I’ve explained numbers of times that if the Hum is caused in part by VLF transmissions, then simple shielding or Faraday cages will not block it. VLF radio waves can deeply penetrate many materials, including up to a full inch of solid aluminum. After examining a list of materials and their properties, I discovered that mild steel (as opposed to other types) has an ideal combination of properties for creating a Hum shield. The good news is that a thin 1.2 mm layer of mild steel should do the job. There is a catch, however. VLF waves are very good a finding their way through cracks and openings in any container, and therefore the shielding must not only be total, but the welding has to be excellent. This raises concerns about how to get fresh air, light, and other necessities of life into the box/container so that volunteer participants can be comfortable.
Solving the above technical issue is a first step in moving toward the first formal and controlled experiments on the Hum.
World Hum Map and Database Project 
I appreciate you spearheading testing on source / cause / how to block. The more hard science / data that can be conducted and documented the better we can bring about eventual SOLUTIONS.
But then we of course come up against time and funding. I work full time (more than full time, actually), and I can only give so many hours so many times per week. And I work for a living, and so with some aspects of the project, finances are definitely a factor. So I have started the crowd-sourcing process, but I have stalled because I need more technical information about the experiment I have been proposing for several years. I need to know how to build a sound-proof chamber (that works against lower frequencies as well), and an identical-looking VLF-proof chamber, and yet another identical-looking control chamber. When I can get the technical issues solved, I can go forward with the crowd-sourcing and then raise about $5000.00 to get the entire job done. It’s remarkable to think that the solution to the Hum can found for such a modest investment.
Would it be possible to fold in the cost of researching the more technical information? I’m pretty sure the projects I’ve contributed to didn’t have all of the science worked out.
KickStarter made it clear that my crowdsourcing will be put on hold until I can supply technical diagrams of the devices I intend to build. I can’t really blame them, considering that so far nobody has come forward with a suggestion of how to effectively block low frequency sounds in a portable booth. I need somebody to, among other things, get a consensus from audio specialists on how this can be done.
Glen, I remember reading somewhere that the iron sheet to block the VLF should be at least 12 mm thick (quite thick), not as you suggested 1.2 mm. Maybe I have got the wrong recollection. Unfortunately, I cannot find the source of this information now (will have to check later and let you know).
As for the link between the Hum and the Sun spots, as you also have pointed out, I have found an important information which may explain it.
Here I re-post my last post on the Yahoo Hum forum for you to comment. I apologize for the long message.
————————————————————————————————————————-
On 25th of February 2014 (or an hour before midnight, Monday, 24th), I experienced the strongest Hum “storm” for the year so far. There were strong vibrations, rumble in the atmosphere from trains and airplanes and an incredibly loud Hum, so that I could not get a sleep at all for the night and the following morning. A few days later, I stumbled across the news that the Earth has been hit by a massive X-Class CME, on the 25th of February! Here is the link: http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2014/02/25/powerful-x-4-9-solar-flare-erupted-from-sunspot-1990/
Around that period (on the 6th of February), I watched a BBC program called BBC Horizon: Solar Storms – The Threat to Planet Earth, episode 9/15)
At 33 min., as the guy started to explain about ways of the National Grid to protect us from power cuts, there was an important piece of information, so I started recording the program. Later on, as my recording was not full, I found the same episode online which can be watched in full here:
http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/91552/BBC_Horizon__Solar_Storms_The_Threat_to_Planet_Earth___720p/
These are the transcripts from the program, at 33 min. of the footage:
Andrew Richards, of the UK National Grid:
“If it (the solar storm) hits the Earth, as it get around on its orbit, a huge magnetic shock gets delivered to the Earth and that causes currents to flow along our conductors, down these lines here and right down to the core of the transformers of the lowers. It could cause fire to the insulating material that is to protect the device and when that happens, we get a catastrophic failure and the machine like this has to get replaced.”
BBC narrator:
“The National Grid though, has developed a way to protect us and it turns out that the best to do to keep the lights on, is the last thing you’d expect.”
Andrew Richards:
“Mad as it sounds, we turn every single bit of our kits ON. That means, the lines that have been previously out, because they weren’t needed or because people were working on them temporarily. We cease all work, we bring the lines back IN, and what happens is that the currents induced by the Coronal Mass Ejection hitting the Earth, spread out along all these different routes they can follow, and that reduces the amount of any one point where the induced current is trying to get back down to the Earth again. And that protects our transformers and means there’s much less risk of overheating and we ride out the storm that way and we make sure that we prevent a blackout.
It’s like in a storm, where you get a huge amount of flood water rushing down and we turn on our extra storm drain system to drain the power of this surge away.”
If one connects the dots, there is a link between the Hum, the Sun activity and the Power Grid “overloading”. This Power Grid activity prior to and during large Solar Flares would explain the sudden and otherwise inexplicable drops and risings in the Hum level.
