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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

#91

Post by LeifCarrotson »

XR0CSWV3h3kZWg wrote: post #60
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.

No, the triangulation you would use for a project like this would look for time delay or phase lag between 2 (or more) adjacent microphones.

The sound pressure wave is picked up by one, then some few microseconds later, it appears on the other(s) a few centimeters away.

This is pretty straightforward with ordinary sounds that dominate the signal. You could pick out the wire which was struck in a piano, and even the nodes and harmonics along its length.

It gets more difficult at lower frequencies and with quieter signals, which precisely describes this exact situation.

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

#92

Post by Waterluvian »

asaph wrote: post #85
vlasev wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replace "comment out" by "turn off the electricity for" and maybe we can binary search it.

Your implicit assumption is that the hum is caused by something electrical; i.e. not a diesel engine or some natural cause.

But that's exactly the point. It would rule out a ton of stuff.

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

#93

Post by ronnier »

egypturnash wrote: post #80
racl101 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder if you can train yourself to ignore it. The same way some fucked up people train themselves to ignore smoke detector chirps. I've known a couple of these people in my life. They managed to live with a chirping detector for weeks on end and when you bring it up they think you're making mountains out of molehills.

My experience is that it’s pretty damn hard. SOMETHING is generating a low frequency hum that I can hear in my bedroom in Seattle; in fact I’m in there’s hearing it right now. It’s been going since somewhere last summer. I hear it every night and it’s still maddening.

When I first moved to Seattle I lived in an apartment in Kirkland and suddenly the hum started. It lasted for months until I moved out and it almost drove me nuts. It was as if it was drilling into my brain at night. Oddly, my wife didn't hear it.

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

#94

Post by Cookiesaurusbex »

bparsons wrote: post #54
acqq wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes there is. At least with frequency assignment. There are very strict policies that any frequency usage within 50 miles of an international border must be approved by the appropriate authority on both sides. The rules may not apply to non-communication based sound (which is an obvious failure), but it's not like there is no framework for this kind of thing, it just doesn't extend far enough.

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

#95

Post by blunte »

EGreg wrote: post #89
blattimwind wrote: post #39

A few years ago they drilled for gas a few kilometers outside the city (about 3 km from my house) — this caused a faint humming noise that seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere in particular. Stand still in a room, hear the noise. Lie down, cover your ears, hear the noise. Put earplugs in, hear the noise. Hugely annoying if you're the kind of person that doesn't sleep well with such nuisances. Boy was I happy wh…

How does one eliminate the noise? One of those sensory deprivation chambers? Audio insulation?

There is nothing to insulate against these large, low frequency waves. They penetrate solid rock. Perhaps enough water could absorb the waves and dissipate them, but that's not really an option.

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

#97

Post by jvolkman »

egypturnash wrote: post #80
racl101 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder if you can train yourself to ignore it. The same way some fucked up people train themselves to ignore smoke detector chirps. I've known a couple of these people in my life. They managed to live with a chirping detector for weeks on end and when you bring it up they think you're making mountains out of molehills.

My experience is that it’s pretty damn hard. SOMETHING is generating a low frequency hum that I can hear in my bedroom in Seattle; in fact I’m in there’s hearing it right now. It’s been going since somewhere last summer. I hear it every night and it’s still maddening.

What area? I hear a hum many nights in Ballard which I'm pretty sure is the Ballard Terminal Railroad.

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

#98

Post by ethbro »

EGreg wrote: post #89
blattimwind wrote: post #39

A few years ago they drilled for gas a few kilometers outside the city (about 3 km from my house) — this caused a faint humming noise that seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere in particular. Stand still in a room, hear the noise. Lie down, cover your ears, hear the noise. Put earplugs in, hear the noise. Hugely annoying if you're the kind of person that doesn't sleep well with such nuisances. Boy was I happy wh…

How does one eliminate the noise? One of those sensory deprivation chambers? Audio insulation?

Active dampening with inverse waveforms?

Not sure if commercial headphones would cover the frequency range if it's outside the norm, but Bose et al are great for rhythmic environmental noises.

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

#99

Post by manigandham »

schwap wrote: post #26
racl101 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder if you can train yourself to ignore it. The same way some fucked up people train themselves to ignore smoke detector chirps. I've known a couple of these people in my life. They managed to live with a chirping detector for weeks on end and when you bring it up they think you're making mountains out of molehills.

... fascinating. There's no way that's easier than replacing the battery or even the detector itself. Why suffer through something so trivially fixable?

It's only suffering if you're aware of it. We've gone months with several chirping at the same time (due to a different wiring issue) and they are incredibly easy to forget about. We'd only remember when talking on the phone and the other person would ask about the noises.
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