The cause of the Hum, very
strong support is presented for a magneto-acoustic theory of both generation
and perception by comparing anecdotal reports from subjects seeking relief in
caves and mines. By Dr Chris Barnes Bangor Scientific and Educational Enterprises
Abstract
The definition of the Hum
and Hummers is briefly reviewed. Anecdotal reports show big differences between
what happens to Hummers in limestone caves and copper mines. These differences are
explained in terms of a magneto acoustic mechanism for Hum generation and
perception. The mechanism elegantly fits
most if not all described properties of the Hum form around the world and
reinforces the recent proposal of the author that the Hum has both natural and
anthropogenic components. Previous space physics connections with the Hum are
reinforced by advocating that the Hum is due to coupling between the magnetic
and seismic manifestations of PC1 pulsations at earth’s surface or in rock with
signals from power systems or even potentially also VLF transmitters and/or
HAARP. The HUM as initially manifest has to be from power systems as these
pre-date the rest.
Introduction
The Hum is an auditory phenomenon which plagues the
lives of thousands, possibly millions of people Worldwide. The Hum was fist
widely reported in the UK in the late 1970’s and in the USA in the 1990’s. The
Hum is sporadic in both time and place and reports continue to this day and
appear to be on the increase.
Those afflicted by the Hum report hearing a persistent
low frequency noise with quasi-periodic variations to both frequency and
amplitude not unlike a distant, slowly idling, mistuned, diesel engine. They also report the noise as being worse
inside buildings and at the dead of night. The Hum can be very distressing for
individuals especially if they don’t realise that it is a real external
phenomenon.
People who hear or perceive the Hum are known loosely
as ‘Hummers’. The author, his wife and
two other close family members are all Hummers.
The author began hearing the Hum in 2005 and having Scientific and
Engineering training decided to try and solve the enigma what is the Hum and
what causes the Hum.
Undoubtedly, some cases of the Hum can and have been explained
by Low frequency noise and infrasound.
Low frequency noise however, can sometimes be audio-recorded. There are cases of the Hum including the
famous Taos Hum which cannot or have not
yet be recorded and this has led the present author to draw a distinction and
to coin the phrase Hum type 3 for Hums which fall into this category.
The hypothesis is that the noise or magnetic field
alone would be too weak to elicit a bio-response but when combined a duelling
or synaesthesia of the senses occurs. Given that it the existences of two
different molecular forms of bio-magnetite have recently been found in man. Many organisms, including humans,
biochemically precipitate the ferrimagnetic mineral
magnetite (Fe3O4). In the magnetotactic
bacteria, the geomagnetic response is based on either biogenic magnetite or greigite (Fe3S4), and reasonably good
evidence exists that this is also the case in higher animals such as the honey
bee, Joseph L. Kirschvink et al. Thus this is a
by no means unreasonable hypothesis.
A closed model in extremely strong support of the author’s
magneto-acoustic hypothesis for the Hum is that certain car electrical systems,
for example, the PWM vanity light dimmer circuit, will elicit the perception of
Hum like effects in Hum sensitive individuals. The author has personal experience of this
phenomenon, the anecdotal evidence of his wife and a personal communication
from a lady Hummer in South Wales who experiences the Hum in parked motor
vehicles also.
Seeking
Relief in Mines and Caves.
The original paper on the Hum by David Deming ( ref) mentions a reference to Hummers seeking and obtaining
relief from the Hum in deep limestone mines.
The original reference has been traced and included in
its entirety for completeness.
From
TINNITUS, L. Sheppard and C. Sheppard,
Norfolk
Tinnitus Society, 1993
The Phenomenon of Low
Frequency Hums
What would cause an otherwise perfectly
normal man to sleep on a
local park bench during
many of the late Spring and Summer nights?
Or
to camp out in Market Square whilst his wife brings him food and
drink during the day? The answer to this and much more lies in the
Phenomenon
of Low Frequency Noise, which is being reported by many
thousands of people
in this country [Great Britain]. In this
particular
case this man's local park
and his city centre are two locations he
has discovered in which
these mysterious noises do not trouble him.