Here is how a YouTube user describes this energy, while commenting on the “strange sounds from the sky”:
“These sounds are called acoustic gravity waves. They include powerful solar flares and huge energy flows generated by them, rushing towards Earth’s surface and destabilizing the magnetosphere, ionosphere and upper atmosphere. Thus, the effects of powerful solar flares: the impact of shock waves in the solar wind, streams of corpuscles and bursts of electromagnetic radiation are the main causes of generation of acoustic-gravitation waves following increased solar activity.”
Could Glen or someone else comment on the following observations:
I have observed (on hundreds of occasions) and video recorded a 40 MHz operated RC car toy (medium size, Majorette, 13 cm long, 160 g) moving off on its own every time and everywhere the Hum is present. The car would move 10 cm forward with every pulse. The length of the distance covered by the car would depend on the Hum intensity at a given location and time. Thus, in some really nasty Hum locations, the car would move forwards on its own about 2 m for just half an hour, while during some quiet Hum periods, it would not move at all or it would cover on an average 2 m for 2 hours. For comparison, a mini RC car toy operating at 27 MHz, does not move off on its own when the Hum is present.
In addition, another observation that freaked me out (very recently):
One day (when the Hum was very intense as sound and vibration) I lifted the RC car toy from the floor and as I was holding it in the air, its wheels started rotating very fiercely. I was standing in the corner of the room with the Internet rooter, laptop and TV. The car’s wheels were much more active in the air than on the floor which made me conclude that this energy is mostly air-borne, while the movements of the car on the floor are result of residual ground RF radiation or borne by the house wiring cables. I have left for a while the car toy on the table, in front of my laptop, with its wheels upside down (to prevent it from falling down), they continued to move, and then, they stopped. As soon as I approached my hand to reach the car, the wheels started moving again. The most continuous movement was when I was holding the car. As soon as I retired my hand from it, it stopped moving, and so on. I attach here a second video for you to see. I was freaked out as this proved that I am acting like sort of antenna (or transmitter) for the 40 MHz frequency, aka, the Hum vibrations felt in the body.
Later on, I wrapped the car loosely with aluminum kitchen foil and it did not move its wheels. I then put it inside a copper wire scourer like in a sock – the car did not move either!
I made the same experiment with the car in other rooms and it did not move off as frequently as it did in the room with the Internet rooter and TV.
I know that the Hum cannot be stopped by a Faraday cage, as this is a low frequency sound but Faraday cage can stop at least the RF radiation, a very powerful Hum sub-product, and thus, the electrical-like vibrations experienced on the body.
Experiment: The RC car toy moved off on its own in front of a Vodafone microcell near my home. It also moves every time when a train approaches or leaves the station (I can observe that from my flat). I also do move in every coffee shop with Wireless internet connection, in every Mall, Bank, Hospital, bus stop, etc. The car toy moves a lot near the ADSL internet cable and when placed above the cord phone at home (also above my laptop’s keyboard). They all share the same ADSL filter (with two connections for ADSL modem and Phone). If I detach the ADSL cable from the ADSL filter, the car does not move when I place it above the phone. It serves me as a frequency measurement tool and as a very reliable Hum detector, of course! Basically, the car toy did move everywhere, even in the mountain, where the only sign of civilization was a small chapel based on ancient rocks sanctuary; and in the cemetery when I was visiting my deceased relatives. In the vast plain just outside the village, on a slightly raised hill where the cemetery laid, The Hum was obscene that much, that I thought it must be really horrible to be buried there and to be robbed from eternal peace!
Experience of the vibrations: I have stated before that the Hum induces electrical-like vibrations in my body (plus clicking and popping in the head, ears and sinuses). The stronger the Hum, the worse the vibrations are. The strongest vibrations on the body I have when it rains or it is very humid and foggy. I would start hearing the Hum getting stronger and have strong vibrations moments before it would start raining! I have become EHS from the constant Hum, so much that I would get charged by static electricity (the more I would listen to the Hum, the more static in my body), which would get discharged every time I touch a pedestrian button of the traffic lights, I also feel body vibrations next to the traffic lights (all fitted with wireless remote viewing cameras, part of the smart grid technology). I feel vibrations in the grocery shops coming from the motors of their fridges or bakery ovens. Also, near every ATM (cash point) and pay till (all with wireless connection) – and I cannot use self-checking till for that reason and can barely wait on a queue at the tills to pay for my grocery due to the vibrations felt in my feet, guts and chest.
A reminder: I have heard the Hum while walking 2 m away from the Low and Medium Voltage overhead power lines, and about 10 m away from the HV power lines, also 50 m away from the electricity transformer and power lines pole and this have happened in 2 different locations, in two, other than UK, countries. On both locations the power line poles were fitted with many other wires and boxes. In one location, a small volcanic island (no active volcano though), there are no trains, no airport, no any gas pipelines (gas is transported in tanks), no heavy industry and the nearest continental land is 40 km away. There are however, satellite and microwave dishes, TV transmitter tower, ADLS internet connection but also BPL on this island. The Hum there is terrific by night; it can be heard outside the buildings as the classic diesel engine idling. While trying to video record it at that time, my camera would get lots of interference like dots and moving horizontal lines on the screen, and lots of hissing as a sound.
