Author Topic: anechoic chamber  (Read 4283 times)

Offline majic

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anechoic chamber
« on: August 24, 2013, 05:04:40 PM »
I am into a DYI project and I want to and will build an Anechoic chamber in my house. I tried without success to get into a sensory deprivation tank while on holiday a few months back and then looked at buying or making a tank but the project went into the too hard basket for a heap of reasons.

I hunted the net for sensory deprivation info and then found out about the anechoic chambers and the degree of silence, the fact that most people will start to hallucinate in short time due to lack of sensory input and then got excited at the possibilities of using one.

I have a nice attic space, a lot of building skills and some idea of an noise proof room with an internal chamber suspended on rubber mounts that is the centre piece of the anechoic chamber so will start this project in the coming week by simply cutting a hole in a wall to allow access to the attic space.

I will post as I construct, expect the project to take a month or two depending on sourcing materials and the ups and downs of DYI.

Anyone have any experience in these chambers
Any sound engineers out there that can advise on the type of internal foam echo absorbers
Any useful tips at all welcome


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Offline iadr

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2013, 05:58:42 PM »
Interesting idea majic, building an Anechoic chamber. Iadr used to have one of those floatation tanks in his house about 30 years ago, which he slept in at night for a couple of years. Never did a thing for him though, except help adjust his back, which usually popped while he was in it, as it was more distracting than anything, listening to his heart pound loudly while floating in salt water. We had to drain it when we moved and just never filled it back up again, as it was just too much of a hassle, having to keep the water heated at just the right temperature, which required several water bed heaters.

Along the lines of a Anechoic chamber, we've done a couple of things similar to that, which were fairly effective, although though they weren't sound proof, which ideas might give you some ideas on how you might want to build your Anechoic chamber.

The first thing we tried was a large wooden box that we painted black on the inside, which was large enough for our recliner to fit in, that we meditated in each evening. Because of the darkness inside the box, there were several times that we transported to other places while meditating, although we had no idea what was happening, since we'd never heard of lucid dreaming at the time.

The other thing we tried was a large pyramid that we built in our attic to the specifications we found in this book on pyramids. Although the pyramid was not dark on the inside, and was not soundproof, as we used clear plastic on the outside of it, it did have an eerie silence and peacefulness on the inside of it, which we could definitely feel when entering it. We then got an idea and enclosed it in plywood, which proved to be a mistake, as the eerie silence and peacefulness was no longer there. Seems that certain materials like wood just don't work well for pyramids, as they don't allow that mystical energy in.

We also had a smaller, portable pyramid built over our bed that we slept in at night with the wife, which also had that same eerie feeling in it, as it was covered with sheets. You can just imagine how funny it was when we had some guests visit from out of town, who had a couple of small girls, who just happened to wander into our bedroom, who then came running out of our bedroom excitedly saying "they have a tee pee in their bedroom" :chuckle:
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Offline majic

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2013, 06:19:45 PM »
thanks, that sort of info is useful. I think the materials are important and it can go to the extent of using a mesh cage on the outside that is really a faraday cage (spelling...) and at certain sizes will block or change electrical currents. I can read about this stuff but its hard to put it together.

As for isolation it might even be that in combo with some induced sound like binaural beats (never used them) that I can set the stage for easily induced lucids.
At the worst I will have a quiet place to read a book. Something as simple as the addition of a plant or some living matter could even make the space come alive.

All speculation at this stage but keen for all and any thoughts that come my way

For all the reasons you stated I decided not to go down the way of float tanks
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Offline Sunshine

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2013, 08:37:42 PM »
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« Last Edit: February 10, 2014, 07:04:01 PM by pj »

Offline majic

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2013, 09:08:18 PM »
Quote
That sounds really cool.  I'd like to get something like that.  I have a big bathtub, maybe I can build something around it

I had wondered about that as well. A simple experiment would be to just lye down in the bath in the dark and so something like cover you eyes. There is some info online in place half a ping pong ball over your eyes and the lack of visual stimulus or constant input will also cause hallucinations and from there you could induce a lucid dream. Have not tried this one but Google it and then have a go and post about it
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Offline Sunshine

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2013, 11:13:10 PM »
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« Last Edit: February 10, 2014, 07:04:01 PM by pj »

Offline iadr

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2013, 09:17:38 PM »
Another idea that we've experimented with a bit in an effort to get the same effect of a floatation tank of being able to hear our heart beating, and one that is very easy to do, and that you might want to try before building a Anechoic chamber, is to just purchase a sound proof headset to block out all of the noises around you, and wear it while meditating. We tried this several times a while back with a cheap headset we paid about 3 dollars for, and was able to tune into our heart beat the last time we tried it. Think we'll start trying this again, as it produces the same eerie sound that being in a floatation tank does. And if you can tune into your heart beat while doing it, and then concentrate on slowing it down, you should be able to reach just about any kind of state you want to be in.
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Offline majic

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2013, 06:06:10 AM »
I will try that and have tried ear plugs before but more sound proof head sets would be better by far . As for the chamber I cut the hole in the wall today so its all on now - I tend to do most things the hard way and in the worst case I will have yet another place to sit and read a book
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Offline DrTechnical

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2013, 08:12:43 AM »
Well of course I will be interested in what goes on here. Here are a few additional thoughts on altered states ideas:

Not long ago, a friend of mine who is an avid lucid dreamer and also a physicist suggested that I try grounding myself during my OOB attempts. This would be another way to alter your body electrically, essentially creating the same potential as the Earth. The method involves a simple wrist strap, a large resisitor and a connection to the ground of an electrical outlet. He claimed really interesting results with this method.

Binaurals can be interesting. There is also the Ganzfeld effect that specifically tries to induce a dissociative state. You can look it up. Various ways to do it. Usually involves goggles are even something as simple as halved ping pong balls over the eyes with some faint lighting (if I recall properly) and headphones playing pink noise.

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Offline Sunshine

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2013, 09:39:53 PM »
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« Last Edit: February 10, 2014, 07:04:01 PM by pj »

Offline majic

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2013, 10:34:00 PM »
Moonbeam - awesome and keep us to speed on all the lucid action

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Offline howitzer

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2013, 04:55:56 AM »
I'll see it when I believe it.

Offline Sunshine

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2013, 06:23:09 AM »
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Offline majic

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2013, 03:44:51 PM »
Quote
I found this helpful,e hopefully for your endeavor too majic

This is great and some useful links to follow up.  I was going along those lines and its nice to get some conformation that is the right way to go. The external chamber is an attic space and will have a floor with a 200mm void filled with 3 layers of fibreglass batts ( just completed that yesterday. The other walls will have soundproof fibreglass batts installed and 2 layers thick on the ceiling with the internal linings of a sound proof material and held off the wall with rubber mounted brackets. This should form a chamber with good sound proof properties.

The internal chamber is a little more difficult but is along the lines of being supported off the floor on steel rails mounted to the wall and supported by rubber absorbers. Not 100% sure of the construction on this internal chamber  but it will be lined with some form of echo absorption foam so the purpose of this is to absorb all echos.

No sound in and no echo when in - this I hope will achieve sensory deprivation and off to the inner world.

Enjoying the build so far and first pics should be online soon, I think I will put them on an external site so I dont clutter this up, they will be construction images so not exciting but to show some of the detai.

Thanks for the comments, they are really useful
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Offline Shellidfl

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Re: anechoic chamber
« Reply #14 on: August 27, 2013, 04:52:40 PM »
This sounds like an incredible job, majic!  Can;t wait to see the pics and your reports on any results. 8)