MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Joseph McGrail-Bateup, an Australian professional air conditioner cleaner and honorary town crier, has been recognized as the world\u2019s loudest person.
Guinness World Records last week acknowledged the 58-year-old Canberra resident recorded the loudest ever shout by an individual. He yelled \u201cnow\u201d at 122.4 decibels.
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That broke the previous record of 121.7 dB set by Northern Ireland schoolteacher Annalisa Flanagan in 1994. She had yelled an ear-piercing \u201cquiet.\u201d
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 Tuesday.
\u201cThere\u2019s no way that you can actually practice for it. You have to just keep it for the day, especially with the world record attempt,\u201d McGrail-Bateup said.
\u201cIt took me seven attempts just for one word, which was the word \u2018now,\u2019 and my voice was shot for the next couple of days as well. It was husky. It was terrible. So no, you can\u2019t really practice for it. But it\u2019s a lot of fun when you\u2019re doing it,\u201d he added.
McGrail-Bateup considered himself the world\u2019s loudest man rather than the loudest person, he said. There was no previous record for the loudest man.
\u201cI\u2019m pleased that she (Flanagan) gets to keep her record. So she\u2019s still the loudest woman in the world and I\u2019m the loudest male in the world,\u201d McGrail-Bateup said.
McGrail-Bateup said he stumbled upon Flanagan’s record when searching Guinness World Records unsuccessfully for feats in the realm of town crying.
He became competitively loud when he was appointed the official town crier of the national capital Canberra in 2017. It\u2019s an honorary and part-time role established by the local government which he considers \u201ca bit of fun.\u201d His town crier name is Lord Joseph.
He makes announcements at community events, school fetes and car shows.
With the job came membership of the Ancient and Honorable Guild of Australian Town Criers, a competitive professional organization dedicated to preserving members\u2019 historic and ceremonial roles.
He won a 2024 guild competition with the loudest \u201cOyez, Oyez, Oyez,\u201d at 98 dB. That was a command for silence and attention before an Australian town crier makes a proclamation.
He experimented with several words for his world record attempt before settling on \u201cnow.\u201d
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\u2019s 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\u2019t interested in attempting to regain the archery record or in keeping his shouting record.
\u201cIf someone beats me, that\u2019s fantastic,\u201d he said. \u201cRecords are meant to be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n