Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 9, 1993                   TAG: 9307090132
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BOCA RATON, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

SSHHHH - GIVE IBM ITS PLACE IN THE, ER, CORNER

The computer giant has applied to the Guinness Book of Records to get its echoless test chamber, which eliminates 99.99 percent of noise, listed as the quietest place on Earth.

"With the door closed, this place is quieter than a morgue," said Bob Waters, an IBM acoustical engineer.

Sound-absorbing fiberglass wedges cover the room's concrete walls, door and ceiling. The room sits on its own foundation to eliminate vibrations and has its own air-conditioning system.

The "dead room" at Bell Telephone System laboratory in Murray Hill, N.J., holds the quietest-room record in the 1992 Guinness book. It eliminates 99.98 percent of noise. - Associated Press