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There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

nytimes.com

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Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#51

Post by rmason »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #19

Three people so far have suggested in the comments here it should be "easy" to triangulate it. Note that according to Zug Island's Wikipedia page, "As of April 2013, a Canadian scientist is using sound-level meters and a portable "pentangular array" of cameras and microphones to try to precisely identify the source of the sound, in order to know whom exactly to ask to fix it" and that "the City Council had already sp…

They need to deploy a shot spotter that cities use to quickly locate gunfire and dispatch police.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/06/28/shotspotte...

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#53

Post by Cookiesaurusbex »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #32
yathern wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there's a bit of armchairing going on here, in that people are definitely trying the obvious already. As one of these suggesters - I think it's the problem lies in that the article doesn't mention this obvious first step in determining the source.

"Since reports of it surfaced in 2011, the hum has been studied by the Canadian government, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Windsor." Do you really think that between the Canadian government and two universities, over the past seven years, that you are the first person to suggest this "obvious first step"?

I went to school and worked for a while studying spectrum management. It boggles my mind to this day that drones get in the way of fire fighting and emergency services because an obvious first step world be to allow emergency vehicles & helicopters to jam the frequencies of drones. There are plenty of other vehicles with this ability (military, secret service, etc) so it's not like the technology to solve the problem is unobtainable or non existent.

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#54

Post by bparsons »

acqq wrote: post #37
yathern wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there's a bit of armchairing going on here, in that people are definitely trying the obvious already. As one of these suggesters - I think it's the problem lies in that the article doesn't mention this obvious first step in determining the source.

It mentions investigations many times: "Since reports of it surfaced in 2011, the hum has been studied by the Canadian government, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Windsor." Those are all the links in the article, the last one ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/vi8ek3hqiof81ca/UW%20Study%20Repor... ) gives us "For the duration of the project, the Hum manifested on only a handful of days , which made t…

From what I understand, it is mostly an issue of jurisdiction. The factory is in the US, and the problem impacts people across the river in Canada.

Cross border noise pollution was likely never envisioned in any international treaties, so there is no obvious legal means to resolve the problem.

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#55

Post by vonzep »

fenwick67 wrote: post #40
sbarre wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia says that it is in fact Zug Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zug_Island#Noise_and_vibration

The Wikipedia page mentions this but doesn't make the obvious connection to the cause of the vibrations... > it served as an uninhabited Native American burial ground for thousands of years

Well damn ... Punishment for my ancestors stealing their land and whatnot ... seems fair through that lens ... should make my decent into madness a tad more comforting

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#57

Post by platz »

vonzep wrote: post #14
yathern wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has there been an attempt to trilaterate/triangulate the sound? Should be fairly simple to rig up several recording devices in sync around, and use timing/loudness to get an idea of origin, despite the large wavelength.

Yes http://www.international.gc.ca/department-ministere/windsor_...

> We note that the bearing from Array 1 to the most probable source of the Hum points well to the South of Zug Island.

> The bulk of our observations from both stations do not support the hypothesis that the source of the Hum emanates from Zug Island

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#58

Post by romwell »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #32
yathern wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think there's a bit of armchairing going on here, in that people are definitely trying the obvious already. As one of these suggesters - I think it's the problem lies in that the article doesn't mention this obvious first step in determining the source.

"Since reports of it surfaced in 2011, the hum has been studied by the Canadian government, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Windsor." Do you really think that between the Canadian government and two universities, over the past seven years, that you are the first person to suggest this "obvious first step"?

Well, that we should know from the article.

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#59

Post by vortico »

Garbage, sensationalist title with mentions of "unknown origin". Even the article says the likely source is Zug island, but of course this wouldn't get as many clicks.

According to the mentioned University of Windsor report (http://www.international.gc.ca/department-ministere/windsor_...) "A previous study confirmed the existence of the low frequency excitation and estimated the source to be in the vicinity of Zug Island". If this article was written with the assumption that the source is likely known, it would have been a reasonable read. Instead, it should have focused on getting the city to do something about it, by approaching the property with a noise complaint warrant, discovering the source, fining those responsible, and changing policy if needed to solve it. If all of the above is impossible for whatever reason, why doesn't the article mention the reasons instead of making it the issue seem like sensasionalist "mystery" news.

Re: There's a Persistent Hum in Windsor, Ontario, and No One Knows Why

#60

Post by XR0CSWV3h3kZWg »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #19

Three people so far have suggested in the comments here it should be "easy" to triangulate it. Note that according to Zug Island's Wikipedia page, "As of April 2013, a Canadian scientist is using sound-level meters and a portable "pentangular array" of cameras and microphones to try to precisely identify the source of the sound, in order to know whom exactly to ask to fix it" and that "the City Council had already sp…

typical triangulation would depend on the sound being heterogeneous in waveform/volume right? If it's a constant hum then you'd only have volume dissipate as you move away which would get a lot harder as sound has different loss functions as it moves through different materials.
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