Joseph McGrail-Bateup, a 58-year-old Australian professional air conditioner cleaner and honorary town crier, has been officially recognized as the world's loudest person. Guinness World Records confirmed last week that his shout of the word "now" reached 122.4 decibels, surpassing the previous record of 121.7 dB set by Northern Ireland schoolteacher Annalisa Flanagan in 1994, who had yelled "quiet."
Record-breaking shout in the range of a chainsaw
The 122.4 dB shout falls within the noise range of a chainsaw, a jet aircraft taking off, and an ambulance siren at close range. McGrail-Bateup made the attempt on May 2 in a Canberra radio studio, with a professional acoustic engineer and witnesses present. The files were sent to Guinness World Records, which announced the record on Friday.
No training possible for such a feat
McGrail-Bateup explained that the record attempt could not be practiced. "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," he said on Tuesday. "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."
Loudest man, not loudest person
McGrail-Bateup prefers to be called the world's loudest man, as there was no previous record for that category. He noted that Flanagan retains her record as the loudest woman. "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," he said.
From town crier to world record holder
McGrail-Bateup's journey to the record began when he was appointed the official town crier of Canberra in 2017, an honorary and part-time role established by the local government. He considers it "a bit of fun" and goes by the name Lord Joseph. His duties include making announcements at community events, school fetes, and car shows. The role led to membership in the Ancient and Honorable Guild of Australian Town Criers, a competitive organization dedicated to preserving historic and ceremonial roles.
Winning the guild competition
In 2024, he won a guild competition with the loudest "Oyez, Oyez, Oyez" at 98 dB—a command for silence before a proclamation. He experimented with several words for the world record attempt before settling on "now."
Previous archery record
This is McGrail-Bateup's second world record. In 2019, he broke a speed record for an archer shooting 10 arrows, with a time of 60.03 seconds. However, nine months later, a 7-year-old boy shattered that record by 11.4 seconds. McGrail-Bateup is not interested in reclaiming the archery record or holding onto the shouting record. "If someone beats me, that's fantastic," he said. "Records are meant to be broken."
