
A noise two percent of people can hear - pseudolus
https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/593992/doom-vibrations/
======
UI_at_80x24
Here is a less 'conspiracy theory' styled set of articles about "The Windsor
Hum".

[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/world/canada/windsor-
hum....](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/world/canada/windsor-hum.html)

[https://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/w...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/shortcuts/2018/feb/21/windsor-
hum-us-steel-fault)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum)

[https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/a-mysterious-and-
mad...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/a-mysterious-and-maddening-
hum-is-tormenting-residents-of-this-canadian-city/)

[https://www.international.gc.ca/department-
ministere/windsor...](https://www.international.gc.ca/department-
ministere/windsor_hum_results-bourdonnement_windsor_resultats.aspx?lang=eng)

------
pseudolus
There's an article where he linked the hum to possible behavioural changes and
mentioned such an effect with respect to Adam Lanza (the Sandy Hook shooter)
[0]. That alone should have prompted The Atlantic to have done a little more
fact checking.

[0] [https://www.newtownbee.com/brookfield-man-implored-police-
to...](https://www.newtownbee.com/brookfield-man-implored-police-to-consider-
gas-pipeline-syndrome-in-lanza-investigation)

~~~
djsumdog
Did you watch the whole thing? This article is mentioned in the video.

~~~
pseudolus
I must confess I only read the article and got through the first five minutes
of the documentary.

------
djsumdog
This is really interesting and I'm glad The Atlantic is covering it. I've
heard about this before.

This guy is an a actual engineer and he seems to be going about this in a
scientific manor. Still, I find it interesting he couldn't trace back or
triangulate the vibrations to their source. Their obviously real, as seen by
the bodies of water moving like pools and such.

Is the difficulty in triangulating frequencies this low is because it's
difficult to get an emission direction?

The gas pipeline is a good theory, but then he goes on about all kinds of
symptoms, mental health, schizophrenia, school shootings ... that's where it
turns to the entire "mercury teeth filling" issue. The guy who was convinced
mercury fillings lead to all kinds of issues said he had links to MS,
neurological disorders, etc. etc. ... basically every possible ill .. You
might as well say The Devil + Snake Oil at that point.

It's sad he spent so many years of his life researching this. I would have
just moved. He lived way out and probably had a commute anyway (or maybe he
worked from home or was retired)? Sure it's work and you might loose some
money selling/buying, but moving costs for a house that size wouldn't be more
than $2k~$5k and you could just move to a new area.

~~~
buffychrome
Yeah, that's his biggest problem. I was with him as he presented evidence, but
then he just dives into all kinds of conclusions and wanders straight into
conspiracy theory territory and loses credibility fast. I do think the gas
pipeline theory as some real merit and, it appears, to have some strong
circumstantial evidence to support it, but to draw conclusions from the data?
Sorry, but you just can't. There isn't enough, and to try linking it multiple
mental health issues? That's not how that's done.

------
octosphere
I sleep close to an electricity box and it emits a low frequency hum that can
be maddening if exposed to it for long periods of time. It can even wake me up
at night. I don't think it's the same hum as described in the article though.
In general, EMF is something to avoid, although it's very hard to dodge it in
urban areas where electricity boxes and wires are always within short
distance.

~~~
godelski
The hun you are hearing from that box isn't from EMFs. It could be a lot of
things though. A common one is a high pitch hum from transistors. That can
actually indicate that they're wearing down (kids can hear this the best. So
ask them about a high pitch noise from an old TV. They'll think it's normal).
A low hum could be something mechanical inside. Or is could be some kind of
resonance. Hard to say what they are, but they aren't EMFs.

~~~
opwieurposiu
Magnetostriction is what makes transformers hum. The magnetic field changes
the shape of the material turning it into a sort of loudspeaker.

[https://eng.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Materials_Science/Sup...](https://eng.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Materials_Science/Supplemental_Modules_\(Materials_Science\)/Magnetic_Properties/Magnetostriction)

------
darrenf
Five years ago there were reports of "the Surbiton hum", precisely where I
live – that is, I reside in exactly the part of Surbiton where the hum is most
audible, to those who can discern it. Reports started in a local forum and
made their way up to an article in The Times[0] which was itself reported in
Fortean Times[1]. I was kinda disappointed not to be able to hear it myself.

[0] [https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/weather-eye-a-resident-
hu...](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/weather-eye-a-resident-
hum-7blgbcqmpw6) [1]
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/dsf/14958914130/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/dsf/14958914130/)

~~~
djsumdog
Could it be registered with equipment that was designed to pick up low
frequency sound? Is the trouble with tracking down this stuff is because it's
hard to get directional readings and triangulate low frequency sound? (The
reason it doesn't matter where you position a subwoofer in a surround sound
setup).