THE FACTS:
Usage of the 40 MHz. Many may wonder why I link the 40 MHz frequency (a quite high frequency) with the Hum (very low frequency).
This is a frequency used by the BPL systems, mobile phone operators (see Verizon, for instance: http://www.droid-life.com/2013/12/06/verizon-boosts-4g-lte-network-capacity-expands-to-40mhz-in-major-cities/), WLAN (Wireless LAN) internet and the 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz Wireless Internet (they all use 20 and 40 MHz as a channel bandwidth) – or the so-called 802.11n networking.
Please refer to the table of the Smart Grid frequencies, attached below.
Victor Nixon mentioned in one of his emails that while measuring the Hum, I should look for MESH Frequencies. I did not understand that at the time as I have done a very little research. Now I know, the 40 MHz is one of the so-called MESH Frequencies. In Victor Nixon’s paper about the Smart Grid, one can get more information and see how the interaction of the Power Grid frequencies (50 Hz and 60 Hz) and the wireless communications (which use the power lines and of course, the repeater antennas), produce the Hum’s low frequency and RF leaking radiation (the static noise heard in Hum places).
40 MHz and the 4G – is there any link? Apart from Verizon example, there is more:
http://www.nujira.com/nujira-delivers-world-record-40-mhz-bandwidth-for-4g-envelope-tracking-pa-i-386.php
Since 2012, when I first heard the Hum, there was an ongoing upgrade of the 4G mobile signal in my area. I have noticed that the Freeview signal at home gets severely disturbed when the Hum gets strong. Meanwhile, I got an apologetic flyer saying that there is a small chance that the 4G activation may cause disruption to the Freeview (the television which is received through an aerial) in my area. The 4G at 800 MHz was to be the culprit and they offered a free of charge filter to fix the problem. So, now with the filter, the signal does not get disrupted, but if I don’t switch on the BT box but only switch on the TV, on the screen I can see the white noise (like in the old analog TVs), but this time more structured (digitalized). Every time the Hum gets strong, through the screen’s white and black dots of the digitalized white noise, there are also many flashing lines and these are caused by the Hum electromagnetic interference. Their movement on the screen is in a perfect synchrony with what I hear in my ears as a microwave-induced tinnitus (hissing, static, shushing etc.)
The equation: Power Grid + Smart Grid = The Hum
By the way, in Windsor Hum case, the very source of the Hum there is, as Victor Nixon mentioned, a large BPL Control Center, situated just between Zug Island and Windsor.
P.S. Ways to cope: The only way (working for me, though not perfectly; and I hope it can help others) to reduce vibrations feelings in the body and to attenuate the Hum hearing, is to fill the ear canal with olive oil drops and close it gently with a small piece of cotton wool – I have been sleeping with this for the last 10 months. I can mostly hear the static noise from the Hum, and with time, it got reduced to a bearable level (though much stronger during the Hum storms), shifting from one ear to another. If the static noise ringing gets off completely in both ears, then one would not hear the Hum – I have experienced it twice upon wakening in the night, and it lasted about a minute – a complete, blissful silence.
To Danyele: I will finally get my test (long impedance tympanometry) done to establish whether or not I have MEM (middle ear myoclonus) – a condition which is being induced by the Hum and one of the main reasons I believe we hear the Hum. I will keep you updated for the results and my decision of how to manage it.
Regards,
Lidia
My goodness, that’s a lot to respond to. I have of course heard Nixon’s name during my Hum research; in fact he seems to be revered in some circles. I seem to also recall there are several folks out there who have written that he was “killed by the Hum”. I’d certainly like to see evidence in that regard.
But perhaps for my benefit and for those who read this space, would you be so kind as to direct us to a summary of his Hum hypothesis? I’d like to look over it before I comment further. Cheers, Glen.
Hi Glen, I only found your site today & will definitely be saving your blog link!
This will be long, but mostly as an FYI, so no need for any big reply.
In late April/early May 2014 I unknowingly (at that time) became a member of the “World Hum Club.” It took me 5-months to stumble upon “hum” people online because I was researching VIBRATIONS first & foremost (thinking ground vibrations, dredging, machinery, concrete floors, building construction, etc.) since the “vibes” are most miserable! However, the deep low droning rumbling drumming hum is none too fun either, especially when louder & the ear/head pressure increases, plus staggering around, eyes get buggy/can’t read, head gets too tired/spacy, etc. (I never knew I could hear LF’s until this began. Didn’t know beans about any of this stuff!)
