What was the world’s loudest computer? The answer is really “anything that used an IBM line printer in the 60s”. Instead of printing in any traditional sense, the only way IBM could offer 1,400 lines a minute performance was by slamming the paper with electronic hammers into a character chain. 132 hammers actuated by magnets every 11 microseconds. With the cover open, full line writes would operate at a “comfortable” 94 dBA. To give some perspective, the loudest consumer computer ever produced was Apple’s MDD G4. Annoying enough where Apple offered replacement fan kits to those who complained, and that was only ~60 dBA tops! From a human’s perspective, the IBM printer would be roughly 10x as loud as the Apple machine, or about 2500x more acoustic energy. OSHA requires employers to offer hearing protection to anything 85 dbA or higher for 8 hours. Something tells me this wasn’t followed in the 1960s…