Placed0
In a row0
Order by loudness, quietest first. Drag or tap it onto the line
Sound
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Sound
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20
Cards
3
Lives per run
loudness
Ordered by
Cards only
Card reveal

How the sound loudness ranking game works

The cards are sounds, from the faintest noises a person can detect to some of the loudest ever recorded. You rank them by loudness in decibels, quietest first, and the line under each name gives the setting or distance where it matters. One sound starts on the line with its decibel level showing. Choose a gap for every new card. A good call reveals the number, while a miss still places the sound where it belongs and costs one of your three lives.

Decibels climb on a scale where every step of ten means a sound carries ten times the energy, so the gaps near the top are far bigger than they look. Quiet household sounds bunch together and are tough to separate. Distance changes everything, so read the line under each name before you decide. Figures are commonly cited values from hearing health charts and acoustics sources. Those sources do not always agree, so treat each number as a rough band.

What's in the deck

Here are 20 of the 20 cards you might be dealt. Their values stay hidden until you place them.

  • Threshold of hearing Measured at the ear
  • Normal breathing Calm breathing in a quiet room
  • Rustling leaves A light breeze
  • Whisper A soft whisper nearby
  • Quiet library Background level indoors
  • Moderate rainfall Heard from indoors or out
  • Normal conversation Talking face to face
  • Vacuum cleaner Household, in use
  • Garbage disposal Kitchen sink unit running
  • Subway train Riding on board
  • Farm tractor Heard from the driver's seat
  • Rock concert In the crowd
  • Ambulance siren Passing close by
  • Jackhammer Breaking up pavement nearby
  • Gunshot Firearm, heard by the shooter
  • Jet engine From 1 meter away
  • Balloon pop Squeezed until it bursts, right at your ear
  • Krakatoa eruption Measured about 160 km away
  • Rocket launch Close to the launch pad
  • Saturn V rocket NASA's figure for the Moon rocket at the source

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