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There are more than a hundred different acoustic instruments, some of which are very loud. What is the loudest acoustic instrument?

SovereignSun
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    This may depend on what we mean by 'acoustic' and what we mean by 'instrument' - but perhaps that could be examined in the answers rather requiring the question to pin it down.... – Нет войне Jan 23 '17 at 22:24
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    How about guns? – isanae Jan 24 '17 at 00:46
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    If you have had the misfortune to share a sports stadium with them, the obvious answer is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuvuzela - though it only plays one note. –  Jan 24 '17 at 06:21
  • Surely the Gaffophone! :-) – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jan 24 '17 at 09:24
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    How about tectonic plate motion? The sound is in the sub-1Hz range but there's a lot of power there :-) – Carl Witthoft Jan 24 '17 at 12:31
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    @CarlWitthoft Can't wait for Concert for string quartet and tectonic plates. – Crowley Jan 24 '17 at 18:06
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    @CarlWitthoft What about pair of black holes? They plucked (via gravitational waves) a string (of laser light) from over 1.4 billion light years away producing audible (32-256 Hz) frequencies for 0.2 seconds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_observation_of_gravitational_waves Kinda like a giant slide whistle? – Nick T Jan 24 '17 at 22:31
  • @SovereignSun This question needs some clarification of what you define asl an acoustic instrument. I suggest something that has an established and recognised design, and is powered completely by a single player, and has no stored energy. So that excludes pipe organs or electric amplifiers or anything other than one musician's work. Also, are you measuring peak power? - some kind of percussion. If its measuring total sound energy over 1-10 seconds, then a big brass horn and two big lungs. – Criggie Jan 24 '17 at 22:33
  • @isanae, forget guns. Properly loud music uses artillery – Mark Jan 24 '17 at 23:43
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    @Crowley What's the rush? The 1st movement is 50,000 years long anyway. – geometrian Jan 25 '17 at 04:30

4 Answers4

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Under a strict definition of "instrument": pipe organ -- they'll shake your bones like a rock concert.

The claim is that the Atlantic City Music Hall organ is the world's loudest instrument, with one of the stops being louder than a train whistle. Several articles, inluding the Wiki article, this one and the link above indicate that this is acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records, though I haven't been able to confirm it directly.

Another contender, under looser interpretation of "instrument", would be church bells, though the audience usually is not right up with them when they are being struck.

Dave
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    Good answer. Most pipe organs aren't particularly loud though; a normal church organ is quickly overwhelmed when playing together with brass or drums. Church bells are much, much louder. – leftaroundabout Jan 24 '17 at 00:22
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    Is a pipe organ an acoustic instrument? – SovereignSun Jan 24 '17 at 05:06
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    @SovereignSun What definition of "acoustic" would not include a pipe organ? – piet.t Jan 24 '17 at 08:32
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    air blows down one end, noise comes out the other - that's a pretty fair definition of acoustic ;) – Tetsujin Jan 24 '17 at 08:33
  • @leftaroundabout I was also wondering about bells. Its true that some organs make a huge noise within the confines of the building they are in but bells can sometimes be heard from a very long way away. I was wondering if a Carillon might be an answer here. – JimM Jan 24 '17 at 09:09
  • The percussive nature of bells' sound probably has something to do with it. I wouldn't want to be in a belfry when bells are ringing, but inside an organ case when the organist is having fun organo pleno con belto could well be a deafening experience too. – Andrew Leach Jan 24 '17 at 15:02
  • I would argue that a gong could be even louder than church bells of the same size/mass because a skilled player can build up constructive interference unlike most clappers. If they can stand it... – Josiah Jan 24 '17 at 16:22
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    @piet.t I can see how a pipe organ (with electrically powered blowers, not pedal-powered) might not be thought of as strictly acoustic. While the sound is not amplified after it is produced, its amplitude is unattainable without electricity. I tend to think of it as a bit of a hybrid, but of course it all depends on what exactly "acoustic" means... – elmer007 Jan 24 '17 at 18:25
  • @AndrewLeach the loudness of church bells has multiple reasons – they're basically optimised over centuries for maximum audibility. First, when hand-ringing these bells you accumulate muscle work from the entire body over multiple swing cycles before the clapper first hits, packing a lot of energy with optimal mechanical impedance. Next, since the entire instrument is solid metal, there are very little friction etc. losses, giving a powerful sustain in the entire audible range. Finally however, the bell has a huge surface area that allows it to radiate sound away very well. – leftaroundabout Jan 24 '17 at 22:03
  • @Josiah bell clappers are much heavier than anybody could directly wield by hand though, so even a single stroke can transmit several times as much energy as any gong beater can. Constructive interference can't make up for that. – leftaroundabout Jan 24 '17 at 22:10
  • @elmer007: The amplitude of a flute is unattainable without a human, food, oxygen, electricity in the brain... :) But the instrument itself is certainly acoustic. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jan 25 '17 at 12:26
  • If the pipe organ is the loudest instrument, then the Large Hot Pipe Organ must be the granddaddy of them all. – bta Sep 24 '20 at 23:05
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Loudness is a subjective sensation, so I will talk about an objective measure, which is the acoustic power that different instruments can generate. In contrast to the pipe organ answer, this answer is restricted to instruments that derive all of their power from a single human performer.