This problem has been known for at least two
decades yet still
remains a mystery
although the number of complaints have increased
at an alarming rate.
It has been authoritatively stated that many
thousands of people
all over the country are
complaining of being plagued by this noise.
This
may well be a conservative estimate, for amongst a wealth of
personal reports
on my own files many of these people are stating
that they find it best not
to say anything to others about it in
case they may be regarded
as "mad" or "weird".
There must be a
host of unreported cases.
Although not a sufferer, I personally became
aware of the
phenomenon around
1986 when the media reported a number of complaints
of a low pitched humming
sound in the small village of Worlingham
in Suffolk. I am aware that there existed reports of this
problem
much earlier than this.
I spent a whole day in Worlingham
at the time and interviewed
a considerable number
of these people. My tentative suggestion
that perhaps some of them
were suffering from a low frequency type
of tinnitus was met on
all sides with adamant rejection. They
were
quite certain that the
noise they were hearing was not in their head
or ears but was reaching
them externally.
All were articulate, sensible people, and in
no way "cranky" or
unusual. Of the people I interviewed there was a
fairly even
distribution of both
men and women from all walks of life.
Although
I
have had tinnitus for many years, quite frankly I
could hear nothing
of the kind of noise
they seemed to be experiencing, yet even as I
spoke to them many were obviously
being greatly disturbed by something.
It was at the time that my earlier book on
tinnitus was just going
to the publishers and I
felt that the problem was so closely allied
to tinnitus that I
decided at almost the last minute to include a
chapter on it in
that book.
Possibly there have been no other published
books dealing with
this particular phenomenon
since, but the outcome has been that
I
have received numerous reports on the matter not only from
Britain but from several foreign countries as well.
I do not think that anyone would dispute the
fact that this
phenomenon exists
and that everyone should be made aware of the
fact that it is causing
untold misery to many thousands of people.
Yet
despite many attempts no one has yet been able to trace the
source and prove
it. It has become popularly known as
"The Hum"
and those suffering from
it are known as "Hummers".
In 1989 these people, finding that nothing
was being done except for
spasmodic reports
appearing in various newspapers etc from time to time
and leading nowhere,
formed their own Society in Britain known as the Low
Frequency
Noise Sufferers Association and today they appear to have a
large membership. Not only do they keep in contact with each
other by
means of a regular
newsletter, but I also know that many of them have
their own private circles
and these people regularly phone one another
comparing
intensities and other current features of the noise.
Numerous suggestions have been put forward at
different times
from various sources as to
the cause, most popular being that
the large underground
pipes carrying North Sea Gas are to blame.
The
strength of this suggestion has often been apparently backed
by the fact that increased
incidence seems to occur soon after
the laying of these pipe
lines. But on this British Gas reply
"It
is one hundred percent
certain there is no link. We have done
all
sorts of tests on the whole
theory."
Other suggestions have revolved around such
things as electricity
pylons, water
mains, underground railways and water pumps, generators,
fans, transformers,
electromagnetic fields set up around radio or TV
transmitters,
microwaves, etc...but nothing has been firmly
identified
as being the cause. Meantime, thousands of sufferers are having
the
quality of their
lives severely affected and feel extremely bitter
that so little is being
done to help them.
It is an interesting point that from a report
of a Conference on
"The
Hum" held at The Royal Society of Medicine, London, on the
25th
of November 1989 it appears that the majority of people
suffering from the
problem state that the noise appears to have
two differing components
-- a straightforward "hum" plus another
lower frequency modulation.
Sufferers report that the noise is quite
unlike that of tinnitus
as it does not emanate
from within the head or ears and to many of
them it appears to reach
them through walls, floors, and ceilings
when inside, and
externally when outside. It causes them
considerable stress
and loss of sleep which greatly lowers the
quality of
life. The long term effects of such
exposure have yet
to be documented. . . .
A sufferer from Leicester whose daughters and
herself are all
suffering badly from
the noise writes "at all hours of the day
and night we roam around
the area trying to locate the source."
