What is the Hum and why is it so random and geo-sporadic?
By Dr Chris Barnes Bangor
Scientific Consultants www.drchrisbarnes.co.uk email scienceconsultants@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
The nature of the Hum is
briefly reviewed. A strong hypothesis for the Hum (type 3) as a magneto-acoustic
effect is advanced. Only by using such a
hypothesis in conjunction with one in which allows the generation of the Hum
signal to be due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic processes can
one even begin to explain how the Hum is perceived and what has been even more
perplexing for others that is its very geo-sporadic
nature.
Introduction
The Hum (type 3) (ref) is a highly subjective, geo-sporadic,
magneto-acoustic phenomenon which afflicts an estimated 2-11% (ref) of the
adult population. Those afflicted mainly but not exclusively describe hearing a
noise like a distant possibly misfiring diesel engine. Their experience is
usually, but not exclusively, worse in the dead of night. Reasons for this are
explained elsewhere (refs). The Hum (type
3) is more than just a simple noise and cannot readily be audio recorded (refs). It is possible however, that those who
are sensitive to Hum type 3 may also be sensitive
to infrasound and low frequency noise separately manifest ( Hums type 1 and 2)
(refs). For most afflicted people the Hum appears to be significantly amplified
by buildings (refs) but these must be complete i.e. have roofs and be connected
to the utility services (ref). Most people afflicted by the Hum are aged
between 50-60 years but the author has a son who began hearing the Hum aged 24
and has had personal communication with three female subjects in their 30’s who
also perceive the Hum. Personal experimentation of the author tends to suggest
that modern pulsed electromagnetic technologies may be sensitising people to
the Hum i.e. they are a possible pre-cursor but not the cause. Another
interesting facet of Hum sensitisation is that the majority of people
interviewed by the author who experience the Hum had also survived earthquakes
a few years previous.
Magneto-acoustic hypothesis
Some studies in the USA and Germany claim that certain
‘Hummers’ ( the colloquial for people who hear or perceive the Hum) are able to hear the Hum inside anechoic chambers
and Faraday cages(refs) . Much has been made of this in some pseudo-science
quarters with claims that the Hum is somehow associated with a supernatural
force field. However, a little critical
thinking leads to a much more down to earth hypothesis. Anechoic chambers are only good down to about
150 Hz so short of sealing people inside a vacuum chamber once cannot preclude an
LFN or infrasound component to the Hum no matter how subliminal. A Faraday cage
will screen out high frequency electromagnetic waves but cannot block static or
slowly varying magnetic fields.
It is possibly reasonable then to assume that those
afflicted by the Hum in general (all three types) are sensitive to LFN,
infrasound and/or magnetic fields.
If the majority of Hum cases were simply due to LFN
then it is the present author’s opinion that far more such cases would be readily
solved by environmental health investigators. In fact this turns out not to be the
case. As far as the author is aware only
three such cases Worldwide have had such simple explanations. These include the Hawaii volcanic Hum, the
Kokomo Hum and a case documented in the journal Noise and Health (refs).
Both the author and his wife are Hummers and they together
with a lady subject afflicted by the Hum in South Wales describe and anomalous Hum-like
perception whilst sitting in a motor vehicle after parking and switching off
the engine which is accentuated by opening and closing doors and seems to persist
for the duration of dimming off the vehicle’s interior light. It is not known
if all Hummers experience this effect but since this is fairly crucial to
supporting the present hypothesis any feedback and comment would be most
welcomed. The Hum like effect experience
is similar to but not the same as the Hum in houses per se. The fundamental
difference is that the motor vehicle hum has a regular beat whereas the Hum in
houses has a quasi-periodicity. The hypothesis
for the vehicle is that somehow the vehicle ECU and PWM control circuits generate
a periodic magneto-acoustic signal. Both very weak acoustic and significant magnetic
comb spectra have been recorded inside vehicles under these conditions with fundamental
frequencies of a few Hz and these results have been published elsewhere (refs).
Inside the vehicle the magnetic field fluctuates between about 2 and 8 milli-Guass, maximising near the ECU and vanity light. It is postulated that this manifests a form
of Hum type 3 wherein the acoustic and magnetic signals have a distinct phase
relationship with each other and that Hummers can somehow detect this by a synergistic
combination of the senses.
So magnetically sensitive is the author that he can even
perceive the 100 Hz magnetic field from high tension power grid conductors
usually at a potential of 132 KV or 400 KV and at magnetic field strengths
between 3-12 mG. The experiment is simply to walk immediately
under power lines and force ones fingers in ones ears to the point where all
background noise is totally screened out. One then aligns oneself ear to ear looking
forward with a gaze orthogonal to the run of the conductors and listens very
carefully. One then rotates through 90 degrees. In the first instance a
magnetically sensitive individual will perceive a very weak 100Hz Hum which
will vanish upon rotation.
