The "HUM"

I've mulled posting this before, but it's a phenomenon that afflicts about 5% of population +/- some. I've corresponded with people about the issue before, the reason that I'm posting it here is that, when active, it adds to anxiety.

We started to hear it about 5 years ago, we rented, full time, a house in a country setting (nothing elaborate) about 120 miles north of the city where we reside. We were sitting on the veranda, (just kidding, it's a humble screened in porch) early one evening, and we had both noticed the noise, a persistent low frequency HUM, reminiscent of a diesel engine idling in the distance, sounding like a train. I had read about "The HUM" before, and other people's struggles with it, but never suspected it would afflict us. Characteristic of the HUM is that people commonly start hearing it in their early 50's, which we had just entered.

Now, if it had been confined to just that house, I'd not be writing about it now, but after that day, we began to hear it just about everywhere. In our city of residence, and many miles to the west of the county home, in an adjacent state, just about most places where we traveled. One of my sons was with us in the adjacent state mention in the previous sentence, and we stopped the car in the country, got out, and my wife and I heard the HUM over the sounds of insects and birds, my son heard nothing but the insects and birds.

My wife and I hear it in characteristic ways, some areas of our house in the city the HUM would be concentrated, other areas to a much lesser degree. My wife and I have drastically different hearing, she has impairment due to genetic issues, and I have been cautious about protecting my hearing even though I work in heavy industry. Because of my noise exposures, at work we receive yearly hearing tests, I have no hearing loss (of significance) since I started over 15 years ago.

My wife and I are in a unique position, we both hear it, we both hear it louder in the areas where it concentrates, and we both are free from hearing it at the same time. Many people would have a spouse or significant other that does not hear it, and with anxiety and a range of physical ailments (such as Fibromyalgia) many people don't believe because they have no personal experience. The HUM, at times, is almost felt more, in the ears, than heard. For us, with the TV on, or the white noise device we use to aid in sleep, these do a good job of masking it. (We've slept with a fan on for noise long before we began hearing the HUM) We've been free of the HUM for over a year, but it has recently returned.

If you find a site that claims to have audio of the HUM, and it is of the more common low frequency variety, there's a good chance that you won't hear it unless you use headphones, you may not hear the sample at all if your equipment is not capable of reproducing very low frequencies. If anyone is afflicted with this bizarre condition, or know someone that is, I'd like hear in this forum how you or they handle it. If you have friends, relatives, a spouse or significant other that has complained of this, you may want to take them seriously, it is annoying and adds to stress.

www.thehum.info/

www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/the_hum_heard_by_a_few_but_devastating_to_the_lives_of_sufferers_1_3199619

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2380368/Can-hear-The-Hum-How-1-50-world-affected-low-droning-noise-scientists-explain.html

t.nbcnews.com/science/mysterious-hum-driving-people-crazy-around-world-6C10760872

abcnews.go.com/US/t/story?id=91912

Hi Kitt,

There are many theories about the cause. I'm not concerned about that because, natural or man made, I'll lay good money that there isn't anything I can do to change it. Not that I wish anything disturbing on anyone, but it's a relief that my wife and I experience it together, if it were just her, assuredly I'd think her crazy, or vice versa.

My ENT (he is the surgeon that removed my thyroid due to cancerous nodules, maintains my thyroid meds, and I visit twice a year), tried to tell me it was tinnitus, but when I explained that my wife hears and and doesn't hear it simultaneously with myself, just got an odd expression and dropped the topic.

We had been nearly a year without hearing it, and since we are not profoundly affected, as evidently some are, I made the mistake of saying that I kind of missed it. Oops, that was a mistake, it eventually came back.

Of course I was interested in hearing the stories from any others that hear it, or know people that do, but I also wanted to float the condition out there for others to know that it exists, it's much better to know that you're not alone or going nuts.

In a similar vein, things that occur but many of us never hear about, have you ever heard of Charles Bonnet Syndrome. It afflicts some people experiencing Macular Degeneration and manifests as visual hallucinations. Though these hallucinations are usually correctly interpreted as such by the patient, not invoking terror, imagine the relief if you are in early stages of macular degeneration and the doctor tells you this is a possibility in the course of the disease.

http://lighthouse.org/about-low-vision-blindness/vision-disorders/charles-bonnet-syndrome/

Knowledge can be a source of anxiety or can ameliorate it.

Yes, I'm familiar with what you're talking about it.

I first became aware of it after "The Trumpets" (do you know what I refer to?) a few years ago, were heard.

It started me on this quest of curiosity. I just enjoy learning new things.

What I found interesting was how these can be recorded (so it isn't just a perception), and it occurs in many places that are not even near power plants.




M.

I'm familiar with what you're referring to. I was not familiar, however, that there was any link or correlation to people who recognize hearing the hum starting in or around their 50's.

I only mentioned the Trumpets because when that occurred, it sparked an interest in me to learn more about other aural phenomenon, and that's when I learned about the hum. I know it's elusive, but I've heard it captured a few times.

It is odd that not everyone is susceptible to hearing this particular frequency.

Perhaps there is something in our human development and the mechanics and workings of the inner ear that sensitize us to certain noises as we age. I'm extremely sensitive to those sounds (comparable to living near power lines), and will get headaches and visual disturbances.

I know those are two different things than what you started this thread about. I just find it fascinating.



M.

I'm also very sensitive to sounds, and very in-tune to voices. It's a default mechanism in me, but when I hear someone speak, I can usually quite accurately determine the extent of their dental work. Linguistic subtleties don't escape me.

I do the same thing with pieces of music, note sequences, foley sounds,...my mind can automatically break down the "whole" of what I am hearing into their smaller respective pieces. It's a curse.

I've also noticed that the older I get, the less tolerance I have for high pitched sounds. I don't know if that's also attributed to aging bones in our middle/inner ear, or the loss of bone density and how sound conducts through the skull. I listen to just about every kind of music out there, but sometimes, the sound of one bird will squeak through and feel like nails on a chalkboard.

I haven't given it much thought before, but you bring up some very interesting things to contemplate.



M.

very interesting. I have never heard of this before. I am a grad student in a physics program but I really enjoy reading about the occult, ET, government, etc. I love listening to "Coast to Coast".

If you can get some recordings it would be great to perform a FFT (fast fourier transform) to pick out the frequencies. this should prove if the noise is physical or simply perceived.

There is a great new E book just out called 'The Hum'. It is a fiction book which explores a very plausible theory on the source of the hum. You can download it for $2.99 at ebookit.com, Amazon, ibooks, barnes and Noble.

I think we have veered off the topic of anxiety here, and therefore I am going to lock down this thread.

Be well everyone!

Scaredy Cat