Above you asked the other commenter re Victor Nixon. I never knew him but when I finally found Hum sites/people, his info came up shortly thereafter (I included a few links further below which I had found of his info &/or about him). Fascinating explanations re BPL/B-PLC & what I call the “goons” in the Smart Grid Control Rooms who, per Victor, are the ones “ramping up the amps” (=my description) when they don’t get the Smart Meter readings they expect (he explains it more technically; this is my simpleton’s version); hence, the fluctuations in INTENSITY of the vibes & hum. He said those people are “DANGEROUS” (& too lazy &/or greedy to waste time going into the field to fix the hold-up/problems at source).
I would agree re the danger. The mostly non-stop Vibes/Hum fluctuate between Nil-Low-Medium-Strong as a rule. BUT 3 x late Summer/Fall, the Vibes/Hum increased to “through the roof” level > LOUD ROARING with what felt like VIOLENT vibrations of whole bldg. with violent vibrations of entire bed/body/chest/internal organs; plus an intense feeling of being “swarmed” by deadly “waves” (microwaves? emfs? soundwaves?). I was wiped out for a week after the 3rd episode that lasted 2.5-Hours at that extremely high Roaring intensity. I think it’s all very deadly & not just a “sound” or just a “vibe” (both definitely miserable, very true), but feeling “waved” (microwaved?) is even more freaky!
Victor says events like that are due to [the goons ramping up the “amps”(?) which then leads to] massive leakage of MWR from the UNSHIELDED power lines (1930’s USA Power Grid not built for “data transmissions,” hence, not shielded as, for example, a “modern” shielded ethernet cable would be).
I don’t know if I have this right (not an engineer) but it would seem (if BPL/PLC is the culprit):
–Power Lines leak MWR;
–Power Lines & MWR are both known to emit LFs on their own accounts;
–Double-LFs = Droning Rumbling Hum;
–LFs/Hum then create the Vibrations.
–All Together a Deadly Mixture… especially if/when the Vibes/Hum are increased to “through the roof” intensity!
Building Construction sites had said vibrations are a big problem in contemporary life due to lesser quality residential & commercial buildings. They also said USA Bldg. Standards were lowered in the 1970’s & hence, concrete is now “thinner” & “lighter” & that support beams are now farther apart (40-ft. vs. 25-ft. previously). Also, that the “speed of sound through concrete is 10,600 FPS which is 8x faster than airborne 1129 FPS.” Wood, on the other hand, will “transmit vibration and sound 12x faster than airborne noise.” (I wonder what it is through Metal!?) Lastly, & this connects to the LF-Vibes/Hum:
“Floor Vibration Control” – DEICON:
http://www.deicon.com/floor-vibration-control/
[…]
“People are known to be very sensitive to floor vibration, e.g. vibration with an amplitude as small as 0.004 inch (0.1 mm) can cause aggravation. Floors that are most disturbing to the occupants often have low resonant frequencies; residential and office building floors having their fundamental frequency usually in the range of 3.5 to 8 Hz, fall in this category. This might be because the natural frequencies of the INTERNAL HUMAN ORGANS are also in the same frequency range, i.e., 4 to 8 Hz. That is, floor resonance [vibrations] can cause the INTERNAL ORGANS of the occupants to RESONATE [vibrate] resulting in an uneasy and irritating feeling.”
[…]
That’s an understatement!
Within the past few days I saw a link to a site re LF/Infrasound as it related to people suffering from what they called “Acoustic Terrorists”! > brats with “Boom Cars.” That older site, LowerTheBoom.org, had an excellent “booklet” online by a nurse explaining LF/Infrasound/Decibels, etc. Their “Boom Cars” problem was re HI/LF (High-Intensity Low-Frequency), she wrote, & the spooky jaw-dropping part, to me, was that it said that LFs increased to super high intensity (like the “roar” episodes x 3?) can actually cause your internal organs to rupture from the violent vibrations. “Ebola Pandemic,” anyone?
INFRASOUND page here:
http://www.lowertheboom.org/trice/infrasound.htm
–booklet, Boom Car Noise, by Patrice Thomas (nurse):
http://www.lowertheboom.org/trice/index.htm#anchor7701
.PDF:
Click to access BoomCarNoise.pdf
So, ever since reading that, I’ve thought, Hmm, I need a big metal box to climb into, if/when the Smart Grid Control Room “goons” ever get “trigger happy” again!