------
Reason077
This sounds like exactly the sort of thing that noise-cancelling headphones
are good at counteracting.

I too suffer from a "hum", but in my case it has a clear explanation: a noisy
ventilation fan on the roof of my building, right above my bedroom.

Admittedly, headphones can be a bit uncomfortable when you wake up with them
still on your head, but the feeling of silence and being able to get to sleep
easily is priceless by comparison.

Perhaps someday, someone will develop noise cancelling _earbuds_ that can be
comfortably worn while sleeping, even if you roll over?

~~~
Etheryte
The wiki description of the phenomenon [1] covers that using earplugs doesn't
reduce the sensation. Hence I don't see how cancelling headphones would be
different — if the sensation isn't direct audio then it wouldn't be caught.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum#Description](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum#Description)

~~~
Reason077
Active noise cancelling headphones are, in my experience, much more effective
at cancelling continuous low-frequency sounds than earplugs which only attempt
to block them.

On the other hand, if “the hum” is at frequencies that are normally too low to
be heard by most of us, then they may be also too low to be recognised by
noise cancellation hardware.

A range of frequencies are given in the Wikipedia link for the phenomenon, in
various different cities, and some of them should certainly be within the
normal, cancellable range.

------
buffychrome
It's clear this is a phenomenon...too much subjective evidence to rule it out.
He appears to have approached this from a fairly scientific approach and
appears to have gathered some quantitative evidence. Where it breaks down is
in the drawing of conclusions.

The real problem with this issue appears to be in the lack of interest from
others in the scientific community to properly investigate it. If his theory
about gas pipelines has merit, then it seems like there would be some simple
ways to investigate and test that.

------
specialist
TLDR: Get your ears checked, rule out medical causes.

Recently, my sweetie was going mad because she was hearing annoying sounds.
From her description, it was a high pitched whine with a periodic click. Worse
at night (when things were more quiet).

Long story short, she now has an age related form of tinnitus. From memory, a
small section of the tissue under the follicles in her inner ear has weakened.
So that frequency range is impaired (the ringing) and the hairs flop around
(the click, probably in sync with breathing or heartbeat, or whatever).

TIL: There are many forms of tinnitus and other hearing diseases. I have Drum
& Bass induced tinnitus -- always wear ear protection while clubbing -- and
had no awareness of other forms.

TIL: Anxiety and hearing problems can be a vicious cycle. Once she got a
diagnosis, and some mitigations, her anxiety subsided. Which is supposedly
typical.

~~~
alexibm
Hello, I have found your comment to my prev. comment, posted some months ago
"Hey alexibm. Since neither of us included contact info in our profiles,
commenting here instead of a PM. I stumbled across one of your prior comments.
All I want to say is I hope you're now doing well. Or least better. I'll
delete this reply in a few days, or after you acknowledge, which ever comes
first."

Thank you for looking out for me. I'm pretty sure, I know the comment you are
referring to. At this point, it is been over 2 years. I would not say, I'm
completely healed over, but I'm in a lot better place than I was before. To
this day, I have bad days.

Person in question, who caused a lot of needless harm to me, recently popped-
out on my FB (haven't spoken to her in 2 years). She was not apologetic,
instead, she told me how fun it is skiing in Alps. When I question, if she
understands that she caused a lot of harm to me, she went silent. From what I
understood, she wanted to see if I have forgiven her since then ... I didn't.
Asked her to never come back to my life.

~~~
specialist
Hi. Glad you're doing better.

Some people disappear, with out so much as a goodbye. The lack of closure
leaves a huge wound.

