How loud is the screaming piha?
The screaming piha of the Amazon sings at about 116 dB at 1 m. It held the record for the loudest bird song until 2019, when Podos and Cohn-Haft found the white bellbird to be more than 9 dB louder.
- Level
- 116 dB maxunweighted maximum sound level
- Distance
- 1 m1 m (calculated)
- Daily limit
- About 22 s a dayNIOSH, at the loud end
What the numbers mean
How it was measured. Maximum song level of the screaming piha (Lipaugus vociferans), averaged and scaled to 1 m, measured in the Brazilian Amazon (Podos & Cohn-Haft 2019; Jakobsen et al. 2021 table). The Jakobsen table lists the original weighting as A or C.
The screaming piha is an Amazonian cotinga, a relative of the bellbirds. Podos and Cohn-Haft describe it as singing the loudest songs of any passerine bird previously documented, and Science News reports that its calls maxed out around 116 dB on average when scaled to 1 m.
A 2021 review by Jakobsen and colleagues lists the piha at a peak of 116 dB re 20 µPa at 1 m, next to 125 dB for the white bellbird. Science News notes that piha calls gradually build to their highest point, unlike the bellbird's short, staccato blasts.
How long is safe?
NIOSH recommends no more than 22 s a day at 116 dBA. OSHA's legal limit is 13 min. This is a maximum, so a time limit based on it is a worst case. This level is not A-weighted, so the times are approximate: low-pitched sound measures lower in dBA.
| Level | NIOSH limit (85 dBA, 3 dB rule) | OSHA limit (90 dBA, 5 dB rule) | UK/EU 80 dB(A) action value reached after | UK/EU 85 dB(A) action value reached after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 116 dB max | 22 s | 13 min | 7 s | 23 s |
Times are for a whole day’s exposure, with the rest of the day quiet. The workplace limits were written for adults at work, not for children. Work out a mixed day with the noise dose calculator.
Protecting your hearing
Not a risk for people: pihas call from the forest canopy.
Earplug and earmuff ratings (NRR in the US, SNR in the UK and EU) are lab figures; real-world protection is usually lower. How to read the ratings.
Compared with sounds nearby
Using midpoints of each range. Energy multiplies by 10 every 10 dB; perceived loudness roughly doubles (why).
- Rooster crowing (100–108 dB max): this has about 16× its sound energy and sounds about 2.3× as loud.
- Fighter jet (103–113 dB max): this has about 6.3× its sound energy and sounds about 1.7× as loud.
- White bellbird (125 dB max): it has about 7.9× the sound energy of this and sounds about 1.9× as loud.
- SLS rocket launch (Artemis I) (127–136 dB max): it has about 35× the sound energy of this and sounds about 2.9× as loud.
Questions
How loud is a screaming piha?
About 116 dB at 1 m, according to measurements by Podos and Cohn-Haft (2019).
Is the screaming piha the loudest bird?
Not any more. The white bellbird, measured in 2019, is more than 9 dB louder at about 125 dB.
Sources
- White bellbirds have the loudest known mating call of any bird, Science News. Supports: dB_low/dB_high: about 116 dB.
maxed out around 116 decibels on average
Checked 2026-11-02. - How Loud Can you go? Physical and Physiological Constraints to Producing High Sound Pressures in Animal Vocalizations, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (Jakobsen et al., 2021). Supports: dB: 116 dB peak at 1 m.
Lipaugus vociferans 116 155
Checked 2026-11-02. - Extremely loud mating songs at close range in white bellbirds, Current Biology (Podos & Cohn-Haft, 2019), via PubMed. Supports: body: previous record holder.
The screaming piha sings the loudest songs of any passerine bird previously documented
Checked 2026-11-02. - Extremely loud mating songs at close range in white bellbirds, Current Biology (Podos & Cohn-Haft, 2019), via PubMed. Supports: faq: bellbird comparison.
However, we find that white bellbirds are >9 dB louder, and thus achieve roughly triple the sound pressure levels of pihas.
Checked 2026-11-02. - White bellbirds have the loudest known mating call of any bird, Science News. Supports: body: call shape.
the calls of screaming pihas gradually build to the highest point
Checked 2026-11-02. - White bellbirds have the loudest known mating call of any bird, Science News. Supports: body: Amazonian bird.
another Amazonian bird called the screaming piha ( Lipaugus vociferans )
Checked 2026-11-02.
This page is general information, not medical advice. If you have ringing in your ears, muffled hearing or any change in your hearing, see an audiologist or your doctor.