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A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

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Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#61

Post by coldtea »

panarky wrote: post #10

Maybe the mysterious noise is from one's own living body, like what you hear when you put your fingers in your ears. In 1951, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard University... "I heard two sounds, one high and one low. When I described them to the engineer in charge, he informed me that the high one was my nervous system in operation, the low one my blood in circulation." Cage had gone to a place where he ex…

That needa an anechoic chamber because it's so small, it would get drowned in normal noisy environment.

Plus, allegedly they've been able to record the Hum in some cases.

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#62

Post by personZ »

disputin wrote: post #49

I've experienced this. It's not tinnitus which is high pitched - this is low pitched. I could hear it best in a certain room, but not when I stuck my head out the window. It occurred over a period when the nearby overground tube line was being worked on. So I concluded it's industrial machinery causing low frequency vibrations which reverberate in certain acoustic configurations. And it's very, very annoying.

reverberate in certain acoustic configurations

This is a very important point. Low frequency noises can have a wavelength exactly the size of common rooms, yielding an unbearable amplification as the waves gang up with common peaks and troughs.

http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#63

Post by coldtea »

ogig wrote: post #45
andrey-p wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my first thought too. I've got permanent tinnitus even though I'm in my mid-twenties (brought on due to headphone abuse when I was a teenager). It sounds more like a high-pitched tweee sound than a hum, but I've heard different people hear different sounds. Sorta OT, but I've actually been able to get some use out of my tinnitus. If there's background noise that's preventing me from falling asleep (but nothi…

I relate to the paradoxical utility of the tinnitus sound. For sleeping and meditation! it's like a never ending chant you can focus back whenever. I've also tried to use the hum as reference point to get perfect pitch earing, that is been able to tell if a note is a C, a F or whatever. Unfortunatly my tinnitus seems to be composed of several frequencies and out of tune. I can't make any use of it for musical purpose…

Just carry a pitchfork with you. Or a mobile app that can make any pitch at will!

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#64

Post by coldtea »

Xcelerate wrote: post #50

I don't understand why this is such a big problem. 1) Locate someone suffering from the hum. 2) Take expensive pressure and sound equipment to their location. 3) Record all observable frequencies. 4) a) If nothing shows up, it's a personal biological problem. Direct problem toward medical professionals b) If something shows up on the frequency graph, identify the direction the sound is coming from (again using equipm…

>Follow sound, locate source.

You missed the part that it's a low frequency noise. Not very locatable those bastards.

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#65

Post by coldtea »

logicallee wrote: post #18

The article was really hard for me to read, because the author just thinks so much differently from me. i.e. if an area is driving you mad, do you get instant relief if you leave the area? It could still be chemical / something in the air that makes you hallucinate, but not talking about such basic questions is just so different from how I think. the next most basic question is whether there are actually any physical…

>The article was really hard for me to read, because the author just thinks so much differently from me. i.e. if an area is driving you mad, do you get instant relief if you leave the area? It could still be chemical / something in the air that makes you hallucinate, but not talking about such basic questions is just so different from how I think.

I asked that too, but some people like/love their cities, houses, relatives and friends and jobs. They don't just move on the first issue that happens.

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#66

Post by mbell »

lotsofmangos wrote: post #60
lutorm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem entirely implausible. Your body can act as an antenna, and nerves are sensitive to electrical currents, and the frequency range is right. It's a question of what the induced current would be and how sensitive the nerves are.

The top end of the range they are quoting for the radio waves (30khz) is above the top of human hearing (20hz - 20khz), and besides the wavelength is far too long (10000m), for any of your nerves to be acting as antennae. A centimeter, or millimeter scale wave might do something to a nerve, but a 10,000 meter one seems unlikely to.

I find it highly unlikely too, but I think your math is a bit off. You don't need to excite a single nerve, but the entire system. I don't know anything about physiology, but I wouldn't be surprised to be told that there are 10km worth of electrically interconnected 'wires' in our body. If there are, then it wouldn't be outrageous to hypothesis that it could 'pick up' EM radiation at such frequencies. Whether it's enough to matter, I highly doubt, but it doesn't seem completely out of the ballpark.

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#68

Post by burkeen »

Blood-pressure + or - sinus-congestion?

Maybe some people begin to sub/consciously listen for their phone to buzz, vibrate or make a sound and notice the noise of air, static noise, computer fan hums, blood traveling inner ear?

Their utilities run @ 50hz. Maybe there's a conflict with older and newer products manufactured from other countries?

Maybe doppler radar.

Maybe dead air space.

Maybe they're not used to the sound of silence.

Re: A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It

#69

Post by Xcelerate »

Xcelerate wrote: post #50

I don't understand why this is such a big problem. 1) Locate someone suffering from the hum. 2) Take expensive pressure and sound equipment to their location. 3) Record all observable frequencies. 4) a) If nothing shows up, it's a personal biological problem. Direct problem toward medical professionals b) If something shows up on the frequency graph, identify the direction the sound is coming from (again using equipm…

I know you're not supposed to post about this, but I'm kind of curious if there is a particular user on HN that seems to have a grudge against my posts? Until recently, I have never gotten downvotes, and now it seems that I consistently get one on everything I post. The tone and style of my posts has not changed over the past year, so if I have somehow upset some user who is now revenge downvoting, I apologize.
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