Low-level HUM Bothering Anyone Else? The Windsor Hum

[Gannon]

Just read the Wall Street Journal article, and this paragraph jumped out at me.

But the academic said he can't say with 100% certainty that the Zug Island furnaces, owned by United States Steel Corp. X +0.96% , are indeed behind the Windsor hum. And engineers from nearby London, Ontario's Western University, which also participated in the Canadian-funded analysis, said their research indicated the probable source of the hum was "well" south of Zug Island.

[Jimaz]

Although they stated it probably was coming from Zug Island, in typical gov't/academic fashion they also concluded more money and time is needed to pinpoint the source.

It would be surprising if they didn't conclude that, right? I'm thinking it might not be possible to "pinpoint" the source if that source is very widespread. With a very low frequency I would expect a proportionately larger source.

Note that this study didn't deny the existence of the phenomenon [[although the first study was inconclusive). That's one small step toward a resolution.

[Gannon]

It would be surprising if they didn't conclude that, right? I'm thinking it might not be possible to "pinpoint" the source if that source is very widespread. With a very low frequency I would expect a proportionately larger source.

Note that this study didn't deny the existence of the phenomenon [[although the first study was inconclusive). That's one small step toward a resolution.

THIS was my favorite part:

"I have never measured anything like this -- a low-frequency sound with so much amplitude," Mr. Novak said in an interview Friday, adding he has studied and measured sound for more than two decades.

I find it odd that nobody is talking what frequency or waveform...or multiples.

Cheers, Jimaz, happy holiday.

[RaumVogel]

I worked at a heat treet across from City Airport in the 80's.The hum from our 440 volt furnaces would sometimes drive me nuts.We kept loud music and fans on all the time to cover the noise. And those furnace were tiny compared to Zug Island.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_arc_furnace

[Jimaz]

Today I spent some time digging into the question of why it might be taking so long to "pinpoint" the source of the hum.

From my astronomy phase, I vaguely recall an interesting optical relationship among resolution, wavelength and aperture. In short, it boils down to the larger the aperture [[the fatter the telescope), the better the resolution [[the more detail in the image). [[Of course, the frustration is that fatter telescopes are more expensive — the cost increases with something like the fourth power of the aperture.)

Thinking back to the hum problem, if the acoustic equivalent of resolution were very bad, that might account for the difficulty in pinpointing the source's location. So what would account for bad resolution?

From the Wikipedia article Angular resolution:

If one considers diffraction through a circular aperture, this translates into:

θ = 1.220 λ / D

where

θ is the angular resolution [[in radians),
λ is the wavelength of light,
and D is the diameter of the lens' aperture.

I think in this case they're regarding a lower angular resolution number as better resolution. So a larger aperture [[D) would give better resolution [[check) but, more interestingly, a larger wavelength [[λ) would give a poorer resolution. [[Wavelength is the inverse of frequency.) And we're discussing a very low frequency hum.

So could it be that the reason it has been so difficult to "pinpoint" the hum source is that it would require an impractically large-apertured microphone to compensate for a frequency that low? Maybe they were finally able to use a synthetic aperture in these most recent studies to overcome that problem?

Some related Wikigems:

• Acoustic location
• Acoustic source localization
• Sound localization
• Synthetic aperture sonar
• Synthetic aperture radar

Good lord what a geek am I, spending Memorial Day on stuff like this. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

[beachboy]

Today I spent some time digging into the question of why it might be taking so long to "pinpoint" the source of the hum.
[...] Good lord what a geek am I, spending Memorial Day on stuff like this. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Thank you for a very interesting analysis!!

