The
Hum and Hum like effects; a Unifying Magneto-Acoustic Theory with Fully
explainable example Scenarios. By Dr Chris Barnes,
Bangor Scientific and Educational Consultants, December 12th 2012.
Revised December 13th 2012
Abstract
The Hum is briefly defined and its present day
history revealed. Whereas a minority of Hum cases can be solved and turn out to
be variants in LFN, the greater majority have remained unsolved. A unifying hypothesis based on environmental
iron and brain magnetite as common denominators is advanced wherein coherent
magnetic and acoustic components are amplified.
The hypothesis is sufficient to account for manifold and otherwise
perplexing instances of the Hum. Further
it should hopefully lead to more tracings of the Hum and eventual better
prevention.
Introduction
The
Hum is a somewhat mystifying and geo-sporadic acoustic (some have even dared to
suggest psycho-acoustic and blamed the poor unfortunate victims for ‘focusing
too hard on background noises’ [1]
phenomenon which has plagued people on this planet since the 1970’s. Those
afflicted, an estimated 2% of the adult population, or about 11% of the middle
aged adult population are thought to have low frequency hearing some 20-30dB
more sensitive than the average and they complain of an annoying, sometimes
extremely distressing noise described as rather like a distant pulsating engine
which is often perceived worse in the dead of night. A person who hears these noises is sometimes
described as a ‘Hummer.’ At least now a biophysical mechanism for increased
hearing sensitivity has very recently been offered, see Mirielle
Oud, Congres Goluid, Trillingen, The
Netherlands (2012)[2]. For some ear plugs have proved partially or
wholly ineffective and thus for this reason alone the general cause of the
noise definitely warrants further scientific investigation. Indeed the possible of non-aural
physiological effects at frequencies below 100 Hz is acknowledged by the
reputable Journal Noise and Health (
Year : 2004 | Volume : 6
| Issue : 23 | Page
: 73-85 Effects of low frequency noise up to 100 Hz M, Schust)[3].
Just
three cases of the Hum that the author is aware of have been solved as
attributable to either low frequency noise or infrasound or a combination of
the two (Solving a case of the HUM (Barnes)
[4] and Feldmann and Pitten
[5].
Perhaps
the most famous of these is the Kokomo Hum [6]. A Hum on the Big Island of Hawaii, for
example, typically related to volcanic action, is heard in locations dozens of
miles apart [7].
On
the basis of the above far more Hums ought to be traceable even if their origin
is dual channel acoustic/infrasonic or acoustic/seismic. When all is said and
done the necessary test equipment and detectors exist (Carnes and Lundien 1984)[8] and signals
propagated thereto have been exploited in the past for the identification of
heavy military vehicles (Altmann 2004). Altmann (2004)[9] also notes that injected seismic
signals are subject to local variations and that their shape varies strongly
with position. This facet may be
important in understanding why the Hum is apparently so highly
geo-sporadic.
However,
despite all of the above by far and above the large remaining number of cases
of the Hum around the World remain either totally unexplained or inadequately
explained. Thus we need to search for some other causative factor.
Much
light has recently been shed on this additional causative factor by the present
author. The author himself is a Hummer together with his son, his wife and
sister-in law a fact which has allowed first hand personal experience and
research, all these subjects can comfortably hear down to frequencies as low as
9Hz in at least one ear. Thus initially the author assumed the Hum to purely an
infrasonic or LFN phenomenon. A couple
of ‘chance’ discoveries led to the ‘magneto-acoustic’ hypothesis of the
Hum. Doing good science, the author had
instrumented the master bedroom of his house with all kinds of sensors. The first
such occasion was that he noticed that in one incredibly intense
instance of the Hum there was present in addition to infrasound an intense low
frequency magnetic comb spectrum which could be received by a simple inductive
winding connected to the sound card input on a laptop computer running FFT
spectrum analysis software with a waterfall output. The second such occasion was in a parked
vehicle just after the driver’s door had been closed, initiating dimming of the
interior vanity lighting.
The
present author has recently provided incontrovertibly strong evidence for a
magnetic hypothesis of the Hum based on thousands of anecdotal reports of its
properties from all corners of the globe (The Cause and Perception of the Hum
overwhelming support for a magnetic hypothesis by Dr Chris Barnes Bangor
Scientific and Educational Enterprises
First released into Public Domain August 2012 re-released November 2012
*)[10]
and has described the Hum or at least one type of the Hum as
‘magneto-acoustic.’ (http://www.drchrisbarnes.co.uk/HUMIMF.html[11]
Further,
the present author has also previously shown that the Hum in Bangor appears to
have some facets of a natural phenomenon and some facets of an anthropogenic
phenomenon and has also previously put forward a complex hypothesis of how the
World’s power systems may be modifying the Earth’s space environment to bring
about the Hum by atmosphere-lithosphere coupling.
