It’s usually safe to assume that screaming at the top of your voice isn’t a good way to make things any better. For 33-year-old Sergey Savelyev, however, an ear-splitting 116.8-decibel yell recently made him richer by 30,000 baht (about $900 USD).

The occasion for all the shouting was a screaming contest held at a shopping center in Pattaya, Thailand. 11 international bellowers—the finalists from a group of 1,500 original competitors—struggled to unleash the loudest possible volume of noise pollution upon the audience’s eardrums.

In order to achieve the best results, screamers resorted to various methods of coaxing those extra decibels out of their throats—waving their arms around, contorting their bodies and faces, and even collapsing on the ground in the process.

The contest, which is hosted by Thailand’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, exists for the purpose of establishing a new Guinness World Record for the loudest scream.

While Savelyev’s victory this year didn’t break any records, the Russian businessman said he was “only getting warmed up,” and plans to return next year to challenge the 129-decibel shriek that has been in the books since 2000.

For those of you already marking your calendars for next year’s event, earplugs are highly recommended.

(link)

By Brandt on 13-08-2009