You might want to visit scholar.google.com and search for:
low frequency sound localization

Elephants use low-frequency acoustic energy to communicate
over many miles. Here's an article:
http://laboratoryofcomparativehearing.com/uploads/Hearing_in_the_Elephant__Sensitivity__Frequency_JO CP1982_.pdf

and more articles at:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-004-0553-0#page-1
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00300007#page-1

Cheers

[Django]

I found this today. I have not been keeping track of this thread and glad I don't experience The Hum. http://mic.com/articles/91091/a-myst...ampaign=social

[Gannon]

I found this today. I have not been keeping track of this thread and glad I don't experience The Hum. http://mic.com/articles/91091/a-myst...ampaign=social

I'm astounded that it is so high in the list of number of readers, so apparently there is some interest.

Thanks for the bump on that article, Django. I was forwarded it by a friend through Facebook, read it last night, and was trying to determine if I was going to put it up here or not. You made that decision for me, thanks!


I'm still using Mack's PillowSoft earplugs successfully...or the smaller and shittier CVS-branded ones they seem to carry now. Gotta be solid silicone, or the Hum isn't reduced at all. It seems many cannot stand to hear their own breath or heartbeat, though...my many years of yoga unto meditation unto addiction to the wonderful beauty of silence has groomed me to enjoy it instead. Everything in life seems a distraction from our personal rhythms.

We have been up on Crooked Lake a few times over the past month, helping our friend's father get his cottage rent-ready...and I am reminded that the Hum is as persistent and pervasive there as it is in GPP. Again, too far from Zug Island and those sue-happy people over in Windsor.

<sigh>

It is merely a fact of life for me, it would be troublesome without the earplugs...but in my survey of the neighborhood, EVERYONE around us uses some form of 'dither' to help them ignore it at night...although few identify what they have to run their fans or tvs against all night. Others use various forms of sleep aids, legal and not. Most make a weird face at me when I ask about nightmares, and seldom do they verbally confirm what is obvious from their expressions. I wonder why people are SO verklempt when it comes to discussing dreams.

Cheers anyways, I'm using the wonderful I Musici recordings of Bach's Brandenbergs as 'dither' this morning...only better way to avoid the hum is to make music myself. We ARE musical beings, might as well start using that gift more often.


Sincerely,
John

[G-DDT]

First off, I didn't read the entire thread, but I get the gist. It surprises me just how much you've gone, Gannon, to block those frequencies [[yes, I use earplugs and low music playing, too to sleep at night-it disrupts something, a bit). I wouldn't venture into Farady cages or tinfoil hats-or you'll be lookin' a lot like Bob the Singing Bass Player [[no, seriously, we love ya', Bob.).
Vallee mentioned ELFs slyly in his highly overlooked, highly mis-interpreted, under-published book "Messengers of Deception" [[one of the only few books that dare suggest that UFOs are very Terrestrial in origin, made in the USA, and flown by Louisville jockeys in green fatigues-ha!-after all, he did accurately warn folks about the H.I.M./Heaven's Gate-cult back in 1979-around the time Alan Arkin's "Simon" came out) as being a common technology [[along with hallucinogenics) used to induce "visitations". "Electric UFOs" by Albert Budden [[a UK release) tackles a similar thing but leaves it more happenstance/environmental allergy-based as being the reason people see UFOs or visions of the Virgin Mary, or Marv Alpert, or somesuch. Regardless, sound weaponry has been discussed by everyone from the folks at AMOK to Colbert. It can be used [[hideously) as a form of "urban pacification", or it was most likely used to drive guys like Noriega and Dupont from out of their compounds.
Being raised in Detroit, I've always been used to hearing planes roaring overhead [[also in Louisville with the UPS facility nearby-oh, yeah, and "Thunder" the weekend before Derby); that's why it was so odd, not hearing any in Boston [[unless you're in East Boston). I have very sensitive hearing that picks up low and high sounds [[can always tell when a TV monitor is on in a room, even without the sound). In my travels, the worst it got was in Urbana, IL [[U of I-wasn't H.A.L. from there?-has got similar Gov. contracts like MIT; I did see a lot of nervous and paranoid folks in that area, though.) or Rochester, MN [[there's a giant turrent on a hill near St. Mary's hospital that has warning signs about the frequencies-and I was hearing them, before I ventured up that hill-saw the most insane electrical storm streaking across the sky in rapid archs for hours my first night in town-pardon the cliche: never seen anything like it elsewhere.). ELFs tend to affect folks with a high Calcium concentration in their system [[did I read this in "The Body Electric" by Becker and Selden?). So, imagine what it does to folks living in the Dairy state of Wisconsin. I saw a lot of neurological impairment in those regions, and folks do tend to get piqued on interests of phenomenon.
Old Fortean Times issues are good to get a hold of on the topic [[ironically, I just came across an article in FT162 October 2002 that talked about "Hummers")-if one should want to walk down those paths.