Regarding Hum type 3 in houses this simply needs extension
of the above hypothesis. Weak acoustic
components must be conducted into the house through its fabric and they must
have some sort of pre-determined phase relationship with the magnetic fields
present. There are numerous avenues for the condition
of both fields which have been discussed by the author and others elsewhere (refs).
Explaining the Hum’s geo-sporadic nature.
There has been massive debate over recent decades on
the origins of the Hum. Is it a natural or an anthropogenic phenomenon? The author has published data which shows at
least for the Bangor Hum this must be an anthropogenic phenomenon because it
varies with day of the week (REF).
Similarly if one plots the aggregated number of unsolved
Hum cases reported in the press in the UK and Eire over the past four decades
it would seem to be increasing in accordance with the amount of energy
production ( unpublished data of the present author) this again strongly supports
an anthropogenic cause.
However, one can equally produce statistical evidence
which to some extent, if not completely, supports a natural cause for the Hum.
JAN |
FEB |
MAR |
APR |
MAY |
JUNE |
JULY |
AUG |
SEP |
OCT |
NOV |
DEC |
45 |
46 |
53 |
27 |
24 |
36 |
54 |
44 |
54 |
48 |
48 |
44 |
Table 1
For example, table 1, above, shows the number of most
highly disturbing Hum events in Bangor on a monthly basis over the last 7
years. If the Hum were due to a natural
process such as seismicity this is known to peak around the equinoxes (ref). There is indeed a peak at the equinoxes but
there is also an unexplained peak in July. The author
(refs) and others (John Dawes (refs) and Vic Nixon (refs)) speculate that the
Hum is due to power systems. Certainly in the UK there would be expected to be
less demand for electricity in July and possibly therefore more surplus
radiations to space and ground and/or
more available for Pumped Storage (HEP) generation, also cited by the present author
as having direct involvement in the Bangor Hum.
Natural seismicity creates both seismic and acoustic
vibration and electromagnetic signals in the earth and rocks. One would have thought however those
humans would have adjusted to these signals over evolutionary epochs and would
not be unnaturally sensitive to them, except perhaps just before an earthquake.
There are documented cases of animals showing such sensitivity. However,
if these signals are disturbed or modulated by
power flows from other sources and if such power flows themselves contain implicitly
linked magnetic and acoustic components then we have the Hum type 3!
Keeping this complex web of interaction in mind, it
now becomes possible to explain the geo-sporadic nature of the Hum. For example virtually anything which interferes
with either natural geo-seismic power flows and/or their modulating anthropogenic
signals has the potential to initiate, modify or terminate the Hum in one particular
locality.
Apart from natural planetary cycles geo-seismic power
flows will be influenced by space physics processes due to earth-atmosphere-lithosphere
coupling (refs). At ground level such processes will be influenced by rainfall and
the depth of the water table. So for
instance person made changes to the flow of a water course or underground water
course may be sufficient to instigate the Hum or terminate it for that matter. Similarly, tunnelling or the filling in of old
tunnels may have effect. It has also
recently been shown that changes in the electrical resistivity of the earth’s
crust exhibit a synchronised periodicity with seismicity (ref).
As for the modulating anthropogenic signals themselves,
the World’s power grids and generating stations remain the strongest source of
magneto-acoustic signals but ships at sea (refs) and aircraft (refs) should
also not be ruled out. Particularly with
respect to power systems anything which affects or alters ground currents in a
locality may be sufficient to bring about, reduce, enhance or terminate the
above described modulation interaction from which arise Hum type 3. Such actions, and the list is by
no means exhaustive, might be abnormally increasing or decreasing load on
a section of power grid, increased provision of wind power or solar PV power,
or PLT, all three notorious for DC injection, pulse injection and phase imbalanced ground currents, and finally
changes to other infrastructure along which induced currents flow or which
alter the electromagnetic field distribution in the earth can have effect; for example
changes to water or gas mains changes to railway infrastructure etc. etc. Such changes
can potentially even be perceived as being as subtle as changing a section of
iron pipe for one of plastic or vice versa! It should not be forgotten that many of the
changes described above that effect ground currents also change acoustic power
flow and in the earth and rocks the two are virtually inseparable due to the Tolman-Stewart effect (refs).
Conclusions
A strong hypothesis for the Hum (type 3) as a magneto-acoustic
effect has once again been advanced. Only
by using such a hypothesis in conjunction with one in which allows the generation
of the Hum signal to be due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic processes
can one even begin to explain how the Hum is perceived and what has been even
more perplexing for others that is its very geo-sporadic nature.
Sadly the Hum is indeed a facet of modern living. The only main hope for sufferers is perhaps
to explore the biology of magneto-sensitivity in man. In the meantime sufferers
are advised to use ferrite loaded wax earplugs and sleep in mu –metal enclosure.
Sadly neither of these are very practical.