Submitted by lemontreelemur t3_yvg986 in todayilearned
Hearing sounds at the beach might lull you into thinking all is well. Actual drowning is usually silent.
Yup.
You might hear somebody call out when they're becoming distressed, but if they go into active drowning there's little to no sound. Maybe some mild swishing sounds.
Yup. I was a lifeguard at a Boy Scout camp, and was up early for a 1 mile swim at the choke point of the pool we had (iirc it was like 25 yards long but had this narrow section in the middle that I was stationed in. It was a very long time ago so could be wrong on the length though). I was dutifully scanning the field of swimmers when another lifeguard on the other side of the choke point yelled my name and pointed basically to my feet. A kid not 2 feet away from the side of the pool, and honestly just inside my scan zone, was struggling to stay up and made ABSOLUTELY ZERO NOISE. It was shocking, and I basically threw the donut straight down on his head. The fact I missed someone in trouble 2 feet away from me kinda fucked me up for a bit, but what I took away from it was that someone drowning makes literally zero noise. None. Zip. Zilch. It was so crazy to me that I could have almost grabbed this person but they never said ANYTHING. It was all good because we designed our lifeguard stations with that in mind, but it was still wild to me.
You shouldn’t feel bad about that… the space directly under a lifeguard stand is usually considered to be a “blind spot” for the lifeguard stationed there. Lifeguards working in teams are supposed to be trained to scan their areas as well as the spaces directly below their fellow lifeguards.
It’s one of those things that seem silly in theory, but in practice can be absolutely vital (as it seems you found out!).
I do appreciate you saying that, cause even though it’s been like a decade it’s always kinda stuck with me as like a “woah” moment. Really drove home just how silent drowning is
Did the person make even a splashing noise?
Edit: just read other comments about what real drowning looks like and makes sense why zero noise.
No, it was like he couldn’t get his hands above the water. Like take every image you’ve ever had about someone drowning and throw it away. It was nuts how quiet it was. Hypothetically if he was the only one in the pool and the same situation happened if you were facing the other way you would have no idea something was wrong
My 6 year old stepped off the bottom step in a pool while I was turned the other way saying something to my grandmother. He made absolutely no noise at all and I only realized he was drowning because I turned around to check and make sure he was still within arm’s reach (you know, so he wouldn’t drown). It’s happens SO fast and it’s so quiet. Now I won’t even swim with my younger kids unless there is a 1:1 adult to kid ratio, even if there are lifeguards, and we don’t take our eyes off them.
My 6 year old stepped off the bottom step in a pool while I was turned the other way saying something to my grandmother. He made absolutely no noise at all and I only realized he was drowning because I turned around to check and make sure he was still within arm’s reach (you know, so he wouldn’t drown). It’s happens SO fast and it’s so quiet. Now I won’t even swim with my younger kids unless there is a 1:1 adult to kid ratio, even if there are lifeguards, and we don’t take our eyes off them.
I worked in the summers at a pool at a boy scout camp too. Only ever had to make one save. We were having a tournament of greased "watermelon" (expert it was a watermelon-sized mayo container partially filled with water). Anyways the round was over and all the kids were swimming back to the sides, except one. He was just dog paddling 2 feet away from the wall. Definitely not making a sound. He was literally right in front of me. And I just watched him dog paddle for awhile before I realized that he wasn't moving at all and that he was in the early stages of drowning. I quickly hit the deck and reached my hand out to pull him in, pretty lame as far as rescue stories go.
But it still struck me as weird that after all the training (and teaching) that I did, it took me so long to identify drowning when it was right in front of me, happening to a kid that I knew because he was in my home troop.
Instinctive Drowning Repsonse is a real bitch.
They teach you to literally punch someone in the chest if they are doing that when they train lifeguards
If you were a lifeguard why the hell didn’t your training tell you what drowning sounds/looks like? That’s a training issue, not your fault.
Yes, indeed. People think a drowning person will splash around and scream. Nope!
And people don’t wave their hands in a broad movement. They’re busy panicking and treading water to keep their face above water and failing at it. They pose a low profile visually with little discernible obvious motion
Saw a replay video outside a swimming pool of occurrences of near drowning.
It's all kids and they just go underwater with hands above their head. Videos like that are educational because it increases your hazard awareness. It's not morbid because all children were raised and fished out promptly before inhaling any/much water.
If you can scream, you can breathe.
Screaming != speaking.
Lol. Not even close to how that works. Just because you can exhale does not mean you can inhale.
In the context of active drowning, to what my original comment was referring, it does. Once your mammalian drowning reflex takes over, your airways close up to prevent you from inhaling water and you are not making much noise.
Correct. Active drowning looks much different than it's portrayed in the movies.
"Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:
Head low in the water, mouth at water level
Head tilted back with mouth open
Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
Eyes closed
Hair over forehead or eyes
Not using legs – Vertical
Hyperventilating or gasping
Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
Trying to roll over on the back
Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder"
Sauce: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mamamia.com.au/what-drowning-looks-like/amp/
I did the invisible ladder climb when I nearly drowned at age 8. I thought if I kicked hard enough my head would get above water and I could breathe again. Luckily someone's mom fished me out and sat me on the side of the pool.
Yep. Seen it happening to my mate in a pool once and pulled him out. He was chatting on minute, stepped back without realising and slipped out of the shallow end to the deep part. No screams, just thrashing. Fucking scary.
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