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[ldec]

February 9, 2009. Simi Valley, CA. I've been hearing the hum since I moved into this house 10 years ago. I had recently had surgery on my ear and became much more sensitive to bass tones afterward. I've not been able to find anyone else who hears this, except for online forums! Sometimes the hum is loud (like tonight!!!) (argggh!), sometimes it is faint, and sometimes it stops for weeks or even months. I've considered moving out of this house to get away from it. I had finally reached the conclusion that it was a form of tinnitus, but then found the online forums  ... that still doesn't rule out tinnitus but ... well, it's nice to have company.

[Nicolelaguera]

I hear the same sound.  I thought it was because I was pregnant and the baby was hitting nerve in my back, but if other people are hearing this then it must be something else.  I really hope it's not harmful.  My fiance can not hear it either.  I only hear it at home, in all rooms.  Ears plugged or not.  Actually only in one ear (my left).  It's been driving me nuts for 3 days now.  It's the worst at night.  Nobody knows what it could be???

[Susan_A]

I can't believe I found this site! I live in an apartment building in Worcester, MA and for the past few months I have been going mad trying to sleep due to the pulsating hum. It wakes me out of a sound sleep and I
would swear that it is scrambling my brain. I thought that it was the old fridge. I thought it might
be the neighbors surround sound. But I'm the only one in my apartment that feels it. Could it be from the
new detection equipment that is being installed in the attic? All I want is a good nights sleep. It can really
make you feel ill. But now I wonder if it is something stressing the wiring in the walls. Well, at least I don't
feel like I'm going mad!     
     

[ROBYNN]

I thought I was either going crazy or had a brain tumor when I first started to hear the humming in my head. I have lived in Riverton Utah for the past six years. At first I thought it was something outside then I came to realize that it was in my head. At first I only heard it a night when I went to bed but today I started to hear it in the evening when I was watching T.V.  I thought to myself " oh dear God please let there be a truck parked outside"  I looked out the window and there was nothing there.  So I found this forum .... relieved to know that I am not the only one who hears this, but distressed by other posts that it can get worse and go on for years!  I think I have been hearing it now for a couple of months and it is very annoying.  I do live near a train station, not close enought to see any trains, but I can hear them faintly in the far off distance at night.   I also work in a shipping factory .... don't know if this is familiar to anyone or not.  I have not had any strange occurances, or major illness.  I just started to hear the hum.  No headaches, bloody noses or vomiting like others.  I am on no medications.  I am writing this in hopes that someone can compare all of these reports and work on a study that may help those of us, or others in the future with this problem.

[Patty]

Hello all, I have a theory about the hum.  I've been listening to it for over four years now.  This is what I've come up with.  It's called the Microwave Auditory Effect.  It was first discovered when they started using radar.  Back then the waves that were generated had a buzz or popping sound, radar operators reported hearing it on the job. There is an article in wiki explaining it.
Today we have the newer generations of pulsed electromagnetic waves from all the telecommunications, wifi etc.  What I have noticed is when big news stories are happening, the sound of the hum is denser and more frequent in the pulse.  In the area where I live we lived in a dead zone for cell phones up until 4 yrs. ago so I've heard the sound change as the telecom system has grown.  At first it was like a thread of sound easy enough to drown out with a fan at night so I could sleep, but now it has become so dense I get woke up even with the fan on.  It feels like its aggravation my eighth cranial nerve and my doctor thinks so also.
This is what I've come to know about the way we hear it.  Why we can't block it out with ear plugs.  ( thier is an article on PUBMED by J.C. Lin) it gives a physical explaination for this phenom.  The electromagnetic waves are vibrating our inner ear. 
I think The vibrations are effecting the sensory neurons and nerve endings and thats why some of us don't feel well, our sense of balance even has it's beginning in our inner ears.
I would really like to know what other hum hears think about this, because I feel like I am being totured.  I'm worried that children are being totured too and they can not speak for themselves.  Thank you in advance if you've read this.  Please think about a response I would like to know what you think.

[Dave Exxon]

Having posted first on this forum back in October 2008, the 'hum' seemed to subside but in the last 3 weeks it has increased considerably in intensity, to the point where I got in the car and drove a mile away at 3am to see if I could get rid of it- it didn't go! I therefore draw the conclusion that it is either in my head or something is causing the reverberation which registers as sound in my head (it certainly sounds very real and drives me mad). I have started having an MP3 player at the side of my bed so I can drown it out when I wake up in the early hours of the morning. However, I do remain reassured that others seem to experience exactly the same sensation and much as I wouldn't wish this on anybody, it is nice to know I am not alone.

