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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

#271

Post by SlowBro »

phkahler wrote: post #269
blunte wrote: post #101

As one who can hear these sounds, I can attest to how maddening it is. It's even worse when (most of) the people around you can't hear it, and they don't believe you. Earplugs only make it worse, because they filter out ambient noise that otherwise helps distract you from the incessant hum. Daytime is not as bad as night because of the natural activity sounds of a city. I have read that waves and underwater currents…

For low frequency stuff, I would suggest using an accelerometer instead of conventional audio equipment. A small one could also be placed on a large diaphragm to allow more movement at really low frequencies. I like the physiological suggestions in the replies, but I don't see how an entire community could suffer from the same thing without a common cause.

Maybe some environmental chemical inducing tinnitus?

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

#272

Post by fab1an »

Sound is such a context-dependent experience. I vividly remember taking a walk with my parents in the Alps through the most pristine landscape. It was beautiful, except for the annoying sounds of a nearby highway. A few minutes later, we expected to see that highway across one hill, but were astonished to find a glorious waterfall. The instant we saw the water, the experience of the sound was transformed to something entirely beautiful.

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

#274

Post by Steve44 »

asclepi wrote: post #261
Steve44 wrote: post #246

I'm not sure it's related to these humming reports but there is a lot more ambient noise than most people appreciate. I live about five miles from Heathrow airport. Occasionally I will have planes taking off over our house which is fairly loud and sometimes I can hear them powering up and taking off - that's quiet and distant and I can't always hear it. When the Icelandic volcano closed the airspace a few years ago I…

Would "the hum" not be noticed in a lot more areas if it were caused by jet engines? Note that there is some variance in the volume of air traffic: weekend nights tend to be a lot slower than weeknights. Same for Christmas Day (and the night before and after). If "the hum" was caused by jet engines, this variance should be noticed too. The risk of misattribution is considerable, however, as industrial and other activ…

> Would "the hum" not be noticed in a lot more areas if it were caused by jet engines?

Yes, I agree hence the way I worded the starting of the comment. It was more an observation that there is a lot more noise going on than is immediately obvious and noticeable.

Regarding these hums some people are reporting, given that they say ear plugs if anything increase the effect I think it is likely internally generated like the various causes of tinnitus. Possibly some infra-sound/vibration is directly detectable by some people in a similar way to magmatism is by some animals and supposedly some people. A second thought is it could be triggering / resonating something in the ear so you are physically hearing the sounds, like when you rub your eyes you see flashes. Thirdly perhaps it is purely psychological.

I've not read much about the hum phenomena and not knowingly personally experienced it my thoughts are just that, thoughts.

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

#275

Post by tylerjwilk00 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #268
chch wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of the story of how composer John Cage was inspired to write his piece 4′33″ [1]: 'In 1951, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard University. An anechoic chamber is a room designed in such a way that the walls, ceiling and floor absorb all sounds made in the room, rather than reflecting them as echoes. Such a chamber is also externally sound-proofed. Cage entered the chamber expecting to hear s…

I did read about those, a "challenge" is how long you can stay in there before going mad - I think the longest one lasted for 45 minutes. I'd like to experience that sometime, like, true silence. Have to say that my current house is very quiet (especially compared to my previous one), but there's still some background noise from outside, neighbours, the ventilation, etc. Should get a decibel meter sometime. Anyway ye…

The 45 minutes is apparently a myth. You can view an interesting video on ultra-quiet anechoic chambers in this veritasium video [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI

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

#276

Post by perlgeek »

tachyoff wrote: post #113

Now I am deeply curious! I’m a Detroiter and Zug Island is a quick drive south. Is it audible from the US side? I have a passport, but “I want to hear the Windsor hum” might not, unfortunately, fly at the border anymore.

Now I am curious: do you really need to state a reason to pass a border? In Europe, when you don't need a visa, you simply cross the border, no questions asked.

And if somebody asked me anyway, I'd just say "I want to visit the town. I'm curious."

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

#277

Post by moomin »

mysterypie wrote: post #240
Johnythree wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was plagued by the Hum for years. At times it became astonishingly loud. But I was able (eventually) to figure it out. Short version: I made many attempts to track it down. Used low frequency Microphones, filters, amplifiers, etc, as well as PC Spectrogram programs to try and and visualise and record it. Visited many nearby industries etc to try and find it. But none of my attempts did any good. As I'm a Radio Engi…

> I slowly came to understand that my Hum was an internally generated sound. Surely you asked other people if they also heard a hum? If they said no, what made you not focus on the ear right from the beginning?

Not a thought that would have occurred to me since I was always bothered by crappy CRT monitors and knew full well most people couldn’t hear it.

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

#278

Post by philipodonnell »

teekert wrote: post #241
adrianN wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might be a case of https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/

That page right there is why I never used Reddit and when I drop by I just don't understand it. So, your comment sounds interesting, I click the page and it's just a bunch of unrelated stuff with title's like "Does anybody else use it when they don't want to hear something ?" Hear what? What is the level above, what connects these posts?? The top of the page just says "Come for the cats stay for the something" and th…

> What is wrong with me?!

You have an unrealistic expectation of Reddit. A subreddit is not an information dump for people who want to learn about a topic (for that you should look to the sidebar, or FAQ, or Wikipedia).

Its a community of people who are interested in a topic (and trolls... so many trolls) sorted by the most recent things they were talking about and whether the community wanted to talk about it. Communities don't constantly post and upvote introductory stuff in case new people happen by, but they are often responsive to questions from new people

Think of it like a clubhouse that you walked into. Right now you are standing at the bar trying to listen in on random conversations around you and saying "none of these people are talking about what I want to know in terms I can understand, some of them are even talking about whether they like the clubhouse's new decorations! WTF!".

Instead you should try joining into one of the conversations, or looking for a sign that says "new people come over here".

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

#279

Post by perlgeek »

sideshowb wrote: post #130

Out of interest, how do we know it's not a common but undocumented form of tinnitus? Perhaps one that is more likely to present in certain weather conditions, so people's complaints will correlate? I live near Bristol, which also has a hum, and I may have heard it but my own presumption would be hearing damage, as I don't think I've looked after my ears as well as I should have. And that would go for a lot of Bristol…

> Out of interest, how do we know it's not a common but undocumented form of tinnitus?

I get the impression you can measure the sounds waves just fine, the folks investigating it just have a problem locating it. Which can happen if the noise doesn't come from a point source, and/or its wave form features aren't well suitable for tracking.

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

#280

Post by bstamour »

mar77i wrote: post #244

Brainfart ahead: The way the united states are out of hand lately would kind of get me to no longer rule out the possibility that they might be drilling across the border for whatever they might find?

This has been going on for a lot longer than the current US government. Chances are high it's just Zug Island, which contains blasting furnaces for steel and whatnot. The problem is that Zug Island is a part of Michigan, while Windsor is a Canadian city, so investigation is pretty difficult.
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