Anyone on here ever experience 'The Hum'?

[TrickyDickie]

Here is a background article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

This was first brought to my attention in a newspaper article a couple of weeks ago.

When I read the newspaper article, I realized that I had experienced the phenomenon.

Prior to 2005, I was living in upstate NY. Our old house was out in the country, about 7 miles from the nearest town. Less as the crow flies, of course. The front of the house faced north and there was a fairly steep ridge about 500 yards from the house.

Beginning in the late 90s or circa 2000 I recall what sounded at the time like the idling diesel engine type of sound. It was only audible inside, not outside. And only on the north side of the house. It was more prominent upstairs than downstairs. It was strong enough to vibrate the windows in the upstairs front bedroom, so it was definitely not an ear problem. It seemed to start around mid-morning and go on through the afternoon. I don't recall hearing it in the hours of darkness, but I can't be certain because it's been a while. If memory serves, it was most prominent in late winter.

At the time, I did a lot of searching in an attempt to track down the source of the sound. I went miles in every direction and came up with nothing.

I eventually chalked it up to a diesel engine somewhere that I just couldn't find. When I moved out of the state in 2005, I forgot all about it. The newspaper article was quite a surprise.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

I heard the "hum" once, but I tracked it down to a yoga class given out on the quad.

I sometimes wonder if these hums are caused by interference of radio waves resonating in the human skull. Sounds crazy but microwaves have been shown to be audible in humans and animals. The microwave frequency is far beyond human hearing, so there has to be some type of interference or demodulation phenomena happening.

 

[TrickyDickie]

When the windows vibrated, they could be heard but you could also see them moving because it was that strong. You could also put a hand on them and feel the vibration.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

When you searched for the source, did you find vibrations away from your house? Also were there any high voltage transmission lines on your property?

 

[TrickyDickie]

When you searched for the source, did you find vibrations away from your house? Also were there any high voltage transmission lines on your property?

No to both. In fact, there were no high voltage transmission lines anywhere close.

 

[Steven P Bastien]

I once built a room in my garage for recording music. The garage was a separate building and I built an elevated floor, thinking that it would help isolate sounds. But, this turned out to be a mistake because the floor acted like a huge drum and it would pick up low frequency sound from far distances. It was nothing like the distances you are talking, but far away trucks and doors closing in my house (again not attached to the garage) would be audible in recordings and even with my ears.

All I can think (and this is just a huge guess) is that your house (wall or window) had a resonance peak that could pick up the low frequency sounds that can travel long distances in the ground.

But, wow it's amazing with the distances you mention.

 

[TrickyDickie]

All I can think (and this is just a huge guess) is that your house (wall or window) had a resonance peak that could pick up the low frequency sounds that can travel long distances in the ground.

But, wow it's amazing with the distances you mention.

In the ground....that gets me to thinking. Because the sound was more prominent upstairs than downstairs, I doubted that the sound was coming through the ground. But now I am wondering if it is like a tuning fork....the downstairs is closer to the ground and point of origin and the upstairs is closer to the top of the roof and open air, like the very ends of the tuning fork, so the vibration is more prominent upstairs. Because a tuning fork vibrates the most out near the ends of the prongs, correct? It's been quite a long time since I dealt with tuning forks in school.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Could it be caused by wind blowing across a hilly landscape similar to Helmholtz resonance?

 

[Steven P Bastien]

The tuning fork idea is exactly what I was alluding to with the idea of a "resonance", so I think this makes sense. Just like I made a drum out of my floor, your structure could have similar modes of oscillation.

Also, the idea of the wind driving is much more reasonable than an engine miles away. It makes sense not only because that can be a very effective energy source, but it also seems to jibe with the times of day and times of year you mentioned.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Could it be caused by wind blowing across a hilly landscape similar to Helmholtz resonance?

