UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN

The noise usually started later at night, between 10 and 11 p.m. My first clue that something unusual was happening came with the realization that the sound didn’t fade away, like plane noises typically do. And the slightest ambient noise – exhaling audibly, even turning my head quickly – caused it to momentarily stop. One night after the sound started I stepped outside the house. Nothing.

I was the only person in the house who could hear it; my family said they didn’t know what I was talking about.

Naturally, I assumed something in the house was the culprit, and I searched for the source in vain. I even ended up cutting the power to the entire house. The sound got louder.

While I couldn’t hear the sound outdoors, I could still hear it in my car at night with the windows closed and the ignition off. I drove for miles in every direction, and it was still there in the background when I stopped the car. I was able to rule out obvious sources: industrial activity, marine traffic, electric substations and highway noise.

When I searched on the internet for “unusual low-frequency humming noise,” I soon realized that others had conducted the same search. I was part of the small fraction of people who can hear what is called the “Worldwide Hum” or, simply, the “Hum.”

^{A really, really, big hummingbird?}

^{Keneva Photography/Shutterstock}

The questions motivating me and thousands of others were the same: “What’s causing this? Can it be stopped?”

One Geoscientist’s Theory

The classic description of the Hum is that it sounds like a truck engine idling. For some, it’s a distant rumbling or droning noise. It can start and stop suddenly or wax and wane over time. For others, the Hum is loud, relentless and life-altering.

I eventually came across one of the few serious papers on the topic. It was written in 2004 by geoscientist David Deming (who’s also a Hum hearer).

Deming began by describing the standard history: The Hum was first documented in the late 1960s, around Bristol, England. It first appeared in the United States in the late 1980s, in Taos, New Mexico.

He then examined the competing hypotheses for the source of the Hum. Many have pointed to the electric grid or cellphone towers. But this theory is dismissed on two grounds: cellphones didn’t exist in the 1960s, and the frequency emitted by both cell towers and the electric grid can be easily blocked by metal enclosures.

He wondered whether mass hysteria was to blame, a psychological phenomenon in which rumor and “collective delusions” lead to the appearance of physical ailments for which there’s no medical explanation. The fact that so many people have researched the Hum on their own, using a search engine – rather than hearing about it from some other person – moves the conversation away from delusion and hysteria spread by word of mouth.

^{Some have dismissed cellphone towers as a potential source.}

^{'Cell Towers' via www.shutterstock.com}

Deming looked at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), an isolated military compound in Alaska that uses radio waves to study outer space and for testing advanced communication techniques – and a favorite focus of conspiracy theorists, who have accused the facility of acts ranging from mind control to weather control. He studied the possibility of otoacoustic emissions, which are naturally occurring sounds caused by the vibration of hair cells in the ear.

Deming eventually fingered Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves (between 3 kHz and 30 kHz) as the most likely culprit. The world’s military powers use massive land-based and airborne transmitters on these frequencies in order to communicate with submerged submarines. Radio waves at these frequencies can penetrate up to a solid inch of aluminum.

In the paper, Deming proposes a simple and elegant experiment for testing this hypothesis. Hum hearers randomly enter three identical-looking boxes. The first box blocks VLF radio signals, the second box is an anechoic (soundproof) chamber and the third box is the control.

He left the experiment for others to pursue, and while there are some practical difficulties with the design, Deming’s overall concept has motivated the experiments I am currently conducting.

A Disciplined Inquiry Begins

A plethora of pseudoscience and wild conspiracy theories has the potential to drown out the serious work in this area. I’ve encountered seemingly serious people who have argued that the Hum is caused by tunneling under the earth, the electronic targeting of specific individuals, aliens and mating fish.

^{Aliens, obviously.}

^{Esteban De Armas/Shutterstock}

Given the need for disciplined inquiry into the phenomenon, in late 2012 I started The World Hum Map and Database Project. The database gathers, documents and maps detailed and anonymous information from people who can hear the Hum. It provides raw data for research in a strictly moderated and serious forum for research and commentary, while providing a sense of community for people whose lives have been negatively affected by the Hum.

Most people have some experience with how disruptive some types of noises can be, which is why there are often noise ordinances in many cities and towns, especially at night. There are many sufferers who dread the nighttime because of how loud and relentless the Hum can be. The Hum database is replete with descriptions of desperate people who have been tormented by the noise for years. The phrase “driving me crazy” is all too common. (I feel fortunate that, in my case, the Hum is more of a curiosity than it is an irritant.)