Other people just won't go away. I also have my zombie tormenters. One just
defeated my best efforts to block. Just when you think they're gone for good,
they pop up again. FFS.

Jeffrey from the BBC comedy 'Coupling' calls those people 'unflushables'.

Someone someday will make a mint with a proactive "ghosting" app (or service).
Short of restraining orders, of course. :)

Best wishes.

------
lisper
The obvious question that no one seems to have asked nor answered: can a
_microphone_ detect this sound?

~~~
wyldfire
The linked-to documentary ("Doom Vibrations") shows Kohlhase armed with a
microphone and a spectrograph.

My personal belief is that these kinds of news articles happens when you mix
together (1) some legitimate phenomenon for which it's difficult to measure
(or not obvious what physical dimensions to measure) with (2) nutcases who
love mysteries/conspiracies. Maybe they or people they know are really
suffering as a result of some external stimulus and we don't have a good way
to diagnose or treat them (or identify the stimulus). That's a tragedy and it
would be great if someone could pursue it and identify it. But they're clearly
nuts and we shouldn't entertain their speculation until/unless they can show
objective evidence.

~~~
ianai
He’s clearly trying to quantify it with many different measurements in the
video. Shoes his dog reacting to something, vibrations in water, etc.

~~~
wyldfire
His dog's "reaction" is all based on his conjecture that its behavior is due
to the same phenomenon that he describes hearing. Same with the water.

There's no evidence presented that links the waves with the sound he claims to
hear or his claims that the dog's behavior is abnormal. But part of the
problem there is that the filmmaker is choosing to strike (IMO) a very
mysterious tone with the editing and score. If we wanted to be non-nutcases,
we'd cut to the MD PhD human audiology expert or the physicist or someone who
would be able to substantiate or refute the claims.

"Yes, I've sampled all kinds of places and this low frequency band is not
normally so powerful."

"Yes, some humans can hear this band. We did a controlled test with the
subject and he had abnormally good response at the low frequency range."

We didn't see anything of the sort. So either the filmmaker decided not to
consult experts, decided to put that towards the end ( _), or consulted them
and they refuted the claims.

(_) I'm not patient enough to get past the video where the nutcases debate the
priorities while exploring the wilderness.

------
solotronics
It could even be the wind interacting with some structure nearby.

~~~
Reason077
In that case, it would presumably be moderated or eliminated on calm nights?

------
lxmorj
Noise cancelling umbrella above your whole head?

------
sleepysysadmin
I used to live in Windsor. The Windsor hum is complete bullshit.

~~~
Etheryte
If the title holds true (two percent of population is affected) then it isn't
too likely you'd fall within that.

~~~
sleepysysadmin
You know what doesnt happen in Detroit? The Windsor hum is just for Windsor.
How come Detroit folks never hear it?

You know what else Windsor has?

Cancer clusters all over the city. [https://www.wechu.org/reports/remington-
park-cancer-cluster-...](https://www.wechu.org/reports/remington-park-cancer-
cluster-investigation-report)

If you go somewhere in Windsor, anywhere, people will tell you they are in a
cancer cluster.

Maybe it's because of the Radon? [https://www.wechu.org/healthy-
homes/radon](https://www.wechu.org/healthy-homes/radon)

[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/radon-gas-could-
affec...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/radon-gas-could-affect-nine-
locations-in-windsor-1.2665850)

Oh right, government came in, discovered Windsor is unusually clear of radon.
We had LESS radon than the average. Due primarily to the salt mine and
impenetrable deposits. Oh and that "Radon Measurement Professional" He's a
truck driver. He knows nothing about nothing. I've talked to him, I wouldn't
trust him working at mcdonalds. His scam he told me about

Did you also know Windsor gets thousands of cases of west nile every year?
Pretty much all of them it turns out didn't actually have west nile...

Oh how about the thousand people who blamed the Ohio nuclear plant for
radiation poisoning. [https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/amherstburg-residents-near-
nuclea...](https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/amherstburg-residents-near-nuclear-
plant-to-get-anti-radiation-pills-1.3903204) Oh good we have radiation pills
now.

Windsor is a dying city. What's far more common in Windsor is people running
scams. You name the scam, I bet I know someone who is doing it.