Then I was thinking, IF it’s the SOUND/LF/Infrasound that is the most dangerous (vs. waves/microwaves?), then padding a metal “cocoon” for sound/vibration absorption would be highly important. I was thinking SORBOTHANE, a substance I read about when researching machinery-bldg. vibrations-as-culprit. Supposedly, Sorbothane is used by NASA & NASCAR (both very loud vibratory enterprises). The decibels of a Space Shuttle at launch is 180 decibles. But I don’t know if Sorbothane absorbs/blocks LFs. A person left that very question at their site (obviously a fellow Vibe/Hum sufferer) but no answer is given:
http://www.sorbothane.com/blog/vibration-protection/
Since you’re building a Hum-Testing Box & need LF/blocker/absorber/padding, I was hoping that might be a possible solution, but maybe not. I do still have a list of notes & links from my “bldgs./machinery” phase, with other soundproofing/anti-vibe products out there, if interested; no problem to post it but it does have many links in it. I had saved this quote from somewhere:
“SPRING Isolators – work better than mats for LOW Frequency vibrations.”
Anyway, below are the only links I had found so far of letters/info/docs by &/or about Victor Nixon. Maybe they will help.
~~~
2012 “About Author”: “Victor Nixon, a decorated Army veteran [SS: Special Services], holds a M.Sc. [Master of Science degree in] Computer Systems (Automation) Engineering and has over 30 years global experience in SCADA [Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition] systems design and installation relating to electrical power generation, distribution, and industrial use. Presently he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.”
In one of Victor’s letters to govt. officials, he wrote that he was extremely healthy with six-pack-abs when he first began hearing the hum in 2009, I believe, which he tracked to a transformer 4.2 miles from his house (which he then asked himself, How/Why is it that I can hear that from so far away? & his journey therein began).
Author is now Deceased 9/17/12, age 59, “heart attack” alone while staying at his Idaho cabin (subsequent to his public letter to the DOJ approximately 28 days earlier wherein he challenged them for infringing upon his civil rights by radiating him via the Smart Grid without his permission).
Pardon my tin foil hat but Allan Frey’s 1960’s experiments of stopping the hearts of rodents with pulsed microwave radiation comes to mind.
~~~
“Smart Grid: An Explanation For The Layman”
or
“How Smart Grid Will Affect Your Life”
by Victor Nixon, M.Sc.
© Copyright 2012 Victor Nixon
smartgridexhibits@live.com
29-pages:
http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7520939738
Same document, another copy here: Intro:
http://www.homeopathicassociates.com/portfolio-item/smart-grid-explanation-layman/
Full Document, 27-pages:
http://www.homeopathicassociates.com/?wpdmact=process&did=NS5ob3RsaW5r
~~~
Victor Nixon’s 8/20/12 Letter to the DOJ:
Click to access US_DOJ_Reply_August_19.pdf
As described here:
http://citizensforsafetechnology.org/EMF-expert-challenges-Dept-of-Justice-over-Civil-Rights,25,2559
~~~
“EMF expert challenges DoJ over Civil Rights”
by John Weigel
([2012] undated, “pending notification of receipt by the U.S. Dept. of Justice”):
Click to access victor-challenge.pdf
.PDF linked from:
http://citizensforsafetechnology.org/EMF-expert-challenges-Dept-of-Justice-over-Civil-Rights,25,2559
Good read!
~~~
The above article includes hefty portions of Victor Nixon’s 10/20/2011 testimony-letter, below link, to the Massachusetts EPA during their “State/Utilities Initiative” Smart Grid “investigation”:
~~~
A comment by Victor Nixon as posted to the “International EMF Compilation”
google-group 4/23/12:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/hum-sufferers/qJ1sRBCvJs8
~~~
And that’s it. Not much but, then again, I learned a lot from those few writings.
Side Notes:
–Since I could not find an obit for Mr. Nixon (nor any photos), I went to check the SSA Death Index & was surprised to learn the Govt. had passed a law 12/26/13 (1-year 12-days after Sandy Hoax) that no one can access the SSDI any longer until THREE YEARS have passed beyond the decedent’s date of death. They won’t even fill FOIA requests, it says. They blame it on “budgeting.” Oh sure. Your only option is to jump through Govt. red tape hoops & become “certified” to access the SSDI.
—Definition: “SCADA generally refers to an industrial computer system that monitors and controls a process. In the case of the transmission and distribution elements of electrical utilities, SCADA will monitor substations, transformers and other electrical assets.”
So Mr. Nixon certainly seemed to have the perfectly matching credentials to be able to track down the BPL problem. Too good to be true? Too perfect of a match? Was he the ONLY one to ever figure it out? Maybe it’s the LF-SOUND (if increased too high) that we need to worry about more than the MWR? (Nay, BOTH are bad news!)
–Mr. Nixon mentioned in one of his above writings the company (& its parent companies) that invented the BPL/PLC technology & said they were an Israeli company (yet USA locations/incorporated that I could find).
When visiting their site I noticed they changed their company name end of 2013/beginning of 2014. Company name was AMPERION (Ampere + Ion. Ion being Hebrew for Eye. So, “Eye on the Amps”! Maybe it was too obvious!)
New Name: GRID EDGE. After seeing their “High Voltage” photo/graphics at their old/new sites, I wondered, Do they plan to push the Grid to the Edge of its non-data-transmission ability? (Israel also invented the cellphone, btw.)