The project also aims to validate and normalize the phenomenon by discussing it alongside other widely reported auditory phenomena, such as tinnitus, a relatively common medical condition that causes people to hear high-pitched squealing tones. Those who experience tinnitus and also the Hum report the two as being completely different in character.

The latest update of the Hum Map, from June 6, presents roughly 10,000 map and data points, and we’ve already made some notable findings.

For example, we’ve found that the mean and median age of Hum hearers is 40.5 years, and 55 percent of hearers are men. This goes against the widely repeated theory that the Hum mainly affects middle-aged and older women.

Interestingly, there are eight times as many ambidextrous people among hearers as there are in the general population. As more data are collected from Hum hearers, I hope that specialists in demographics and inferential statistics will be able to generate more detailed results.

The Goals Of The Research

The historical record of the Hum is crucial, because if the current version as narrated by Deming is correct, many theories can immediately be ruled out. After all, cellphones and HAARP didn’t exist until decades after the Worldwide Hum was first documented in England in the late 1960s. I currently have a researcher digging into the Times of London digital archive to search for mentions of the Hum going back to the 18th and 19th centuries. If convincing examples are found, then the direction of my research will shift dramatically because all modern technologies could be ruled out.

In my view, there are currently four hypotheses for the source of the world Hum that survive the most superficial scrutiny.

The first hypothesis – argued by Deming and the one I’m currently pursuing – is that the Hum is rooted in Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio transmissions. It’s increasingly accepted now that the human body will sometimes experience electromagnetic (EM) energy and interpret it in a way that creates sounds. This was established for high-frequency EM energy by the American neuroscientist Alan Frey in his infamous “microwave hearing” experiments, which showed that certain radio frequencies can actually be heard as sounds.

Today, there are biophysical models that predict and explain the impact VLF EM energy has on living tissue. I have designed and built a VLF radio blocking box that should be able to test whether VLF radio frequencies are a prerequisite for generating the Hum.

The second hypothesis is that the Hum is the grand accumulation of low-frequency sound and human-generated infrasound (sounds with audio frequencies below roughly 20 Hz and which can be felt more than they can be heard). This includes everything from highway noise to all manner of industrial activity.

The third is that the Hum is a terrestrial or geological phenomenon that generates low-frequency sounds or perceptions of those sounds. For example, there is a well-documented history of animals predicting earthquakes and taking action to save themselves. From an evolutionary perspective, there may be survival value in having members of a population highly sensitive to some types of vibrations. When it comes to the Hum, some humans may have a similar physiological mechanism in place.

The fourth is that the Hum is an internally generated phenomenon, perhaps rooted in a particular anatomical variation, genetic predisposition or the result of toxicity and medication.

^{Is machinery the cause? Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock}

The Hum is now the subject of serious media coverage and, increasingly, scientific scrutiny. The overall goal of my project and the people who contribute to it is to find the source of the Hum and, if possible, stop it.

If the Hum is man-made, then my task is to raise public awareness and advocate turning away from the technologies that are causing it. If the source is exogenous and natural, there’s the possibility that there may be no escape from it, apart from masking it with background sounds.

Of course there is the remote possibility that one of the more exotic explanations will prove to be correct. But, as in all science, it seems best to start with what we know and is plausible, as opposed to what we don’t know and is implausible.

Glen MacPherson, Lecturer, University of British Columbia

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Our world is a noisy place. Everywhere we go there is a veritable cacophony of noise pervading our surroundings, ranging from the sound of civilization, with its factories, construction, airplanes, and myriad vehicles with their roaring engines and speaking their language of honks and beeps, to the natural sounds of the wind, animals, and the earth’s various activities. Even in the realm of things we cannot physically hear there is noise, with the atmosphere saturated by all manner of low-frequency sounds both artificial and natural, as well as the countless waves and transmissions that give us our radio, TV shows, satellite information, and cell phone usage. Yet even beyond this there seems to be something more creeping about in the background, some ill-defined and persistent noise that only some can hear and which remains unexplained.