This page indicates that drums easily produce more acoustic watts than other instruments, which seems to match experience.

It also indicates that the trombone has the greatest power output of the instruments that can play different notes (not counting tuned drums). Experience also agrees that brass instruments are pretty darn loud.

I've read other sources that are not easy to cite here that closely match the numbers listed on the cited page.

Todd Wilcox
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    The brass sit at the back for good reason (other than to scare the bejeezus out of the woodwind) ;-) – Digital Trauma Jan 24 '17 at 02:30
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    The air pressure level in a trombone is high enough to produce shock waves. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOhxr643YuA Published paper: http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~guymoore/ph225/shock.pdf –  Jan 24 '17 at 06:24
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    Is wattage output going to be the final answer though? That page says a kick drum puts out more power than a snare - yet have you ever known a good stamp on the kick to make the rest of the band blink in the way a well-placed rim-shot in an otherwise quiet room can? [used to be one of my favourite tricks, I'm bad that way ;) – Tetsujin Jan 24 '17 at 08:37
  • @Tetsujin Bass drum and kick drum are two different instruments. – Todd Wilcox Jan 24 '17 at 13:33
  • @ToddWilcox well, a kick drum is certainly a kind of bass drum. But yeah, an orchestral bassdrum packs much more acoustic oomph than any kick you'd find in rock/pop/jazz. Still it's not the kind of sound you'd describe as deafeningly loud, more as “big”, “fat”, “strong”. Being loud is more the job of side drum or timpani (or bass drum plus cymbals). – leftaroundabout Jan 25 '17 at 10:38
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    If the trombone is loud the alpenhorn is louder. Much. – user207421 Jan 25 '17 at 11:15
  • @EJP I just thought of that last night. It has such a huge horn. – Todd Wilcox Jan 25 '17 at 12:32
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Maybe the calliope?

From Wikipedia: A calliope (see below for pronunciation) is a musical instrument that produces sound by sending a gas, originally steam or more recently compressed air, through large whistles—originally locomotive whistles. A calliope is typically very loud. Even some small calliopes are audible for miles.

Another option could be the cannon, as used in the 1812 Overture.

Anonymous
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  • What cannon is that? – SovereignSun Jan 24 '17 at 05:05
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    That would be the big piece of military hardware that goes boom when it fires a cannonball. Used (optionally, thank God) in the 1812 overture. – JimM Jan 24 '17 at 10:05
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    Just dropping by to suggest that, for the 1812 Overture, use of cannon is canon. //I'll let myself out – Carl Witthoft Jan 24 '17 at 12:30
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    Is a cannon an "acoustic instrument?" If that is, then anything that makes sound is. – Eric O Jan 24 '17 at 18:23
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    @CarlWitthoft Joined this community just to upvote your comment... :)))) – user2121 Jan 25 '17 at 01:48
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    @CarlWitthoft Q: What do you load to play a cannon canon? A: A round round. (ducks) – Todd Wilcox Nov 03 '17 at 07:43
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    @CarlWitthoft The perennial conundrum: overuse of the cannon canon can undermine the atmosphere of the concert. Further, I posit that because the sound originates in the hollow spaces of the cannon itself, a musician playing this instrument is not called a cannonist, but a chamber musician. I now self-abdicate, time to evacuate. – user45266 May 08 '19 at 04:06
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As already said, there are many different ways how this could be judged. Acoustic power is certainly a good criterion, though it should be weighted with the ear's response: bass instruments require much more power to sound loud. That also allows their sound to reach further, though.

Subjectively, I'd name a couple of contenders. I'll not count church bells, these would actually win in all categories, nor instruments that can't be fully human-powered.

  • Most painful at close distance: piccolo, cowbell.
  • Biggest distance where it's still painfully loud: trombone or snare drum, some woodwinds (shawm, bagpipes).
  • Farthest to be heard: bass drums or horns.
  • Biggest efficiency (loudness achieved with little effort of human power): probably trumpet (but I've never played one), cymbals or tubular bells.
  • Physical efficiency (acoustic power achieved with little effort): timpani, tuba (again no idea how exhausting it is), else possibly double bass.
leftaroundabout
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