The HUM.... do you hear it?
 

My husband found this on BBC...He knows I have had The Hum
on and off for about 5 yrs.

I hear it mostly on vacation. We are isolated, no electricity there.
I always thought it was something coming over the water.
An engine or perhaps some generator at the light house.

But I have heard it at home, sometimes too.

Here is the article. For a while The Hum was in western USA, in
New Mexico or Arizona. I've never seen a story about The Hum in UK before.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8056284.stm

I have had two versions of The Hum... one note and two notes.
Since I have been using a nitrate drug to improve circulation and lower my blood pressure I have not heard it at home. The real test will be on vacation this year! I also hear it mostly at night. Rarely during the day when I am active.

now I am very very curious ;)

i think the link is wrong tho albeit the one you have in is for a very worthy cause :)

:hug:

Oh, GAK.... I thought I hit copy on that link...


I fixed it...Thanks Chemar!

Another aged moment! :p

(I met some really nice people yesterday while shopping at Lowe's,
WalMart and Costco). We had some nice senior moments. One lady helped me in the parking lot even! I guess I looked like I was in pain, and I was!

how interesting

I dont hear the hum always, but I know there are times when I am bothered by background noise, often while trying to sleep. I do sometimes even get up to check the source (sounds like a car idling but when I go outside...nada) Being here in Florida I often wondered if it is just the combined drone of multiple air conditioners but I hear it winter too, even when no heating even needed.

I came to the conclusion that it is likely electricity.

I do have super sensitive hearing

lol last night was no hum but as we are having heavy rains after months of drought, it was endless frog songs coming from our stream out back:cool:

Where I hear the hum there is no electricity. We are miles
from the shore.

I used to think it might be a frieighter engine...but those rumble.

This sound I hear is a hmmmmmmm--and it is somewhat melodious. One note like from an organ key left down. It is not high, not very low either. And sometimes it zooms up in pitch to another note a bit higher.
I've tried to "control" the pitch change, but I can't hold it for more than a short time say 30 sec. So I came to the conclusion that it is in my head. I thought maybe blood pressure related.
BP comes down at night.

I started the nitrate in October last year when we got back. No hum at home since then. But I never had it here much, anyway.

Sounds carry over the water quite a distance...and my husband can hear the freighters coming long before I do. So I don't think they are the source. Each has a different type of engine.

I really don't think about it much, past the first time I heard it.
Kevin and I were alone that summer, so it must have been more than 5 yrs come to think. He didn't hear anything, and he has perfect pitch. It was disturbing that first season I'll admit. I can screen out sensory things with autohypnosis, so I just learned to do that. I am not freaked by it, like the woman in the link.

I think it is interesting that more people are reporting it. I thought it was a New Mexico thing. :Dunno:

I have super sensitive hearing , and can hear if the cable box has been left turned on at night, in the living room, from my bed. We now use surge protectors that we flip the switch and cut all power to the electronics in the house before going to bed. its amazing how far our power bill fell when we started UNplugging or switching the power off to things we are not currently using. A hum in a power free zone would make me batty.

:confused:
What is the difference between a "hum" and "ringing in the ears?"
Thank you.

This is a good question.

I have some nerve damage in my left ear, and it has tinnitus which varies during the day. This is a high pitched sound like
static you might hear from a microphone that was not working correctly.

The hum is a global sound in my head, it overpowers the hiss in my right ear and feels like a REAL sound. For me it is like a choral group singing a one note hum. It feels somewhat musical to me. (not like the description from the link I gave).
And sometimes it changes pitch by one note, but not always.
I hear it mostly at our very quiet home up North. We live on
rock...limestone rock...and when it started for me, I thought it was coming up thru the stone. Like a vibration, more than a sound. It also had a distant quality, but was pretty loud.

I've only heard it here a few times, not often.
For me it is not everyday, or constant. But it is WEIRD.

Hmmmmmmm Just what I hear :) Nothing like the hums people have reported around the world, that sounds like an idling diesel engine, mine is a hum in the lower octave but not real low.. I also have sever tinnitus in both ears..

The strange part is it is mostly in my right ear, The one that does not have a hearing bone in it, so there is no way for outside sounds to get to the hearing nerve... And it almost vibrates. When I first noticed it, I went around the house looking for the source, even holding my hands on the walls and floors to see if I Could feel it.

Its really weird, no else hears it, and I can hear it almost everywhere I go..Sometimes Louder than others, like right now it is loud, but so is the ringing, which gets louder with some meds.. and it does fluctuate in intensity and tone, tone only a little.