Surely all involved, from inventors to local power companies, their engineers, techies, etc., must know that pushing wireless MWR data through a grid not built for that would cause horrendous problems!? Were they all that shortsighted? It’s hard to imagine. These are things I wonder about while being Vibed & Drone-Hummed 24/7!
~~~
I’ve watched the video of the moving car and I think we would need to eliminate other explanations first. Before anything else, I think we should sort out whether we are talking about 40 MHz as a broadcast frequency or as a channel bandwidth. Wireless networks using the 802.11n protocol and broadcasting in the 2.4 GHz range have the option of using 20 MHz or 40 MHz channel width. This means that the various wireless channel frequencies (which are up in the GHz range), are separated by 20 MHz or 40 MHz intervals (so you don’t clobber your neighbour’s wireless internet). If we are talking about devices that actually broadcast at or near 40 MHz, then there are numbers of candidates from plumbers’ remote cameras to other RC toys, and so on. I of course have no way of knowing for sure, but I would find it most unlikely that the Hum is involved in any way.
Lidia, I tried to post a reply before and it didn’t work–sorry if this shows up as a duplicate.
I’m deeply grateful that you shared your olive oil and cotton idea. Topline: is works for me!
Here’s my story: I was a little worried about trying it as I had never put anything in my ear, and thought maybe as a food that olive oil might contain bacteria or something. A quick search on the internet and I found out that olive oil in the ears has been used for centuries as a treatment for earaches (especially when warmed), and is also good for relieving wax build up and moisturizing the ears.
For my first attempt I didn’t have a dropper to place the oil into the ear and no cotton, but was determined to try this as I’m heartily sick of using ear buds and white noise, which has been my only solution for sleeping. So I soaked a couple of pieces of tissue in olive oil and wedged them in, just before bedtime. For at least 2 hours there was no noticeable difference in the hum, except of course the tissue muffled it slightly but as we all know it doesn’t actually block it.
I was stubborn and didn’t resort to ear buds, and eventually fell asleep. I woke a few hours later in the early morning and took out the tissue and heard NO HUM. I feared it was another instance where I thought I’d discovered a solution, only to realize it was cruel coincidence and the hum was stronger than ever. I fell back asleep, and when I awoke the next morning? Still no hum! I was absolutely NOT going to be happy about it, as I didn’t trust that it would last.
About 11:00 am that morning I heard it again, so felt that old disappointment. I won’t go through hour-by-hour, but here’s the bottom line. That next day I purchased a glass “eye” dropper and cotton, and for the next 3 nights inserted olive oil in my left ear (it seems to be the only one affected), and a little cotton, and the audible portion of the hum DISAPPEARS after about an hour, and the effect lasts many hours. It seems I hadn’t put enough in the first night, as I’m now dropping several drops in and that is working well.
This approach doesn’t address the source/cause and deleterious effects of the hum, and I can still feel the vibrations, but the audible portion of the hum is 95-99% diminished, and for long periods of time, the longest so far 14 hours. When I hear it again, I just put some more oil in. I can live with that! This idea is truly an answer to my prayers, and I hope others try it and report on their results.
I’m not a doctor and have no idea what the long-term effects may be. That’s a good thing to ask an ear-nose-throat specialist, which I intend to do. And, as an immediate, low-cost, do-it-yourself solution to audio torture, I strongly urge anyone who is suffering to try this technique. I almost feel pre-hum human again.
Thank you Lidia!
Update on olive oil and cotton: Today is a sad day. Last night the miracle solution of olive oil and cotton didn’t work–nor does it seem to be in effect today. The vibrations are shaking my chair, and the hum seems is back even louder and more insistent than ever.
Those few days of quiet were so precious.
I still recommend others give it a try–maybe it will work for you for longer. I’m not giving up, but did think an update was due, in keeping with truthful reporting, albeit an anecdotal one.
Within reason and safety limits, I think it makes sense to try whatever might work. I’ve often wondered about a before-after test of having one’s ears properly cleaned out of wax and buildup. I have tended to focus more on the source of the Hum rather than methods of dealing with it, but one never knows when some unexpected method might prove helpful for some folks.
Hey Glen –
As a professional BBC sound engineer (retired), I can tell you that building a PORTABLE soundproof booth for Hum testing purposes would be nigh on impossible. Soundproofing, particularly against low frequencies, which is what we want to block out, is (short of a vacuum layer!) done by solid MASS – solid materials, brick, lead etc, and in the case of studios, often a room built inside a room, on rubber floor mounts to eliminate LF vibration. I worked on the world renowned BBC radio drama “The Archers”, recorded in Birmingham (England), and even a custom built soundproof BBC radio studio would still allow in a faint rumble of a particularly heavy truck if it travelled past.
I would simply fit subjects in their local Hum environment with ear plugs plus heavy duty ear-defenders on top. (I’ve tried this method on myself as a Hum victim, and conclude it’s physiologically induced, not acoustic – I could still hear the hum at the same level.)