Being
unable to sleep in the house when the noise is particularly
bad, she is forced to
sleep in the garden shed, the only place in
her home where she is
free of the problem. . . .
This phenomenon is not by any means confined
to Britain for I
personally know that
it exists in Italy, Canada and Spain [and the
U.S.]
and probably worldwide. . . .
There are a number of very good reasons why
these people should
be taken seriously. It is all too easy to point to the
possibilities
of some aural disfunction -- this is the standard explanation from
most of the medical
profession. But it is pointed out that
these
sufferers from
"The Hum" are able to find certain places in which
they do not experience the
noise any time. This is very different
from the experience of
anyone with tinnitus in which the noises are
with them wherever they
may be.
Additionally a number of these people will
tell you that they
have tinnitus and are
quite aware that one noise is within the
head and the other
definitely coming from some external source.
It seems to me that one very reasonable
explanation might
be that certain people
may have an extension of the normal
spectrum of
hearing, and if this extension leans toward the lower
range of frequencies they
may well be picking up some noise which
others cannot
hear as it is beyond the range of normal hearing.
There have been reports of
"Hummers" going into deep limestone
caves such as exist in
Cheddar and Wookey Hole when the noise
completely ceases --
a further indication that this is no fantasy.
Whilst noise experts admit to being
completely baffled, thousands
of people continue to
suffer from the phenomenon and are being made
ill by untraceable sounds
which the other members of their families
cannot hear at
all. . . .
I feel that what is needed most of all at the
moment is for the
three professional camps
involved -- the authorities, the medical
world, and noise experts --
to agree to pool knowledge and resources
in a combined effort to
try to pin down the cause. . . .
Clearly the authors of the article are convinced that
the Hum is a real effect but are mystified as to its cause. One could perhaps have
a hypothesis that if the Hum were due to acoustic noise from the surface then
this noise would be attenuated as one got deeper underground, similarly if the
Hum were due to electromagnetic radiation other than ELF which penetrates the
ground.
If the former were true than all deep caves and mines
ought to attenuate the Hum. If the
latter were true mines and caves with more electrically conductive rock such as
for example copper mines ought to attenuate the Hum even better.
The present author has recently obtained a link to a
U-tube clip showing an American Hummer taken into a copper mine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__EOZnBED6E. Instead of
this individual’s perception of the Hum weakening according to the above
hypothesis it actually got worse!
Discussion
in support of magneto-acoustic generation and detection (perception) of the
Hum
The only way to square the above results, appreciated
they are anecdotal, but such is the nature of doing science with subjective
phenomena, is to advance both a magneto acoustic generation and perception
mechanism for the Hum. The present
author has already discussed such mechanisms elsewhere (refs). Limestone is the least magnetic of all
sedimentary rocks, magnetic properties Dearing Handbook (refs).
In copper mines, it is virtually impossible to find Copper Ore without inclusion of Nickel Ore due to the density of these elements. Nickel ore is magnetic and chalcopyrite one of the main ores of copper is magnetic when heated. Such magnetic materials will respond to varying magnetic fields of appropriate frequency by exhibiting magnetostriction. Indeed combined electric and magnetic stimulation in rock is known to bring about increased acoustic emission Borovskii, B. V.; Bogomolov, L. M.; Zakupin, A. S.; Mubassarova, V. A.Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, Volume 47, Issue 10, pp.926-936
It was first realized
the VLF would propagate well in copper
and iron ore in 1963, A.S. Eve et al (ref).
Many of the regions in the World which experience the
Hum stand on igneous rock which is the most magnetic. These include the famous Largs and North Shore Newzealand. The oldest rocks in the
Taos range are also igneous rocks.
Even house bricks themselves become magnetised in the brick making
process (New Scientist Vol. 90, No. 1257 11th
June 1981) and also
exhibit piezoelectricity.
The present author has already showed evidence in very
strong support of the Hum arising as a mixture of natural and anthropogenic
seismic (seismo-electric and magneto-seismic)
processes. This in itself is
sufficient to explain why the subject who went into a copper mine found an
enhancement of the Hum. There would also
be the possibility of mutual coupling between fields in the rock and fields
established in any bio magnetite within the individual in addition to the
direct coupling of noise and vibration from underlying rock to buildings and
into the ear of the subject.
