Constant "humming" noise.............

[Zeekiebuns]

Anyone have more info on the show that just aired (11/30/01) regarding the constant humming noise (engine noise)some people are hearing? Have had this problem the past 4 years. Numerous visits to "specialists" and tests, ended with the probability that it was just a muscle contracting in the neck. I believe it was a polite way of saying "we don't know". I was really shocked and relieved to find out there are others with this same problem and I am not "crazy". Would like to hear from other with this same phenomenen and how they cope. Thanks

[hypno44]

I am in the Navy and I was stationed in Groton, CT for a time. A theory on this is that is comes from waves set off by Navy ships and Submarines. So if you live near a military base this might be the answer.

[nohwheregirl]

I did a little internet research on this a while back and found that there are quite a few websites dedicated to the "Taos Hum" and the "Kokomo Hum." These are 2 places in the U.S. that have been identified as having a concentration of people who hear the hum. You should be able to find a lot of info, and possibly some other sufferers if you google those terms.

I'm curious, would you mind giving us some more details on when you started hearing it, when you hear it, etc?

[MegtheEgg86]

I know this thread is four years old :eek:, but I actually rewatched this segment recently. It's kind of one of those love-it-or-hate it segments and is not typically the sort I'm usually very interested in, but I've always found "the Hum" kind of fascinating since I first saw this segment as a kid.

In 2007 and 2008, I was sent to Ft. Lewis, Washington for training, for approximately a month each block. Both times I noticed a consistent mechanical drone, but nothing that affected me physically, as a lot of hearers claim. I'm unsure if I was hearing cooling fans of some sort or aircraft, but it WAS consistent and I could always hear it, although the intensity varied. It was worse indoors and hardly perceivable in deep woods (the latter of which I spent more time in). It also didn't really sound much like the reproduction clip in the segment, which to me sounds very electronic. It sounded exactly like a diesel truck idling in the distance.

Facts:

1. The immediate area in and around Tacoma, WA is home to three military installations: Ft. Lewis, McChord AFB, and FOB Tacoma (specifically Puget Sound).

2. There's always a gross amount of mechanical, electronic, and radio activity in any area near military installations.

3. The Kokomo Hum has since been nearly positively identified as the noise emitted from two cooling fans contained in a DaimlerChrysler plant near the city of Kokomo.

4. The American Southwest (which would include Taos, NM) is full of military activity--especially that of the Air Force and Army. Both require extensive communication systems as the range between two areas can be massive. Furthermore, large amounts of weapons testing occurs there. That also requires long-range radio and electronic signals.


My ex-boyfriend was also stationed at Groton, CT when he was in the Navy and was actually an electronic communications tech/specialist (whatever the Navy calls them) on the Miami, a fast attack submarine. The Navy doesn't use ELF anymore, and he said he never heard a thing. However, the majority of "hum hearers" in the U.S. seem to be concentrated around military installations.

Never, however, have I heard this hum anywhere but Ft. Lewis. I have spent time at Ft. Jackson, SC; Ft. Campbell, KY; Ft. Knox, KY; Ft. Benning, GA; Ft. MacPherson, GA; Ft. Bragg, NC, and Arnold AFB (TN). The main differences between these installations and Ft. Lewis is that they are all in the Southeast and have no extensive naval activity that I am aware of (unlike Lewis, which is directly beside Puget Sound). Not making any inferences here, just stating what I know.


I do believe the "hum" most people hear is military in nature, but I don't believe it's necessarily regulated to any one branch of the armed forces. I DO think it's related to commo and signaling systems, however. I do believe I've heard it and lots of others do as well, but are not so sensitive that it affects their daily lives, and thus never report it.

[ZanzibarBlue]

Great post MegtheEgg86. Well thought out and interesting to hear your perspective.

I did (and still do) side on the non-military origin of the sound. Taos, while as you note in the Southwest where much military activity occurs, is not near an obvious military "source". I understood the UM thoery to be that the hum was somehow connected to the ultra low frequency communications that the Navy used to contact submarines. Therefore, I would expect that people would be more affected around Naval installations (Norfolk, Pearl, Portsmouth).