I don't know about 'the hum' elsewhere, but what I heard was a constant, steady pulsation....throbbing vibration....for hours at a time, like the description of the idling diesel engine. There was no coming up and fading out like what you get with wind.

Thanks for the reference, though....back in school when they taught us about tuning forks I don't recall them mentioning Helmholtz resonators. I just read an article and it was very interesting.

I'll return the favor by posting this video for anyone reading this thread who is unaware of these pedals. Just found out about them myself and it's amazing what they can do with sound.

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[Random_Spock]

Nope. But I heard about something like that via Unsolved Mysteries.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/E.L.F.

It was an interesting story.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Nope. But I heard about something like that via Unsolved Mysteries.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/E.L.F.

It was an interesting story.

Link is down.

 

[captainkirk]

I heard a kind of humming sound about ten years ago. It started in the middle of the night and lasted several minutes. It seemed to fade in, and then sounded like it was moving around my house several times before fading away again. My first thought was a distant helicopter, although it didn't have the same deep throbbing sound they make. I heard it a few more times in the following weeks, with my brother hearing it as well at least once, and then it stopped and I haven't heard it since. The most likely explanation is that it was a distant truck that eventually stopped travelling those roads, although it doesn't explain everything.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I'm convinced I heard it, from somewhere, that soundwaves can actually heat the air!

 

[Random_Spock]

Link is down.

Strange. It worked before.

Found an article via Wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

And one about Extremely Low Frequency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_low_frequency

 

[TrickyDickie]

And one about Extremely Low Frequency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_low_frequency

That is particularly interesting. Thanks.

That article got me to thinking about another odd thing. Prior to the 90s, in cold, dry weather, I would experience a fair amount of shocks from static electricity. From the 90s onward, it does not matter what the weather is or what type of shoes I wear or whatever. I have a very difficult time with car doors, the frames of doors on cold cases in grocery stores, etc. Often when I touch the metal there is quite a loud snap and it's rather painful.

Guess I must have an electric personality.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I frequently experience a very low-level electrical hum--similar to what you might initially hear if you turn on an old-fashioned tube TV or monitor screen from 25 years ago--but it's so soft that I tend to ignore it 98% of the time, and sometimes don't even notice it for days. Personally, I think it's just tinnitus.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I used to chalk it down to a very low frequency tinnitus. It's just at the threshold between vibration and sound. Then a friend who works in a seismic research station said that winds and drastic changes in air pressure can create infrasound and if coincidentially these soundwaves hit the resonance frequency of a wall one can hear this secondary vibration as a low humming. He says that this effect causes fake earthquake alarms on his equipment all the time.

So far I haven't been able to find a connection to the weather, though.
For the last 35 years have been sleeping with ear plugs. During the day I rarely can hear the hum as there is too much background noise.

 

[TrickyDickie]

The regularity that I experienced....as if on the same 'schedule' each day....suggested some sort of human activity somewhere, but I could never establish the where or what of it.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

The direction of low frequencies are very hard to locate for human ears Do you happen to have rats or hamster? They hear very far into infrasound range and can help you detect the direction. An elephant or blue whale would be even better but are not quite as handy

Have you checked on air condition yet? Particularly very large ducts such as in hospitals or shopping malls often have an unfortunate relation of diameter and air flux which leads to the air vibrating in them (like the hammering sound when you drive on a highway and have the window open). This causes low frequency sounds in a rather wide area, depending on the wind direction.
There's nothing you can do against it but the manager or janitor of the respective building might: a slight reduction of the air flow or a minor alteration in the ducts, a grid for example or a simple dent in one of the ducts, will shift the frequency or even stop the vibration completely.
Ear defenders (the ones steel workers, lumberjacks and road constructionn workers use) do an excellent job blocking these annoying low frequencies but one tends to sweat under them and they fit uncomfortably tight. Alternatively, you might try special silicone ear plugs made for use on shooting ranges - they take about 50 db off all frequencies under 2 kHz.