What has come to be mostly referred to as simply “The Hum,” or sometimes “The Worldwide Hum,” is a blanket term for a series of mysterious, inexplicable auditory phenomena that has emerged all across the world, and which typically entails a low frequency, persistent bass droning or rumbling noise, heard both indoors and outdoors and with no readily identifiable source or origin. It has been described as sounding like different things by different people, but a common description is that it sounds rather like an idling truck or industrial fan, and can vary in intensity from a general low bass background grumble to an invasive, ear piercing symphony of noise, depending on the person and location. This hum is most typically reported from rural or sparsely populated areas, but not always, and it is usually most noticeable in the evening hours, although this also depends on the person hearing it.

It is difficult to track down just when the phenomenon started, but it has apparently been around since at least the 1940s, when hundreds of people in the London and Southampton areas of Great Britain complained of a noticeable drone, and probably since much earlier. The 1950s and 1960s also saw the hum become widely publicized in the news and entering the public consciousness with various other reports from all over Great Britain, and in the 1970s there was a veritable media circus over the odd, persistent sound in Bristol, England, where complaints flooded in when many residents reported hearing it. The phenomenon would continue in Great Britain into the 1980s, where it was widely heard by residents in Largs, Scotland, a coastal town about 31 km west of Glasgow.

The Hum made perhaps its most famous debut in North America in 1992, when people in and around the town of Taos, New Mexico, began to report the sound, which has since become known as the “Taos Hum” and is probably the most well-known location for the phenomenon. The Hum also appeared in the United States in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1999, where it seems to have had a particularly potent effect, allegedly causing various negative physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and joint pain, to the point that many who heard it purportedly moved away to escape it. An in-depth investigation into the source of the Kokomo Hum by the Board of Public Works and Safety could not determine exactly what caused it. In the years since, the Hum has gone on to be reported from numerous other locations from all over the world, in such far-flung places as Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico, among others, to the point where an attempt to chart the phenomena, called The World Hum Database and Mapping Project, was launched in 2012, containing a huge database of hum reports and locations all over the planet.

The hum phenomenon cannot be heard by everyone, and it has been estimated through studies in the U.S. and Great Britain that only about 2 percent of the population are actually susceptible to it, both male and female and usually those of middle age or older. For those who do hear it, often referred to as “Hummers,” the description of the hum is often very similar, and it is claimed that earplugs do nothing to stop the relentless drone or reduce its volume in any way. Although the description of the sound itself is mostly consistent, the situations in which these people can hear the sound can vary, for instance with some hearing it more often indoors while others are more prone to picking it up outdoors, and some hearing it more at night while others are affected only during the day. The volume and intensity of the Hum can vary between individuals as well, with some only faintly picking it up as an annoying but harmless static of sorts, while for others it can be absolutely blaring and some even reporting feeling it vibrate through their bodies or homes.

For the people who are very sensitive to the noise, it can supposedly be a deeply unsettling, life-altering experience; a nightmare in a sense. It can apparently cause a wealth of symptoms, ranging from ear pain, headaches, nosebleeds, and nausea, to more debilitating problems such as fainting or chronic pain in various parts of the body. It also allegedly alters emotional states, causes memory loss, impaired speech, and diminishes overall energy levels. The Hum has caused people to do drastic things, like sell their homes and move away, quit their jobs, spiral into depression, and in some extreme cases has even driven people to suicide. One sufferer named Hugh Witherington began to hear the Hum upon moving away from his home of London, England, to the quiet countryside of Hertfordshire, and has been continuously terrorized by it ever since, explaining it thus:

It sounded like a lorry had stopped outside my window and left its engine idling. No amount of exposure ever gets me used to it. It stops me from thinking, even now. I cannot accept it.

Another example of a sufferer whose life has been deeply affected by The Hum, 46-year-old Rosemarie Mann, of Romsey, England, claims that she is so plagued by the potent and nonstop noise that it has profoundly changed her life in the worst of ways. She says that it had dragged her down into depression, for which she now takes medication, diminished her will to live, and has strained her marriage. It is something she has to wrestle with every day, and she has said of the harrowing experience:

I can only describe it as a kind of torture. For the first few years I lost sleep, couldn’t concentrate and was unable to do anything. I was constantly in tears, which put a great strain on my husband. It has changed me from an active, creative person to a stifled, angry pessimist. The Hum still has a terrible draining effect. It is the invasiveness and relentlessness of the noise and having no understanding or control of it which makes it so distressing.