It
is clear, however, that there are others who are convinced mobile phone
telephony could in some way be responsible for the Hum. The question arises is it possible to create
a unifying hypothesis which would account for all cases of the Hum and Hum like
effects which are not directly attributable to just LFN and infrasound. Even
the author has noticed increases in the Hum at strategic distances form radio
transmitters and further for instance the author has referred to ‘an anomalous
case of hearing the Hum in a parked motor vehicle whilst activating the
interior light dimmer. Can, for example,
such anomalous, cases of the Hum be made to fit in with one unifying
theory?
Hypothesis
With
a magneto-acoustic Hum there should be some involvement magnetic fields and
sound. A common and more unifying
external thread would appear to be iron or steel.
The
author has recently discovered a corroded steel girder in a part of his house
above the master bedroom. Indeed the only other houses and buildings the author
has heard significant Hum in have contained steel painted or non –painted RSJ
Girders. There could be a precedent for hearing the Hum in many houses and
buildings since most are now full of steel central heating radiators. Old type
window frames are full of steel. Cavity wall ties are made of steel. Modern
double glazing has some steel components within.
Steel
is also a unifying factor in hearing the Hum at the author’s home near a
corrugated large steel sports Hall facility and a unifying factor in hearing
the Hum at several mobile locations which the author has previously tested and of course
is a unifying factor whenever
the Hum is heard in a car be it associated with the car electrical systems or
when the car is parked underneath power lines.
So
what of the generation and detection mechanism? We need unification here as well. Is this possible? The author believes it is. The detection mechanism needs ideally to
involve some sort of coherent or phase locked amplification involving
simultaneously reception of a modulated magnetic field and an acoustic sound field so as the two
reinforce as in a duelling of the senses.
This way one or even both signals might even be in the noise i.e. less
than thermal energy see (Vladimir
N Bingi and Aleksandr V Savin 2003 Phys.-Usp. 46 259 doi:10.1070/PU2003v046n03ABEH001283)[12].
Effects
of weak magnetic fields on biological systems: physical aspects. This would
have been the case when Mullins (http://www.johndawes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/taos.htm
[13]
searched for an acoustic trace of the original Taos Hum. Is such a mechanism possible? Schiff (1991)[14] first proposed that biogenetic
magnetite would act as an amplifier of external magnetic induction changes in
bees as early as 1991 and further that the amplified field would influence only
neuronal elements in a restricted region close to the magnetite grain involved.
Since then has been proven that bio magnetite nano-particles
exist in virtually all living tissue especially the human brain ( Brain Res. Bull. (1996) vol. 39: 255-259 Magnetic
Properties of Human Hippocampal Tissue: Evaluation of
Artefact and Contamination Sources [15]Jon Dobson and
Paola Grassi. Taking this with the truly astonishing
finding that living cells have been shown to have a non-linear mechanism for
radio frequency energy conversion some ten thousand million times more
sensitive than a Schottky diode ( Bioelectromagnetics
23:278, 2002)[16] one should perhaps
be wise not to doubt the plausibly of the present hypothesis for
detection. Furhter Istvan Bókkon and Vahid Salari have proposed that biomagnetites
are developed jointly with organic molecules and cellular electromagnetic
fields in cells; they can record information about the Earth’s magnetic vector
potential of the entire flight in migratory birds[17]. Perhaps there should be no reason to suppose that similar
processes should not occur in humans (Spin modulated information storage in biomagnetites István Bókkon http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&q=biomagnetite+conformon)[18].