Andy, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England
Hiya Andy,
Just wondering if we can exchange data, specifically Hum levels, times and dates. I desperately need your geographical longitude and Hum lulls.
Cheers,
G.
To whom it may concern how do you stop the hum. I have been getting sick from infrasound and ultrasound that seems to follow me everywhere I go. Since April 11 2019 there has been a low frequency sound that only I can hear faintly in the background all around my home. It seems to me to be a recording of my neighbor cutting his grass. To me it is being played back to me and my ears only. Indoors it causes a hum that puts pressure in my ear drums, headache, vibrates my eyes, ears, chest, abdomen,etc. I end up feeling nauseated. The sound goes on every day and when sounds stops my symptoms disappear and vice versa. I tested the vibrations with two water bottles. I put them on my bedroom window ledge and I saw the water in them were vibrating like how my insides nerves felt. My electronics all made the buzzing sound as well as vibrating also. But my family did not noticed it.
I downloaded free apps to detect infrasound and ultrasound. These apps told me that my neighbors were the culprits of infrasound and ultrasound. The apps gave me their address, longititude, latitude, from Google map. These neighbors do all have satellite TV dishes on their roofs pointed south in my direction. However my car had the infrasound and ultrasound and other places too I could hear it like at the library, store, doctor’s office or family house. But are the apps telling correctly the truth? I would like to know how do you shielding against infrasound and ultrasound because I can’t sleep at night my body vibrates all the time. How do I tell if it is a machine somewhere or radio frequency in the air or underground that’s invading my home?
Patsy – good report – thanks
First, note that infrasonic (pitch below normal human hearing) and ultrasonic (pitch above normal human hearing) are quite different – in a sense opposites. Your actual experience seems to be with lower pitched hum. Do you know the pitch? Can you match it to an online tone
generator such as? :
http://onlinetonegenerator.com/
https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/
We also often try to assign reports to “likely internal” (“The HUM”) or “likely external” (perhaps a local industrial motor, etc.). You have reported your hum as being in many places (stores, library) which is strong evidence of “The HUM” (internal to yourself – and my case also). At the same time, you report no one else seems to hear it, again strong evidence of an internal source.
A third attempt at differentiating internal/external is the “headshake” test: If you shake your head vigorously, side-to-side, does your hum stop during the shaking and for a brief period (1/2 second) after you stop, during which it ramps right back up? Likely HARD to tell. But, if it reliably comes back up in this manner, say 5 to 10 tries, this is convincing evidence that you have (personal) control of a personal HUM (internal). Please try this and report back if you are so inclined. More information on the headshake is in these three links:
Click to access ENWN41.pdf
Click to access ENWN46.pdf
Click to access ENWN47.pdf
You say “…only I can hear faintly in the background…” I would say the exact same for my Hum, although in my case it causes no actual discomfort.
You mention vibrations on water surfaces and buzzing electronics. These are common – how closely correlated with your hum are they?
Please give a link to the app that supposedly detects infrasonic and ultrasonic emissions and pinpoints to particular house!
– Bernie
To Bernie:. you can find both infrasound and ultrasound free Android apps on Google play store. Just type in infrasound detector and ultrasound detector by Sergio Gudkov. Also you can type download cnet. com/Infrasound-detector/3000-20432 for information from Sergio about his free apps. I notice also that my 5 year old box spring mattress bunk bed and rolled away bed with metal coils that I have been sleeping on since the hum, burning skin sensations and vibrations of my nervous system and organs with nausea started , both of them had cooked black spots and holes underneath them. They were not like that before. I can’t even sleep on anything metal now! Can infrasound hum or ultrasound hum with electromagnetic waves cause that to happen to make me sick? If you are being made sick by the hum and you are vibrating inside your body that friction from the chemical reaction of vibrating will cause you to feel heated and fried. Stay away from soda pop, sodium nitrates, caffiene and msg they amplify the effects. Drink plenty of water. It’s the heat that does the damage.
Thanks Patsy –
Your suggested “link” and search terms lead only to promotional items (and those, indirectly) – no technical descriptions. Many folks asking WHAT the app is SUPPOSE to do but not mentioning a single specific thing it DOES do. Can you provide any FULL URLs that offer something that might be meaningful to an engineer?
Perhaps more direcly to the point, what have you learned yourself from using the app that is at all helpful?
The average person who understands what infrasound is might suppose there is no actual sound down there, baring things like earthquakes and underground tunneling! Only INTERESTING things; otherwise dead silence. No “noise”. This assumption is perhaps based on the fact that, after all, we don’t HEAR anything. Actually, it’s very noisy down there.