Blantz,
Gypsy Dild*e Dipsh*t

[Gannon]

Bumping this so my new chiropractor can find it easily...he is from Windsor, and knows what has been published about The Hum.

I'm amazed this is up to the fifth most read thread on this side of the board now, although I think Lowell moved a few of the ones above it to somewhere else in the archives [[not sure).

I haven't added anything to this, since I've merely been surviving it. Today, like most moist days, it is much worse. I usually don't have to put earplugs in during the day...but the moment I got home, my nerves were on edge from it.


Cheers, anyways.

[preserve]

I usually don't pay much attention to this thread, because I was not bothered by any hum noise and I only live a few blocks from the river and Windsor, but Sunday night I was awake most of the night and it felt like I was on top of one of those refrigerated trucks that are kept running. I was waiting for whatever motor it was to take a break, but that never happened. The droning went on well into the morning hours.

[Gannon]

I usually don't pay much attention to this thread, because I was not bothered by any hum noise and I only live a few blocks from the river and Windsor, but Sunday night I was awake most of the night and it felt like I was on top of one of those refrigerated trucks that are kept running. I was waiting for whatever motor it was to take a break, but that never happened. The droning went on well into the morning hours.

Sounds like the phenomena. Welcome to the club. It does get louder when it rains or snows.

I spent the whole day with my earplugs in today. Most productive I've been in weeks.

[Lowell]

Mystery of Forest Grove, Oregon, Noise May Never Be Solved


A piercing noise that plagued an Oregon city earlier this year, drawing comparisons to "Satan's teakettle" and hypothesized to be everything from a defective water valve to aliens or a signal for the end of times, stopped as suddenly as it started...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...solved-n579456

[Gistok]

In ancient Egypt... the "Colossi of Memnon" statues "sang".... due to the heating up of the statue's stone at dawn....

http://science.howstuffworks.com/sci...at-sunrise.htm

[ekleezy]

To save the trouble of reading 19 pages right now, was there any conclusion to what the hum is? I was under the impression that it's airplane testing or something like that. Only hear it at night sometimes

[Jimaz]

In ancient Egypt... the "Colossi of Memnon" statues "sang".... due to the heating up of the statue's stone at dawn....

http://science.howstuffworks.com/sci...at-sunrise.htm

The reported time frame doesn't match but this is reminiscent of ideas in bicameralism which suggests that [[some 3,000 years ago) a seemingly external guiding voice may have actually originated as auditory hallucinations from within the right side of the brain. That's fascinating stuff.

An aeolian harp might also create such sounds.

[compn]

To save the trouble of reading 19 pages right now, was there any conclusion to what the hum is? I was under the impression that it's airplane testing or something like that. Only hear it at night sometimes

only theories.

1. blast furnace or other equip on zug island
2. naturally occuring winds causing vibrations from bridges, buildings or land.
3. collective hallucinations [[as the hum is difficult to record, due to the low frequency)
4. trucks idling for the bridge crossing

or something else.

http://windsorstar.com/news/22000-re...hone-town-hall

[Honky Tonk]

only theories.

1. blast furnace or other equip on zug island
2. naturally occuring winds causing vibrations from bridges, buildings or land.
3. collective hallucinations [[as the hum is difficult to record, due to the low frequency)
4. trucks idling for the bridge crossing

or something else.

http://windsorstar.com/news/22000-re...hone-town-hall

5. Techno Fest

[Bigb23]

Since I moved fifteen miles south of 32 mile and Rochester Rd. I have not had an episode of the HUM.
It was really disturbing at one time.