[mountain_hi]

What a relief to know I'm not alone!  I started to hear this low frequency droning about 6 months ago, after I moved to a small cabin in a rural area of BC, elevation about 3000 ft.  It has been most noticeable on winter nights when I'm trying to go to sleep.  I asked around if there was a mine or mill nearby that would be running at night, but I don't think that's it.  I'm near a highway with power and phone lines, but this droning is like standing under main transmisson towers with lines that are humming, and it feels like it is penetrating my skull.
After reading the other posts, I'm wondering if it's because the air is cluttered with so many waves and signals, more all the time, and that some of us just can't ignore them, while others can.... Funny, I moved here from the middle of a city, and I didn't notice it there.  And I don't hear it outside. Only in this cabin.  For awhile, I thought it was faulty wiring.  I hope for all our sakes it isn't a health hazard.

[Buzzz]

I also hear the humming motor sounds like most of the people talk about in their posts.  I'm sure I know what causes it.  The sound gets louder the longer I'm cooped up in the house.  Three day weekends at home almost guarantees that the sound will start.  The more quiet the background noise is the louder the motor sounds.  It would be interesting to see how many of you have cats or dogs.  I blame it on the cat's or possibly the dog's dandruff. My wife can't hear it either.  I just think my sensitivity is higher than hers.

[Dale Mahalko]

What you are describing is technically referred to as INFRASOUND, which are extremely low frequency sound waves normally below the hearing range of most humans. The fact that you can hear it is why we say "most" cannot. Devices that work with infrasound are called INFRASONIC.

,

Elephants communicate using infrasound, and it is not normally audible to humans. There are research projects involving this. Here's a page that lists some recording methods:

The Elephant Listening Project
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BRP/elephant/ELPFAQ.html

,

Volcanoes produce infrasound deep underground as gas pockets form in magma and the ground shifts around. Scientists want to listen to these events and have developed recording methods.

Infrasonic Microphones: The following is a list of low-frequency microphones purchased or custom built for deployment at volcanoes
http://volcanomodels.sr.unh.edu/jbj/MICROPHONES/microphone_list.html

,

Really low frequencies are often felt rather than heard. Get yourself a high wattage car stereo system with 12-inch speaker cones, some throbbing techno music, put in some foam ear plugs, and turn up the volume. You will "feel" the thumping bass in your intestines and digestive system.

,

Tracking down the source of your noise is possible using the microphones suggested in the elephant and volcano page, by attaching the microphone to an oscillioscope or spectrometer. A standard laptop PC can function as a spectrometer with the right software, and recording sound through the line-in/mic-in jack.

There are a variety of spectrogram programs available, some free and some for low cost:
 
http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Software/Spectrum_analyzers/

,

Though an infrasonic-capable microphone itself may be way WAY more expensive than this software.

Earthworks QTC-50 High Definition Microphone -- 3 Hz to 50,000 Hz
http://www.earthworksaudio.com/6.html

Hold onto your hat. This ultra-precision microphone costs around $1,500 !!!

Sweetwater Music Intruments and Pro Audio - Earthworks QTC50
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QTC50/


I suppose if there are people sufficiently annoyed by low-frequencies, a rental program could be set up where people can rent the microphone and laptop, track down their noises, and send the hardware back to the owner by mail. ($2000 deposit for laptop and mic required..)

- Dale Mahalko

[Dale Mahalko]

Also in addition, there is a special type of vibration produced when two vibrations operate very close but not at exactly matching rates. This produces a third vibration that is the difference between the two, known as the BEAT FREQUENCY. Here is a video showing how this works and what it sounds like with normal audible sound:

Youtube: Beat Frequency
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hxQDAmdNWE

Beat frequencies can occur between large fans spinning at low speeds in ventilation ducts, resulting in a low-frequency sound rippling through the ductwork to rooms nearby.

,

Very low frequency sounds often tend to appear to be coming from all directions, and it is difficult to determine the source of the sound. This is the reason for the existence of "satellite and subwoofer" speaker systems. Because the lower frequencies are not as directional, it is possible to use only one audio source for the lower-end sound production.

An omnidirectional microphone tends to listen equally well in all directions, so pointing the microphone in any particular direction should not change the intensity measurement too much. However an omni can be used to located the source of a noise simply by walking around with the microphone. The sound may seem to be coming from nowhere in particular, but its intensity will increase or decrease as the microphone is physically moved closer or further away.

If the sound source is coming from heating ductwork for example, there will be a small rise in signal intensity anytime the microphone is brought near an air duct.

- Dale Mahalko

[Eren]

I hear the hum almost every night, and turns out my dad also heard it at some point, because he asked "what's that humming noise". He has an uncanny good hearing though...

