Joseph McGrail-Bateup, an Australian professional air conditioner cleaner and honorary town crier, has been recognized as the world's loudest person. Guinness World Records last week acknowledged the 58-year-old Canberra resident recorded the loudest ever shout by an individual. He yelled "now" at 122.4 decibels.
That broke the previous record of 121.7 dB set by a Northern Ireland schoolteacher in 1994, who had yelled an ear-piercing "quiet." That is in the noise range of a chain saw, a jet aircraft taking off and an ambulance siren at close range.
The record attempt was not something McGrail-Bateup could train for, he said. "There's no way that you can actually practice for it. You have to just keep it for the day, especially with the world record attempt," McGrail-Bateup said. "It took me seven attempts just for one word, which was the word 'now,' and my voice was shot for the next couple of days as well. It was husky. It was terrible. So no, you can't really practice for it. But it's a lot of fun when you're doing it," he added.
McGrail-Bateup considered himself the world's loudest man rather than the loudest person, he said. There was no previous record for the loudest man. "I'm pleased that she gets to keep her record. So she's still the loudest woman in the world and I'm the loudest male in the world," McGrail-Bateup said.
McGrail-Bateup said he stumbled upon the previous record when searching Guinness World Records unsuccessfully for feats in the realm of town crying. He won a 2024 guild competition with the loudest "Oyez, Oyez, Oyez," at 98 dB. He experimented with several words for his world record attempt before settling on "now." His shout was recorded May 2 in a Canberra radio studio by a professional acoustic engineer and with witnesses present. The files were sent to Guinness World Records, which announced the record Friday.
It's the second time McGrail-Bateup has broken a world record. In 2019, he broke a speed record for an archer shooting 10 arrows. His time of 60.03 seconds shaved a fraction of a second off a record that had stood since 2015. Nine months later, a 7-year-old boy shattered McGrail-Bateup's record by 11.4 seconds.
McGrail-Bateup wasn't interested in attempting to regain the archery record or in keeping his shouting record. "If someone beats me, that's fantastic," he said. "Records are meant to be broken."