Three years now.

[G-DDT]

Mystery of Forest Grove, Oregon, Noise May Never Be Solved


A piercing noise that plagued an Oregon city earlier this year, drawing comparisons to "Satan's teakettle" and hypothesized to be everything from a defective water valve to aliens or a signal for the end of times, stopped as suddenly as it started...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...solved-n579456

I wouldn't rule out some bizarre behavior of a rare breed animal caught in an odd time. Also, I wouldn't rule out some sort of industrial situation [[drilling? anything?) that might cause this.

Listening to the sound though, it does have hints of some amplification being used. Yet, it definitely does indeed fall under the category of Fortean, and I wouldn't be surprised if future issues address the matter [[good luck acquiring them; Little Professor in Dearborn used to be up to date carriers until they closed shop).

[G-DDT]

The reported time frame doesn't match but this is reminiscent of ideas in bicameralism which suggests that [[some 3,000 years ago) a seemingly external guiding voice may have actually originated as auditory hallucinations from within the right side of the brain. That's fascinating stuff.

An aeolian harp might also create such sounds.

Thanks much for posting that. That does create an awesome and formidable drone sound depending how it is tuned. I rank it right up there with the Cloud Harp https://vimeo.com/5235502[[which is much technological in nature-though like the harp you posted raws from wind, the Cloud Harp reads the...), which I'm still nuts about since I encountered one in Pittsburgh at an odd time of day while surrealy situated in this plazahttps://www.flickr.com/photos/hanneorla/2949819145.

To smaller degree the Aquaphone can create some piercing sounds, like with this demonstrationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n5jIqX63ok.

[Bigb23]

I wouldn't rule out some bizarre behavior of a rare breed animal caught in an odd time. Also, I wouldn't rule out some sort of industrial situation [[drilling? anything?) that might cause this.

Listening to the sound though, it does have hints of some amplification being used. Yet, it definitely does indeed fall under the category of Fortean, and I wouldn't be surprised if future issues address the matter [[good luck acquiring them; Little Professor in Dearborn used to be up to date carriers until they closed shop).

I remember seeing a video online from the Pacific Northwest that showed a bulldozer dragging it's blade across a huge concrete pad at a construction site in the deep woods. The wailing echoed off the hillsides, and could be heard for miles around.
Some things can be explained.

[Lowell]

It's baa-aack. The Windsor Hum is becoming legend reminding me of Jimmy Hoffa erupts ever so often. This time prestigious The Guardian reports on it:

In 2012, more than 22,000 people dialed in to a local teleconference about the hum, voicing concerns that ranged from the effect of the noise on pregnancy to the long-term impact it could have on a home’s foundation.

The hum’s persistent presence in the city has sparked creativity and inspired a slew of conspiracy theories; from a PhD thesis that seeks to incorporate the noise into song to theories that link the hum to UFOs or covert tunneling by the Canadian military.

Studies commissioned of the 35Hz sound by the Canadian government suggest a more mundane source; pointing to Zug island, an American industrial area located a few miles down the river from the bridge that separates Windsor and Detroit.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-united-states

Time to market a line to t-shirts and mugs?

[courtney]

It was also picked up in the not-so-prestigious Daily Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ng-louder.html

FWIW, I spent several hours while we were at my parents house in rural upstate South Carolina [[Anderson County) ruling out their well pump/heat hump/electrical system for the "diesel engine idle noise" that was driving my mother nuts while she was lying in bed. It was just like I've heard here and wasn't the house or anything in it and wasn't nearly as loud outside.

[bust]

It's no longer the techno fest [[tip of the hat to Honky). So it must be fracking. Or bitumen processing at Koch Carbon. I'm definitely not making an excuse for it, nor am I making light of fracking or bitumen pollution, but be grateful you don't have upstairs neighbors who clomp around in heels.