The Loudness of Emergency Sirens

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In 1912, fire engine sirens reached about 96 decibels when measured 11 feet away. In 1974, it reached 114 decibels at that same distance. Bianca Bosker recently looked at the sounds of modern day sirens and found they reached up to 123 decibels in 2019. That might not sound like a big increase, 96 to 114 to 123, but that's on a logarithmic scale. Every 10 decibels is 10 times the sound pressure to the ears,. And twice as loud in our experience of hearing it.

The whole conceit of this show is that if look at the world in the right way, you’ll see stories everywhere. Some of the stories are epic power struggles chronicling the construction of a famous skyscraper or the founding of a city; but other stories are more modest, smaller in scope and scale. We call those mini-stories and they're part of an ongoing, end-of-the-year tradition in which 99pi producers and friends of the show talk to host Roman Mars about something cool and fun that you can tell your friends or family about during a holiday get together.

You’ll hear about a very, very long escalator! Beavers dropping from the sky! We’ll hear from Janet, Miss Jackson if you’re nasty! Plus a visit from the queen!

Mini-Stories 15: Volume 15