Clearly
the generation mechanism might need to be slightly different for each
individual case of the Hum or Hum like effect but will there be a common
thread? The author believes the answer
here is yes. The common thread has to be
the Earths’ own geomagnetic filed which will both suffer from local variations
as with for instance electrical ground currents one example of which is in
conductive plumbing (Childhood cancer in relation to indicators of magnetic
fields from ground current sources Nancy Wertheimer1,*,David A. Savitz1,Ed
Leeper2)[19] and space-earth
modulation for example by power systems
radiation [PDF] Magnetospheric
effects of power line radiation CG Park, RA
Helliwell - Science, 1978 - www-star.stanford.edu)[20]
but most importantly will align magnetic domains I any bulk iron or steel
involved in local Hum generation. It
does not matter that that steel might, for instance, be part of a car body for
it is impossible to screen the earth’s magnetic vector potential. The acoustic channel might be air or ground
borne or both [21]) or it might be locally generated within the steel
itself. All that is needed is that it is
coherent or has a fixed predictably variable phase relationship with the
modulated magnetic channel. What else of
the steel? Either it functions as a
magnetic amplifier of the earth’s fluctuating field alone or there is
additional local magnetic modulation. Possible mechanisms for the latter are
seen as being via Lorentz force and/or magnetostriction rather as in an EMAT http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Ultrasonics/EquipmentTrans/emats.htm
[22] and/or via magnetic amplification via biasing due to
rectification style demodulation at an oxide or coating layer, for example as
in galvanised steel. This could then allow the link for example between pulsed
electromagnetic radiation and the Hum, wherein each pulse might cause transient
saturation magnetisation or a tendency towards the same rather as in pulsed eddy current materials
testing (Xu and Wu et al July 2011) [23]without a pre-standing requirement
for microwave demodulation in the human head or ear.
This
unifying hypothesis will now be expanded by way of full explanation of a number
of Hum scenarios.
Scenario
1: Night-time Hum which defeats or
partially defeats ear plugs from untraceable source heard mainly inside
building
The first question to
be asked is does the building contain magnetic material? In the great majority of cases the answer
will be yes.
The next question to be
asked will be is there a large quantity of magnetic material nearby either in
other buildings or structures or in the earth or rock below? If the answer is yes this is a strong
scenario for a magneto-acoustic Hum.
It will be most likely
the coherent sound channel(s) which determine how the Hum comes and goes. Either this will be due to diurnal shifts in
propagation of an airborne channel and/or due to temporal shifts in a ground
channel which could for instance include something like a synchronous pump or
generator.
One must remember that
one or more of the channels might be at such subliminal strength not to
register on traditional recording equipment.
Scenario
2
Hum
in house only present 24/7.
The first two questions
are as for Scenario 1 above. However this time there must be a coherent sound
channel which is continually active and probably also much closer.
Such a sound channel
might again arise from something like an underground pump (M.L.Nave
1989)[24] or similar or sound being
borne through an underground pipe (Jette and Parker
1980)[25] however, influence of
pulsed electromagnetic radiation on an oxide layer in a magnetic material or dissimilar
metal surface layer should not be ruled out.
Scenario
3
Hum
in car only when interior light dims.
Magnetic component is
provided by changing magnetic field in cabling due to PWM pulses.
Very weak coherent
sound pulse is also present. The author
has noticed this effect does not always happen and postulates that a precise
level of earth field magnetic vector potential might simultaneously need to be
present for its perception. Nevertheless
this is one of the most demonstrable and striking examples in that the pulse
pattern discerned by the subjects could also be heard on an off-tuned
transistor radio.
Scenario
4
Hum
in car parked under power lines
Magnetic vector
potential of power lines is not shielded by steel of car. Hum perception seems to depend on behaviour
of sub and inter-harmonic present.
Accompanying acoustic signal will be via EMAT like processes in steel
body of car.
Scenario
5
Hum
in car at special distances from Radio Transmitters
Magnetic vector potential
seen by magnetite in brain is effectively that of earth’s field plus internal
modulation by any amplitude variations present in r.f.
carrier wave. Correlation is not always
good, as accompanying acoustic signal not necessarily coherent. Experiments were performed when old type
analogue TV transmitters were still in action so 25 Hz frame rate in modulation
would have some coherence with ground borne 50 Hz vibrations and its sub
–harmonics. Similarly TETRA pulse
modulation is close to 1/3 sub harmonic.
In these respects, the nature of the Hum perceived at the author’s
residence definitely changed when the local analogue TV transmitters switched
off.
Scenario 6
The
Hum and Solar PV Systems
Finally, it has been
heard in the roof of a building with solar panels and a solar inverter also in
line with a TETRA mast and mobile phone mast.