Those researching the Hum have long sought to explain
the effect of its apparent fundamental frequency with quasi-periodic
modulation. The magneto-acoustic
mechanism of Hum generation and perception allows elegantly for this. The Hum has been tone matched by those
afflicted at between 30 -80 Hz. These
are frequencies typical of power system harmonics ( 2
x 16.7Hz) , sub-harmonics, fundamentals
and inter-harmonics. Power systems frequencies would normally be monotones and
easily screened out by the brain (ref) but with modulations this would not be
so possible.
The modulations are described as quasi –periodic and
between 0.2-5 Hz. These are frequencies and behaviours typical of PC1
geo-magnetic pulsations (refs). There is
scope for mixing of these frequencies both in the earth and rock (refs) and in
the ear and body (ref). The hypothesis
is that the body is very highly tuned to geo-magnetism and indeed there are
numerous references to this (refs) yet would normally be unaware of such low
frequencies except when they become modulated onto the unnatural signals from
power systems and possibly other anthropogenic electromagnetic, seismic or
acoustic sources. Non-linear seismic
coupling is well known and is exploited in two US patents7227362 and RE41829.
The author has previously made reference to the
magnetic component of the Hum being severely enhanced in Bangor when the
Interplanetary Magnetic field points Southwards and to an effect of the solar
wind. This is not inconsistent with
the above hypothesis and is supported by the work of McPherron
(ref).
The author has also previously made reference to the
Hum getting worse before significant earthquakes. In extremely strong support of this is and
the notion of PC1 pulsations as the ‘natural’ component of the Hum is the paper
by J.Bortnik et al ( ref) which indicates that at
least for daytime pulsations earthquakes are three to five times more likely
the week after!
It has been shown that even PC1 pulsations themselves
are not entirely natural and events can be precipitated by human activity
(refs). Such activity includes power line harmonic radiation, VLF transmitters
(T.F. Bell 1976) and HAARP (refs). The
HUM as initially manifest and described of course has to be from power systems
as these pre-date the rest.
Clearly the
Chinese are concerned about a possible connection between power systems
emissions and earthquakes, see Wu Jing Fu Jingjing
(ref). The Russians too are very concerned about anthropogenic modulation of natural
wave processes; see Guglielmi and Zotov
(ref). The Hum is all too obvious of a
reminder that these influences are getting greater.
Apparently
mankind now perhaps somewhat arrogantly seeks to take over nature’s processes
see the ‘Resonance Project’ which seeks to actively affect the conditions for
PC1 generation (ref). PC1 pulsations can
also be influenced by altering the DC electric field in the atmosphere and /or
by AGWS (ref). There are doubtless
technologies being developed to address these controlling facets as well.
Discussion
and future work
Who knows what the future holds. Such technologies to control PC1 could be a
potential way of reducing the Hum or making it less penetrating. Conversely there is potential for making it
worse or even making it a weapon. It
would seem there is a lot of interest in developing 3D ELF radar for oil
deposits and scanning for underground tunnels.
In this respect HAARP has already been tested as a CSAMT transmitter
(refs).
At least now Hummers can feel confident that they
understand their affliction. Hum free
hotels might be developed wherein one could sleep in a mu metal room FOR A FEE
OF COURSE! Special diets or drugs might be developed to rid our bodies of
bio-magnetite and ferritin?
What is needed now by the present author is access to
lots of Hummers (more experimental subjects) and funding to develop my work.
The last seven years has been one of the most prolific
authoring periods of my life. As a scientist I feel I have taken on one of the
most complex and few last remaining unexplained phenomena in the World and I am
so grateful that the intellect I have been blessed with has allowed me a
glimpse of the solution.
Acknowledgements
I
wish to acknowledge my wife and son and former colleague Stuart Wisher for
interesting discussions on the Hum. I further wish to acknowledge all the
Hummers around Britain with whom I have had direct telephone and email contact
and without whose anecdotal input my work would not have been possible.