The Hum, Hummers and the earthquake connection, by Dr Chris Barnes, Bangor Scientific Consultants,
e-mail scienceconsultants@yahoo.co.uk June 2012
Introduction
The Hum is generic term for an annoying, and in some
cases magneto-acoustic, low frequency noise phenomenon which plagues an
estimated 10% or so of the populous mainly in the ‘Western’ world. Those who
hear, or rather perceive, the Hum have been loosely referred to as
Hummers. The classic Hum is described as
sounding like a distant, idling and sometimes misfiring engine. The noise is
often worse in the dead of night and there are also reports of it peaking
according to planetary cycles and the position of the 300mB jet stream.
There have been numerous theories attempting to try
and explain the Hum ranging from internal problems such as tinnitus, pulsatile flow and temporal lobe issues to external signal
sources. When one considers external signal sources there has been play on
everything from infrasonic noise to radio waves and given the geographic
locations of early Hum cases there has even been play on conspiracy theories
involving secret communication systems and the like. However, as the World has developed
it is now clear that the Hum is springing up in parts of the World not directly
allied with say Nato or the
Western Military and thus we can rule out such causes.
Clearly then the Hum is a phenomenon which in its
cause is related to infrastructure but
wherein the arrival of the Hum signal also depends on facets as diverse as
space and atmospheric physics and the geology of the solid earth. Some Hum cases have been solved or at least
partially solved these are cases the
author refers to as Hum type 1 (ref) and have been found to be caused simply by
rather local low frequency noise and infrasound sources, usually more than one
in number and emitting more than one acoustic or infrasonic frequency. Only
with such conditions can one readily account for two important features of the
Hum, i.e. its quasi-periodicity and the fact that it maximises at some
locations presumably by constructive interference but not at others.
An example of Hum type 1 is the Kokomo Hum. Another case which was solved and provided
a full scientific study is found at the following link http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2004;volume=7;issue=25;spage=23;epage=28;aulast=feldmann.
However for every case that is solved there are
probably at least another two Hum cases which are not fully solved. An example is when the noise source is
somewhat more distant, the author calls this Hum type 2. A possible example of this is the Windsor Hum
in Canada. The source is suspected to be Detroit’s industrial artificial Zug
Island but the precise source and cause haven’t been found. This is perhaps
more like the Hummadruz of the Industrial Revolution?
Finally there are Hums which the author refers to as
Hum type 3 which are far and above the most interesting and also perplexing.
These are Hums which the author believes originates in the World’s electricity
generation and distribution industry.
The author’s own home area has its own Hum type 3 which the author will
call the Bangor and Anglesey Hum. This Hum began in 2003 with the closure of
the Calder Hall nuclear power station. The author has also show
it to vary according to whether or not the local pumped storage hydro-plant is
pumping (i.e. using) or generating electricity and specifically down to certain
specific motor-generator groupings.
What does a power plant emit? The answer is ground
borne vibrations and airborne noise.
What do the connected pylons emit?
The answer is the same but additionally magnetic and electromagnetic
fields in the same or similar ac frequency range, spanning the sub, inter and
multiple harmonics of 50Hz from about 2-2000Hz, a sort of acousto-magnetic
comb spectrum.
Why is the Hum getting worse? Simply that the power density on the World’s
power grids is increasing as we become more and more industrialised and there
is more and more solid state switch gear and DC injection that accentuates
frequencies other than the intended pure synchronous sine wave at 50Hz.
Hummers
Hummers are the group who have to suffer this assault
and onslaught which is a by-product of human progress! There are so few people who have properly
researched the Hum like the present author that progress in rectifying our
problems has been slow or zero. The author hopes to spread the word to help
those afflicted.
We are condescendingly told we hear the Hum because we
have sensitive ears so we should just shut up, grin and bear it or go to
relaxation classes. But are there other reasons why we hear the noise? The present author has suggested
sensitisation by pulsed radio systems as a mechanism. If one considers the
explosion of cases of Hum in the USA since the introduction of Broadband over
power lines it is looking like this hypothesis might be correct. However such
Broadband connections also produce current imbalances and altered earth
pathways for high frequency harmonics so pulsed radio frequency might only be
part of the story. Is there another
cause?
The earthquake connection.
The author has long since realised that the Bangor Hum
seems to get worse just before a major World Earthquake and then diminish for a
while afterwards. Further has advanced
theories for this based on stresses in the solid earth altering the propagation
of anthropogenic seismic signals.
But what if earthquakes sensitised us Hummers to the
Hum in the first place? What if the our Hum
sensitivity is a Biological or God given defence mechanism to help us survive
earthquakes.
Certainly the author and his immediate family who all
hear the Hum have all been in two earthquakes.
One was magnitude 5.1, the other was magnitude 3.2. Based on this idea the author decided to
survey several more Hummers not known personally to him and not experiencing
the Bangor Hum but experiencing Hums elsewhere in the UK. The results are tabulated below.
GENDER |
AGE |
EQ Y/N |
HUM HEARER Y/N |
Male |
27 |
y |
Y |
Female |
58 |
y |
y |
Male |
55 |
y |
y |
Female |
55 |
y |
y |
Female |
RNS |
Y |
Y |
Female |
RNS |
Y |
Y |
Female |
RNS |
Y |
Y |
RNS = Rather not say
As you can see every Hummer interviewed was in an earthquake
some time before they started hearing the Hum.
Discussion
It is both highly instructive and exciting to consider
that not only does an earthquake have associated with it noise and three
dimensional vibration at and below 50Hz but it also has associated
electromagnetic changes as pre-cursors, during and after. For instance the earth’s local magnetic
field can increase markedly before an
earthquake. Pre-cursor electrometric signals between .02 and 5 Hz are strongly
amplified and the earth’s local electric field can increase or decrease by up
to 100 fold depending on which type of sub micron metallic aerosols are emitted
from the fracturing rocks together with radon gas.
It is the authors’ hypothesis that once a human being
is exposed to these changing frequencies and energy fields thereafter our
bio-defence mechanism kicks in and one is forever sensitised. Sadly the synchronous machines of our power
generation system emit similar vibration frequencies with allied phase
relationships from all machines which
use this energy and all cables which transport it hence we experience the
Hum.
There are very few Hum reports from Japan. Japan is one of the most seismically active
countries in the World thus natural seism signals dominate the ground
spectrum. In the UK, earthquakes are
rare so we sensitised Hummers tune in to the second best (or worst as the case
may be) thing. Human and biological
systems often employ coherent detection. The Hum appears to be a coherent
phenomenon. Whether we like it or not, there is synaesthesia between the
acoustic and magnetic signals perceived in Hum type 3 which can only be
possible because of the elegant beauty of nature’s design. Animals too are known to behave strangely
before earthquakes, the author wonders if they are distressed by the Hum?
Further work
The author has found a fascinating and unexpected
variation of the low frequency ac magnetic field in the whole of the city of
Bangor. Corresponding electric field measurements are now in progress.