Solar panels resonate at 400 MHz and thus Tetra PULSES will appear in
both the acoustic signature of the inverter because up to 3% of the demodulated
radio frequency can appear in the dc
output of the solar panel http://www.solarabcs.com/about/publications/meeting_presentations_minutes/2011/02/pdfs/Arc-Study_Antenna_Effect.pdf [26]
and the magnetic environment and such panels have been shown capable of acting
a planar antenna structures http://hibp.ecse.rpi.edu/~connor/education/Antennas/2003_osaka_cbendel_col.pdf
[27].
Closing
remarks
The author has also
heard the Hum in other locations where perception may be caused be a
combination of the above and similar effects.
For instance it has been heard in newly built house with large RSJS and
close to a TV transmitter and no user services connected and it has been heard
in a school classroom with a galvanised steel roof and line of sight with a
TETRA mast and a mobile phone mast.
It is not difficult to
see how magneto acoustic elements could combine in these and a variety of odd
situations to give rise to the Hum.
It is hoped this paper
when read either alone or with its
references and the other work of the present author finally demystifies a topic once almost
confined to the realms of science fiction or the supernatural and will aid
people to find the causes of and most importantly cures for their own personal
Hums. It is further hoped that one
day in the very near future traditional LFN experts will embrace the findings
of Oud [2] together with those revealed hereinabove and
that there will be the necessary re-education of Local Government Environmental
Health Officers who are often the public’s first line of defence on Hum matters
and have to date either not been armed with sufficient knowledge to understand
what they are up against and/or not had the necessary powers to act. It is further hoped that the Law will soon
also be changed to assist victims in this accord.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to
thank his wife Gwyneth for valuable discussions during the preparation of this
manuscript.
References
1.
David Baguely Audiologist at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8056284.stm (2009)
2.
Mirielle
Oud, Congres Goluid, Trillingen, The
Netherlands (2012) http://www.leefmilieu.nl/sites/www3.leefmilieu.nl/files/imported/pdf_s/2012_OudM_Low-frequency%20noise_0.pdf
3. Journal
Noise and Health ( Year : 2004 |
Volume : 6 | Issue : 23
| Page : 73-85 Effects of low
frequency noise up to 100 Hz M, Schust).
4. ‘Solving a case of the Hum’ http://www.drchrisbarnes.co.uk
5. Effects of low frequency noise on man – a case study - J Feldmann1, FA Pitten2)
6.
http://www.milieuziektes.nl/ELF/KokomoHumFinalReport.pdf.
7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
10.
http://www.drchrisbarnes.co.uk/HUMMAGPROOF.htm
11.
http://www.drchrisbarnes.co.uk/HUMIMF.html
12.
Vladimir N Bingi and Aleksandr V Savin 2003 Phys.-Usp. 46 259 doi:10.1070/PU2003v046n03ABEH001283
13.
http://www.johndawes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/taos.htm
14.
H.Schiff
1991 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1685393
15.
Jon Dobson and Paola Grassi ‘Magnetic Properties of Human Hippocampal
Tissue: Evaluation of Artefact and Contamination Sources’ Brain Res. Bull.
(1996) vol. 39: 255-259
16.
Bioelectromagnetics
23:278, 2002
17.
Istvan
Bókkon and Vahid Salari, ‘Information Storing by biomagnetites’ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2791810/
18.
István
Bókkon http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&q=biomagnetite+conformon)
19.
Wertheimer1,*,David A.
Savitz1,Ed Leeper2’ ‘ Childhood cancer indicators in relation to magnetic
fields from ground current sources http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bem.2250160204/abstract?systemMessage\
20.
CG Park, RA Helliwell - Science, 1978 - www-star.stanford.edu
21.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Engineering_Acoustics/Outdoor_Sound_Propagation
22.
http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Ultrasonics/EquipmentTrans/emats.htm
23.
Xu
and Wu et al; http://www.ndt.net/article/wcndt2012/papers/178_wcndtfinal00178.pdf
24.
M.L.Nave
1989, Considerations for application of electrical submersible pumps for
underground coal mine dewatering, EEE Transactions on Industry Applications
(impact factor: 1.66). 10/1989; http://www.researchgate.net/publication/3168920_Considerations_for_application_of_electrical_submersible_pumps_forunderground_coal_mine_dewatering
25.
Surface Displacements accompanying the propagation of acoustic waves within an
underground pipe Jette, A. N.;
Parker, J. G.
Journal of Sound and Vibration,
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980JSV....69..265J Volume 69, Issue 2, p.
265-274.
27.
http://hibp.ecse.rpi.edu/~connor/education/Antennas/2003_osaka_cbendel_col.pdf