My inclination is that it is a hearing "impediment" for lack of a better word. The ear is sensitive and some people who experience trauma have been know to suffer from various forms of "timber" or oscillating tones. It may be that there groups of such people who were able to connect w/ one another and speculate that there is a source where the sound is coming from.

Another possibility is that it is some heretofore undiscovered natural phenomenon. Taos, I believe having been there, possess an inherent spiritual / mystical presence. I know it sounds New Agey, but there are certain areas that may have properties that we simply cannot (at this point) scientifically analyze. I know that Tibetan Bhuddisim believes that the Earth has certain areas that possess human characteristics. For example, Los Angeles (I believe) is the voice - center of the Earth. I may be botching this concept, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

We will likely never know the answer, military, natural, or otherwise.

[FanfromES]

I think this could be a good explanation for this mystery:

(from the Wikipedia)

"The microwave auditory effect, also known as the microwave hearing effect or the Frey effect, consists of audible clicks induced by pulsed/modulated microwave frequencies. The clicks are generated directly inside the human head without the need of any receiving electronic device. The effect was first reported by persons working in the vicinity of radar transponders during World War II. These induced sounds are not audible to other people nearby.

The microwave auditory effect was later discovered to be inducible with shorter-wavelength portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. During the Cold War era, the American neuroscientist Allan H. Frey studied this phenomenon and was the first to publish (Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 17, pages 689-692, 1962) information on the nature of the microwave auditory effect; this effect is therefore also known as the Frey effect.

Dr. Don R. Justesen published "Microwaves and Behavior" in The American Psychologist (Volume 30, March 1975, Number 3).

Research by NASA in the 1970s[citation needed] showed that this effect occurs as a result of thermal expansion of parts of the human ear around the cochlea, even at low power density.
Later, signal modulation was found to produce sounds or words that appeared to originate intracranially.

It was studied for its possible use in communications but has not been developed due to the possible hazardous biological effects of microwave radiation. Similar research conducted in the USSR studied its use in non-lethal weaponry."

[browneyes106]

I grew up about fourty miles away from Taos, NM. Still today there are some people that claim to hear the hum.

[MegtheEgg86]

Great post MegtheEgg86. Well thought out and interesting to hear your perspective.

I did (and still do) side on the non-military origin of the sound. Taos, while as you note in the Southwest where much military activity occurs, is not near an obvious military "source". I understood the UM thoery to be that the hum was somehow connected to the ultra low frequency communications that the Navy used to contact submarines. Therefore, I would expect that people would be more affected around Naval installations (Norfolk, Pearl, Portsmouth).

My inclination is that it is a hearing "impediment" for lack of a better word. The ear is sensitive and some people who experience trauma have been know to suffer from various forms of "timber" or oscillating tones. It may be that there groups of such people who were able to connect w/ one another and speculate that there is a source where the sound is coming from.

Another possibility is that it is some heretofore undiscovered natural phenomenon. Taos, I believe having been there, possess an inherent spiritual / mystical presence. I know it sounds New Agey, but there are certain areas that may have properties that we simply cannot (at this point) scientifically analyze. I know that Tibetan Bhuddisim believes that the Earth has certain areas that possess human characteristics. For example, Los Angeles (I believe) is the voice - center of the Earth. I may be botching this concept, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

We will likely never know the answer, military, natural, or otherwise.

Thank you. I've wondered if I suffer from tinnitus as I've been exposed to very, very loud and sudden noise, and your post got me thinking.

Perhaps at least my personal experience at Ft. Lewis can be explained as I was repeatedly exposed to various small arms fire and artillery noise there. It traumatized my ears--causing the perceivable ringing without physical side effect--and ended soon after I returned home and away from the constant barrage of sound.

Perhaps being indoors effects the perceivability of the ringing in some way as well; maybe it's related to air pressure or something. I haven't a clue, though.

Interesting notion re: spiritual/mystical properties. I'm due to travel to the Southwest this December. I'll take note of anything I experience there.

[leafygreens]

I think it's tinnitus. Some are more susceptible than others.