What’s the Loudest Sound Ever Recorded on Earth?

Have you ever covered your ears at the sound of fireworks or a jet engine and thought, “Wow, that’s loud”? Now imagine a powerful sound that could rupture eardrums hundreds of miles away, shatter windows thousands of kilometres off, and circle the planet multiple times. Sounds like science fiction. But it’s genuine— and it happened right here on Earth in the 19th century.

Let’s dive into the astonishing story of the loudest sound ever recorded, explore how sound works, and learn just how big a boom nature is capable of making.

The Day the Earth Roared: The Krakatoa Eruption

On August 27, 1883, a volcano located on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa (or Krakatau) exploded. And when we say exploded, we mean it in the most dramatic way imaginable. The eruption was so loud, it was heard 3,000 miles (nearly 5,000 kilometers) away in places like Australia and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

To put that in perspective, imagine someone yelling in New York and you hearing it in Los Angeles—not faintly, but clearly. That’s how loud the Krakatoa eruption was.

The sound wave created by the eruption circled the Earth not once or twice, but seven times. This was not just loud. This was record-breaking, bone-shaking, history-making loudness.

How Loud Was It, Really?

The Krakatoa eruption reached an estimated 310 decibels. If you’re not familiar with how decibels work, here’s the gist: every increase of 10 decibels is a tenfold increase in loudness. Normal conversation happens around 60 decibels. A rock concert might clock in at 120 decibels. A jet engine at close range? Around 140 decibels.

But 310 decibels? That’s not just damaging—it’s destructive. Sound at this level doesn’t just hurt your ears; it can collapse buildings, flatten forests, and cause massive shockwaves. In fact, the eruption destroyed over two-thirds of the island and created tsunamis that killed over 36,000 people.

It’s important to understand that sound isn’t just noise—it’s energy. And Krakatoa released a nearly unimaginable amount of it.

A Sound That Traveled Across the Globe

Reports from the time say that people in Western Australia and even on islands near Africa heard what sounded like distant gunfire or booming cannons. In fact, the British colonial office in Batavia (now Jakarta) thought they were under attack when they first heard the eruption.

The pressure wave produced by the eruption was measured on barographs all around the world. These are instruments that measure changes in air pressure—and the ones tracking the Krakatoa explosion kept ticking up and down for five days. That’s how long the pressure waves echoed around the globe.

Even in an age before the internet or satellites, the entire world felt Krakatoa’s wrath. It literally left the atmosphere ringing like a bell.

Could We Ever Hear Something That Loud Again?

Let’s hope not. While Krakatoa holds the record for the loudest sound, it’s not the only loud event in Earth’s history. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was also powerful—its sound was heard 150 miles away. The Tunguska meteor explosion over Siberia in 1908 flattened trees across 800 square miles and likely came close in intensity.

But Krakatoa still stands alone at the top. Scientists believe that if something like this were to happen today, with our dense populations and modern infrastructure, the damage and death toll could be in the millions.

While we have advanced warning systems and more sophisticated monitoring, we’re still largely at the mercy of nature’s fury when something on this scale occurs.

What Makes a Sound “Loud,” Anyway?

Now that we’ve marveled at Krakatoa’s decibel-breaking noise, it’s worth taking a step back to understand what makes a sound loud in the first place. Sound is essentially vibrations traveling through a medium—usually air. The louder the sound, the more powerful the vibrations.

Loudness is measured in decibels (dB), and there’s a physical limit to how loud sound can be in Earth’s atmosphere. That limit is around 194 decibels in open air. Beyond that, the pressure waves start to behave like shockwaves rather than normal sound waves. So how did Krakatoa hit 310 decibels?

Well, the 194-decibel limit applies only under standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. Explosions like Krakatoa change the local atmosphere so violently that the rules shift. It wasn’t “sound” in the everyday sense anymore—it was a shockwave of pressurized gas tearing through air, water, and land.

A Legacy That Still Echoes

More than a century after Krakatoa erupted, we’re still fascinated by its force. It’s been the subject of documentaries, novels, and scientific studies. In 1927, a new volcanic island emerged from the same spot, called Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatoa.” This volcano has been active off and on ever since and even erupted violently in 2018, causing deadly tsunamis.

What Krakatoa showed us was not only the immense power of nature, but also how interconnected our planet is. One sound could circle the globe, reach into every barograph station, and leave a mark in the collective human memory.

Today, scientists keep a close watch on volcanic activity, and Krakatoa serves as both a cautionary tale and a benchmark for what Earth is capable of.

So, What Would 310 Decibels Feel Like?

Here’s the wild thing—you wouldn’t even hear it. If you were anywhere near the epicenter of a sound that loud, your eardrums would rupture instantly. Actually, you wouldn’t just lose your hearing—you’d probably die from the pressure wave alone.

In fact, at 194 decibels, sound is no longer “sound” as we experience it. The air is moving so violently it creates a wall of compressed energy. Krakatoa far exceeded that. That’s why it’s more accurate to think of the eruption’s sound as a shockwave—a monstrous, globe-spanning boom that literally altered the atmosphere.

It’s hard to even imagine a sound so powerful. But knowing it happened—recorded in 1883 with the technology of the time—makes it all the more jaw-dropping.