An Australian town crier aged 58 has just set the world record for the loudest human shout: 122.4 decibels for the word “now.” His voice was hoarse for two days. And on the logarithmic decibel scale, this performance translates to roughly 17% more acoustic energy than the previous record — held by a Belfast teacher who shouted “silence” since 1994.
What you will learn
- Why decibels form a logarithmic scale—and what that means in practical terms for comparing sounds
- How the record was set and why seven attempts were needed for a single word
- What is the loudest sound ever produced by humanity—and it isn’t human
A Public Cryer in His Element
Joseph McGrail-Bateup, a 58-year-old town crier based in Canberra, Australia, has just entered the Guinness World Records with a shout reaching 122.4 decibels. The previous record, held since 1994 by Annalisa Flanagan, a Belfast schoolteacher, involved shouting the word “silence” at 121.7 dB to showcase her notable talent.
It took McGrail-Bateup seven attempts to produce a single word — “now” — at this intensity. His voice remained hoarse for two days after the attempt. “There is absolutely no way to prepare for this,” he admitted. “It was brutal. But it’s a lot of fun when you’re doing it.”
Why an Extra 0.7 Decibels Really Matters
The gap between the two records — 121.7 and 122.4 dB — may seem negligible. But decibels operate on a logarithmic scale, not a linear one. A sound 20 dB louder is 100 times more powerful in acoustic energy. A sound 60 dB louder is a million times more powerful.
In terms of acoustic energy, McGrail-Bateup’s shout represents an improvement of about 17% compared with Flanagan’s. To put it into concrete perspective: this noise level is comparable to that of an ambulance nearby, an aircraft engine, or a hand-held chainsaw in operation.
The Loudest Title of All Time? Not Even Close
These impressive human feats remain far from the loudest sound ever produced by humanity. That title belongs to the Tsar Bomba — the Soviet 50-megaton nuclear device detonated on October 30, 1961 — which generated sound at roughly 224 decibels. That is about 14.5 billion times more acoustic energy than McGrail-Bateup’s shout.
An Eclectic Roll of Honors
This isn’t McGrail-Bateup’s first foray into records. In 2019, he fired 10 arrows from a bow in 60.03 seconds — a brief mark that was broken nine months later by a seven-year-old child, and then again in 2023 by Casey Wilhelm from Missouri with a time of 39.53 seconds. For archery, he will therefore need to train even more.
Guinness World Records awarded him the title of the “loudest shout by a male individual,” with Flanagan retaining her record in the women’s category — a result that McGrail-Bateup would likely have celebrated.
