Decibel levels:

• 0 – Threshold of human hearing (with good ears)
• 10 – Human breathing at 3 meters
• 30 – Theater, with no talking
• 40 – Residential area at night
• 50 – Quiet restaurant
• 60 – Office or restaurant
• 70 – Busy traffic at 5 meters
• 80 – Vacuum cleaner at 1 meter; curbside of busy street
• 90 – Loud factory, heavy truck at 1 meter
• 100 – Pneumatic hammer at 2 meters; inside a disco
• 110 – Accelerating motorcycle at 5 meters; chainsaw at 1 meter
• 120 – Rock concert; jet aircraft taking off at 100 meters
• 130 – Threshold of pain; train horn at 10 meters
• 140 – Rifle being fired at 1 meter
• 150 – Jet engine at 30 meters
• 180 – Rocket engine at 30 meters
• 250 – Inside a tornado
• 1,000 – Eruption of Krakatoa

Schopenhauer wrote, “The amount of noise which anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity.”