There have been numerous theories on what The Hum could be, ranging from the rational to the truly outlandish. One of the simplest explanations that has been offered is that these people are suffering from a fairly common condition called tinnitus, which is a perceived noise or ringing in the ears with no external cause and which can be caused by factors as varied as noise induced deafness, ear infections, head injuries, or mental conditions such as emotional stress or depression. The problem with this is that Hummers are adamant that the noise is produced externally, also saying that it is a much different sound than tinnitus, and furthermore the hum seems to be generally heard in clusters tied to certain locations.

Similar to this theory is that The Hum could be the result of various internal physical or mental causes which are causing some sort of auditory hallucinations, or perhaps it is caused by medication or toxins. The hum has also been speculated to perhaps be the result of sudden noises generated by our own inner ears, called “spontaneous otoacoustic emissions.” It has also been suggested that the hum is merely all in these people’s heads and that it is a combination of over-imagining and mass hysteria or mass delusion fueled by the Internet. In this scenario, these people are just imagining it all, or are having their senses and perceptions colored by what they have read about the mysterious Worldwide Hum.

There is also the widespread idea that The Hum is caused by some mechanical source, such as cooling towers, industrial plants, ventilator fans, generators, and so on. While this may be true in some cases, and has even been shown as such in some instances, in others The Hum has persisted even when such factors were eliminated, and additionally in many cases the sound has not been successfully tracked down to any particular mechanical source. Another manmade potential cause for The Hum put forward has been electrical grids or cell phone towers, but even if these are the origin in some more modern cases, cell towers were not around when the hum phenomenon started taking off. Also, even if the cause is somehow mechanical in nature it still does not explain why only a small percentage of human beings even seem to be affected by the hum, and to varying degrees.

Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio transmissions (between 3 kHz and 30 kHz), could also be the answer to the phenomenon, especially as it has been surmised that the human body can sometimes register electromagnetic waves as actual sounds. It could also be the result of any number of low or ultra-low frequency sounds or infrasound, those just on the threshold of human hearing, either human generated or by natural phenomena such as earthquakes or other seismic activity, and volcanic or tectonic plate activity, as well as pressure waves reverberating across the seafloor. Another natural source that has been proposed is that the sound is caused by the mating calls of certain species of fish, but in most cases any significant drone caused by this requires a boat hull to amplify it, and it has been argued that these sounds on their own would be insufficient to be a convincing candidate. With any of these explanations, we are still faced with the apparent fact that only some people can hear it.

If there is such a mundane cause for The Hum, then it seems fairly clear that whatever it is mostly likely stems from a combination of all of these, depending on the person, place, and the situation, with no one theory fitting every case. Of course with a phenomenon as mysterious and still largely unexplained as The Hum, there are certainly more far-out theories floating around as well. For some The Hum is indicative of a deep dark, government conspiracy complete with secret, shadowy experiments, mind-control devices, and cover-ups. Some have suggested that it is even a secret weapon utilizing focused ultra-low frequency waves and perched upon a satellite, which can beam down to target individuals or groups of people. For others it is the result of someone or something tunneling through the earth. There are also, of course, aliens. Why not? Still others claim that this is just something that originates in forces that currently lie outside of our understanding, but which we may someday fathom.

One of the problems posing an obstacle to coming to any real answers with the Worldwide Hum is that there have only been a handful of people who have ever tried to seriously study it, and those who have claimed to have experienced it are still largely dismissed and thought to be just “hearing things,” even as the number of reports and complaints from such people has been steadily increasing in recent years. Those who have looked into the problem with open eyes have been unable to come to a clear conclusion that can totally explain the breadth of the phenomenon. They simply don’t know what causes it or why it happens. It seems to be for now a strange phenomenon that is doomed to be just an anomaly that we may never fully understand, and that those who hear it will most likely just have to deal with it, to live with the incessant drone echoing through their head, possibly without ever knowing just exactly what it is they are hearing.

What is at the heart of the Worldwide Hum phenomena? Is this the result of artificial or natural frequencies or phenomena that some people are just more inclined to be sensitive to, or maybe some effect that we have yet to come to a clear understanding of? Is it some sort of radio waves or electromagnetic or sonic interference? Is it secret government experiments or weapons, aliens, or something more paranormal in nature? Perhaps at some point we will have more of an idea of what lies behind this strange background noise that seems to permeate some locations throughout the world and unravel its mysteries, but until then it will rumble on with its origin and purpose unknown.