PS

Maybe the reason why only some people hear it is because they are more sensitive to infrasound? Maybe that's why not everyone can hear it, and it would also explain the "weird" feelings people get from the hum.

[mingo]

I've been a hum hearer for years, the oscillating pitch with a beat frequency that fills the air, is it A 440? Anyway, lately I have 2 friends that also hear it; it is so nice to know that it really is there, at least for some of us. Strangely, all 3 of us heard the hum growing in volume and intensity through last Monday, when it was screamingly loud, all day long and of course terrible that night. But by Tuesday afternoon, the hum had completely disappeared. Today is Saturday and I hear the very very lightest hum floating in the air.
Is it a coincidence that the hum got super loud just before the Haiti earthquake? Is this all HAARP? Or is it the volcano? (We all 3 live on the island of Hawaii)
Aloha,
-mingo

[Ryan]

This is fascinating.  I have a feeling that some of the mystery might be that different things are going on for different people, such as tinnitus, and so making it difficult to track down 'one cause' for it becomes elusive. (note: the skeptoid link below suggests the same thing, that there probably is no "THE hum")

one of the theoretical explanations I saw was the sound of blood in the person's own veins.  To test this it might be simple enough to see what it sounds like before and after exercising, if the intensity or frequency changes.  I've noticed a 'squishing' noise after exercising, when standing facing a wall about 1-2' away, with my mouth slightly open, but I didn't hear it unless the wall was reflecting the sound back to me.

Another factor is that people are not all sensitive to the same frequency ranges.  I was describing a high pitched noise I heard from an electronically controlled light to a friend who couldn't hear it, but I'd already known that not everyone can hear the same frequencies since I was a kid, because my parents couldn't hear the television making the same kind of high-pitched noise.  I'm sure that low frequencies would be the same for people.  Actually, when I was in high school there was a science room where very often when I walked by a certain place in the room, i would have a sudden, strange ringing feeling in my head, and I felt maybe like I could easily faint if I stayed there long.  I've had it in other buildings as well, every so often.

In my room I hear all sorts of humming noises, but none persistent and most or all go away with a pair of headphones.  If the noise remains with earplugs, it must be something altogether different.  It would be a good experiment for those who hear it in their house, to turn off EVERYTHING electrical within their house.

For someone like Mingo, and the two others who experienced the same sensation, it sounds like it very well could be another explanation such as geo activity.  You might want to travel together to get an idea of where the sound follows you.

Some interesting links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8056284.stm
there is supposedly a recording of the hum there, but it didn't play for me.

But, this site has what must be the same recording with a caveat that it might not play from certain speakers.  There is a lot of good information here:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4090

[HumBugged]

Me too.

Started hearing it the evening of Jan. 19, 2010.

Did the unplugging this and that routine.

It is not head noise, i.e. tinnitus, as I have had that in the left ear off and on for some decades.
Not head noise in the conventional sense anyway.

And the house appeared to be an amplifier, speaker system.

I drove through the neighborhood yesterday, stopping my vehicle and shutting off the engine to attempt to get some bearing, and by evening thought I'd isolated a general area of source, some type of machine I could hear way off in the woods in a particular direction, that has I got further from, could hear it transform into the hum, with an ever fainter motor underneath as distance increased.

I did call the local government's environmental services. I wound up talking to someone who said the neck of the woods (literally) was state property, as in Federal, and he wasn't authorized to go there. That we would need a four wheel drive if we did and even then we would have a heck of time tracking it down to source.

He conjectured that it might be part of a military program.

The hum is gone now, as of the most recent edit of this post... I had posted in the morning when I thought I had it wired as to exactly what it is. It did appear as if someone was throwing a switch, as it did stop for a very short bit from Tuesday to earlier today, Friday..

Splitting headache (which as of this edit I am just starting to get over), and nausea. I did puke the first night.
Relatively sleepless nights. Maybe 2 hours Tuesday night, 3 Wednesday. Last night, Thursday, I dosed heavily on night time cold caps and benadryl, engaged SereneSound, a masking program freebie I found on the net, re-oriented how I was sleeping, with the speakers directed at my head.
I got about 4 1/2 hours sleep. The masking did not cover it up, but I focused on the sounds rather than the hum, and the meds helped with the rest.

I have lost 4 pounds, having eaten half a subway sandwich in the period mentioned, and water consumption way down as well.

My wife, who has had some damage to her hearing as a child and is not particularly sensitive in some respects, could not hear it.

It is highly likely that I am one of the few who could.

I am attempting to recuperate as I write this.

There are some other rather odd things going on with this.

I'm trying to get to the bottom of just what the heck happened.

I have no sure answers.

Found this site Tuesday night.

Decided to post.