The Hum
When it happens, I am usually sitting quietly in the evening and reading; at least that’s when it bothers me most. It can happen any time of day but it is most bothersome when I’m relaxed. I am only aware of my discomfort when I get the faintest indications that I am hearing a long period, slowly pulsating sound from some undefinable source. The sound gets slightly louder until it is on the lower limit of audibility, and then it begins to decrease in volume. It is inaudible in the beginning but its unheard presence causes me to feel anxiety to the point where I am distracted and feeling increasingly apprehensive for no apparent reason.
Others present do not hear it, even when I point out the peak of the pulsation. Being told I was imagining things grew tiresome, so I stopped mentioning it
Imagine standing next to the large metal box containing a power transformer; the kind that supplies electricity to large buildings. You can both hear the steady hum and feel the vibrations caused by the constantly rising and collapsing electrical field through the iron core of the transformer.
The hum is like that except that it is much lower in frequency so it cannot be heard but still causes the vibrations inside my body. It also slowly pulses like a sine wave from inaudibility up to being barely audible to me over about two minutes and then fades away, although the inner discomfort seems to remain steady for the duration that may be from ten minutes to an hour.
It happens any time of year, maybe once every couple of months (unless it happens when I am up and about doing something physical and it is too weak for me to notice it then). When it does occur, it also seems to happen multiple times over a few days or weeks
A few years ago, I finally researched “mysterious low frequency sound” and the first hit had full details. At least I’m not losing my collective marbles, because tens of thousands of others, worldwide, hear the same hum! Since the first real name given to the sound was The Taos Hum, I’ll go with that.
So many people in Taos, New Mexico were bothered by the sound, they got national attention and even had an investigation to determine the source. The official results were: “Yes you probably hear something, and no, we don’t know what it is.
After reviewing a lot more references, investigation results, audios, videos interviewing others who have heard it, there is no doubt that it is authentic, at least to the 2 to 8 percent of the population who admit that they hear the hum. By far, the most commonly reported hearings are when victims are indoors, in the evenings. Beginning in the 1970s, It has since been heard all over the world from Bristol to Borneo, with about equal frequency everywhere. It is so pervasive, it has been renamed The World Hum.
There are several videos on YouTube with the sounds recorded using special sensors to capture the 17 hertz sound and manipulate the audio to increase it in frequency up to the human hearing range. When I heard the first one, I got goosebumps because that is exactly the sound I hear! At its cyclical peak, it is just at the low threshold of my hearing and, when present, always makes me feel apprehensive and then very nervous. It’s like a distant, heavy transformer that has a low, pulsating harmonic that raises it barely up to audibility before lowering in frequency again. The sound triggers the emotional reaction first and is followed by hearing it if I’m sitting quietly.
And thank all you investigators who have each proven conclusively beyond a probable doubt that it is either: my imagination, the surf rubbing against the coast of California, a nearby truck engine, the surf rubbing along the European Atlantic coastline. traffic sounds, communications from submarines, tectonic plate shift, the geomagnetic field of the earth, tinnitus, a list of UFO/HAARP causes, or because I’m superhuman.
My own theory is that none of those theories are correct.
Enough people are concerned enough that there is a web site that has over 7,000 data points where people have heard the sound and what the conditions were. Check http://thehum.info for more information.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio
That's really cool but also sounds very annoying. At least I know what causes my tinnitis. Hadn't heard about this, thanks for taking the time of doing a great write up!
The first indication I have is that I'm annoyed and apprehensive, just before hearing the sound. Whatever it is, is real.
Bugger me, you know what causes your tinnitus? What? Mine is really bad at the time. It drives me nuts!
Tinnitus is usually caused by damage to or pressure on the auditory nerve. Mine would trace back to explosions that went off near to my head in the war, but you can get tinnitus even by repeated exposure to loud sounds.