I figured a group of people with potentially very sensitive hearing may have also experienced this phenomenon.
Have you ever been plagued by a constant low frequency humming noise that only you seem to be able to hear? Like a car engine idling down the street. Maybe this will shed some light on what it is, or isn't. Or maybe you will just find it interesting. Maybe you will experience it in future.
I first heard of "Largs Hum" way back around 2002 at high school when I copied a newspaper story for a homework assignment about a mystery noise in the town of Largs, Scotland.
It appears that many countries have a name for it, all named after a town or city. Largs Hum in Scotland, Bristol Hum in England, Omagh Hum in Northern Ireland, Taos Hum in America, Windsor Hum in Canada, Auckland Hum in New Zealand and probably plenty others.
Many years later, I heard it for myself one evening, then it went away and I never heard it again.
Well 3 months ago I started hearing it again. I can hear it as I'm typing this. I wonder what it could be this time. It happens most of the day. It has all the same characteristics as everything I've read about.
It is louder at night, during winter. Which makes sense, as noise travels further at night due to the general quietness and the less dense air.
I can't hear it outdoors.
Fixed frequency and low frequency, less than 100Hz, approaching the lower limit of human hearing (20Hz)
Sometimes I only notice when it stops, usually when it is active, but I never seem to notice it starting. It only every stops abruptly.
So far I have narrowed it down to something vibrating through the pipework. I can only hear it in certain parts of the house, where there are copper pipes and not PVC pipes. There are no real solid patterns as of yet, just generally disappears late at night/early morning. At least I get a reprieve from my hum, some people are stuck hearing The Hum for decades. It doesn't really bother me, I'm just intrigued about the source and The Hum phenomenon a whole.
In all my time on the internet, I never actually stumbled upon any reference to it until I went looking.
Reading about the many, many reports of The Hum, not everyone can hear it. Only around 2% of people can hear it, even in areas with an identifiable source, such as a steelworks. Which got me thinking, I wonder if there is any kind of link with autism, after all, hyperacusis is a common trait. Also, an attitude of "your imagining it" "it's all in your head" and "paying too much attention to little things" from some people, sometimes even from medical professionals, sadly a common dismissal that many of us hear about some of our traits and struggles.
Now I don't know if the is actually any such thing as "
THE Hum" More like
A Hum. Or a series of hums with the same or similar characteristics. I've noticed 3 main theories/sources:
1. Coming from within the person, similar to tinnitus. I'm more sceptical of this, it just feels too dismissive.
2. Large industrial noise that many people in an area can hear and can be traced and corrected.
3. Smaller, local sources that very few people can hear.
There is an interesting project about The Hum, with some science involved, including information on how to pinpoint the exact frequency you can hear and common frequencies so you can eliminate common sources such as computer hard drives. There is also a world hum map and people can submit their own detailed experiences and situations:
We are tracking down the cause of worldwide anomolous low-frequency noise complaints. The current theory is that the Hum is an internally generated perception of sound (as is tinnitus), and not an actual sound.
thehum.info
So, has anyone else experienced "The Hum" in some form or another?