I place the sound as being like a lawnmower or something like it , far in the distance and I am waiting for the SOB to turn it off...:eek:

:)
 

I was about 5 years old, at that time i was in Europe and my country was in the middle of a war. The year was 1992 to 1994. Where i used to live it was a small village and behind the house there was a little hill and behind the hill was woods all around. I am not sure what else was behind those woods we were never allowed to go there it was way too far. Everyday i used to go up on that little hill and watch the sunset, it was my way of day dreaming as a little girl and wish to have a life like kids on TV. That was my time and i would just sit there and enjoy! That's when i heard the humming noise, so i asked my dad what it was he told me he didn't hear anything. It was kind of scary for me, it felt like the aliens from war of the worlds were coming out of the ground!!!! I was about 6 years old at that time i didn't know any better. Anyway, the noise continued and i was really wondering what it was, because it felt so strange and it was so scary for me to hear something like that. Also, it was war and a lot of things were happening and i've seen a lot of strange things that are unexplained in this world, my believe is i'd rather not know if it's something beyond our human explanation! Sometimes leaving well enough alone is the best answer, believe me i'm telling you from the strange experiences and seeing things that will never be clear to me and hearing things that are not clear to us. I think it's just not meant for us to know! All we should know is that we are not alone experiencing this and that's all what is to it nothing else, we are not crazy we just have a special sensitivity to certain things. Finally in when my family moved away and woods and hills were far away we were in a small city I never heard that noise again, up until last night on unsolved mysteries and when this came up i just froze!!! i couldn't believe that what i was experiencing is an unsolved mystery. Thankfully i don't hear it anymore, but i do know how those people feel when they hear that sound. It is something that is just not normal and right! My way of ignoring it i listened to a lot of music and everyday i would listen to anything so i stop hearing that annoying humming, buzzing or what ever it was.

Since this thread was started, we discovered that the "hum" we heard upNorth was coming from the renovation of the lighthouse
that is out in the lake about 3 miles from us.

The hum has stopped since they finished the years long work.
It is now open as an "overnight, 2 day weekend" or afternoon visit by tourists.

I haven't heard it the last two summers at all. Either that or the quarry machinery...etc was changed.

I wonder if it's a malfunction of our electrical system, sending signals to our hair cells...
I have sensitivity to high pitched noise, and occasional tinnitus in one ear or the other occasionally. Don't hear this though...thank goodness...

After re-reading this thread, this is what comes to mind.

I remember in Watership Down, and Fern Tree Gully there was mention of a noise or hum in the distance. The sound of machines in those cases.

I also remember something in the book Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak about a hum but it was more ethereal.

I must go see if I can find it.

Edited to add: Can't find it right now. Will post when I find it as it is quite superb.

I have fairly sensitive hearing. I hear noises that others don't. My son who is on autism spectrum was troubled terribly when he was younger by certain sounds that none of us could hear.

Driving on Gravel Noises at Night and Flashes in the Sky
 

Nitrates and nitrides are in our water also, manure from dairies penetrating into our aquifer .. a cow is like eight people .. but people have to have digester's.

I get up around midnight to four and start a fire .. rural Idaho .. and then go out on my front porch to see "what's going on" .. are the coyotes coming in on my Boer Goats .. and the mares in heat and the stud is about to jump the fence .. did the water get loose and is flooding my roadway .. is my neighbor drunk in his front yard and talking to himself .. you know .. the usual things which are odd enough!

But! The other night about 2/1/12 .. a truck is going by three miles away but the wind makes it sound quite loud and I hear something else and as he can no longer be heard .. it sounds like this driving on gravel noise coming from the sky. Two summers ago there were flashers in the sky .. In the bottom of Orion a flashing about every seven seconds for twenty minutes and way out of our solar system .. they were everywhere for about a month and then .... nothing. There are other things I see also .. objects moving very fast dark and small during the day .. there for a second and then gone. I freaked my barber out and quit talking about them. Know what I mean Vern?

True News 2/16/12
 

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Dream warriors? U.S. military to research 'battlefield illusions' to baffle enemies
American military's technology research division Darpa is to investigate hi tech 'battlefield illusions' designed to baffle enemy troops, according to budget figures announced this week. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing $4 million in the project, which includes research into causing 'auditory and visual' hallucinations in enemy troops. Technologies could be similar to current measures designed to confuse radar systems, but applied to human beings. Illusions' would likely use optical technology, and will be...

Just ran across this ...

Living with 'The Hum'
 

I've heard it almost all the time since i moved into my new house four years ago this July. At first I thought it was a generator being used on the building site but now know it wasn't. The hum is only inside the house and disappears when I open the doors / windows. Environmental health - noise pollution cannot help as they cannot pick up low frequency sounds on their equipment! I have just had to learn to live with it. I wear ear plugs at night but they only make it sound a little fainter. I can still feel the vibration. Sometimes we just have to sleep out to get a good nights sleep. Any ideas to help will be greatfully appreciated!

Nice to meet you!!