Back about 1989, as related here:
http://electronotes.netfirms.com/ENWN31.pdf ,
I designed/constructed some infrasound detectors/shifters for elephant-sound research. These went off every few seconds, never once due to any apparent cause, except (anoyingly) in response to any motion by the person operating it. Accordingly, detection of SOME infrasounds is virtually guaranteed, and in itself largely meaningless.
So I have little that is new to offer until I have some responses to my comments of Sept. 8, if you care to respond.
It seems clear that you have additional concerns that are indeed baffling and beyond the particular category of evidence-based science/engineering embraced here on Glen’s site, so be assured we wish you full and speedy resolution to these matters.
– Bernie
To Bernie: You didn’t ask for a technical description of the infrasound and ultrasound app by Sergio Gudkov. You ask for a link only! If you would like to have a good technical description and full URLS about these apps maybe you should email Sergio Gudkov at info.sergiosoft@gmail.com. All I know about the apps is that they use the internal microphone inside your Android cell phone to detect infrasound down to 4 hz and ultrasound up to 2khz. Both apps show graphs for level of dB SPL (decibel sound pressure level) and time the seconds. If the apps detect any sound the cell phone will alarm and print (log) numbers for dB SPL, the time, the frequency, date, latitude, longitude, Google map, and address. I also know the difference between infrasound and ultrasound. They have similar symptoms like pressure in ears, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, nausea, loss of balance, vomiting which gives you a feeling of being sick. So I could be getting symptoms from both infrasound and ultrasound just like the apps detected was there. But are these apps telling the truth of where the source is because I am feeling and hearing it. The pitch of the hum in my home is in the range of 185 -190 hz , -F#3/Gb3 for infrasound on the tone generator that you requested I use. I did the headshake test and it didn’t help me to tell if it is a personal or external hum issue. The vibrations on water surfaces and buzzing of my electronics are closely correlated with the hum. If the hum and buzzing lawnmotor sound stop the vibrations and electronics buzzing will stop pluse my symptoms too. This happen back around the end of the month of April 2019. I didn’t feel sick for a week n half, however the hum return on May 5th and my symptoms came back. It been like that ever since. What I learned from these apps is they are useful to find out any suspicious low frequency noise, vibrations and sound invading my home. It explained why I have always been having anxiety at times and some health issues! I was thinking it was all in my mind when it is coming from subtle infrasound and ultrasound that could be a natural phenonom or by electronic harassment. No wonder why everyone in my family are irritated all the time.
Thanks Patsy –
Below I respond to some of your comments, restricted to the cases where my familiarity with science/engineering concerns may well be useful.
PP: “. . . infrasound down to 4 hz and ultrasound up to 2khz. . . . “
BH: Actually, 2khz is NOT ultrasound, but easily audible sound – about 3 octaves above middle C.
PP: “. . . Both apps show graphs for level of dB SPL (decibel sound pressure level) and time the seconds. If the apps detect any sound the cell phone will alarm and print (log) numbers for dB SPL, the time, the frequency, date, latitude, longitude, Google map, and address. . . . “
BH: What, typically, were the frequency and dB reading you observed? Essential data! The numbers MATTER. And does not the app simply report the GPS location of YOUR PHONE (trivial), or is it the location of the sound detected (much much more difficult – and unlikely)?
.
PP: “. . . I also know the difference between infrasound and ultrasound.. . . “
BH: Apparently not – as above. Previously, with regard to properties and propagation, you show evidence of not knowing the difference between audio-frequency and radio-frequency.
PP: “. . . The pitch of the hum in my home is in the range of 185 -190 hz , -F#3/Gb3 for infrasound on the tone generator that you requested I use. . . “
BH: Outstanding! Two points however. (1) Pitches of 185-190 Hz are NOT infrasound but ordinary and quite audible sounds ( F#3/Gb3 as you yourself said) as is my 64 Hz or Glen’s 56 Hz. Only 20 Hz or below is technically “infrasound”. 20 Hz to 50 Hz is borderline. (2) Your pitch of 185-190 Hz is likely too high for traditional (supposed internally generated) Hum:
Click to access ENWN56.pdf
The histograms in this Webnote above were plots of what was judged the best data. I tried to assess good “traditional” hearers (likely internally generated) pitches (Fig 1) based on all data entered while Fig. 2 was from hearers who had more than one hearer at the same time/location “non-traditional” (likely external source). Based on your pitch-matched, an external (real-sound) is suggested.
PP: “. . . I did the headshake test and it didn’t help me to tell if it is a personal or external hum issue. . . .”
BH: I take this to mean that the hum did not pause for a half-second or so. Fine. It would be consistent with an external source.
PP: “. . . No wonder why everyone in my family are irritated all the time. . . .”
BH: A curious comment! I asked if others in your home heard the same buzz/hum. What you said here in not quite that – but if the “irritation” is due to a hum (they all hear it) that is one of the main criteria for an external source.
Patsy – I don’t know. Conflicting evidence. But tests and solid data and logical interpretations may well pay off eventually.
– Bernie