An anechoic chamber is a room designed to completely block out sound and electromagnetic waves. Microsoft built their very own anechoic chamber in a room in building 87 of their headquarters in Redmond, Washington. This room is now known as the quietest place on earth. Apparently, the room is so quiet that you can hear your own heart beating, and the blood running in your veins. Unfortunately, not just anyone can escape to this extra silent space. The engineers at Microsoft built this room to test their new equipment and don’t allow public entrance for visitors.

To be more specific, experts at Microsoft use this room for checking for vibrations made by capacitors when current passes through them. These tests are done to identify sources of noise or hum, which can be unpleasant to customers. The famously quiet rooms also serve as a space for the detection and analysis of sounds produced by other electronic components such as keyboards and cooling fans.

The chamber itself is shaped as a cube and each side measures 21 ft. It took almost two years to design it and almost a year to find a building where it could be built. The chamber is surrounded by six concrete onion layers, and each layer measures 12 inches in thickness. It floats on 68 vibration damping springs which block the chamber from any contact with the building it is in. 4-foot-long clusters of sound-absorbent wedges line all six sides of the cubed room to prevent echoes.

Although the quietest room in the world doesn’t offer public tours, research some more photos and facts to have a better understanding of how the science behind this sound-shielding space works. Maybe curiosity will have you sending a job application to Microsoft in hopes to go see it for yourself. Luckily, if that does not work out for you, there are other quiet room alternatives you can go visit that are just as impressive.