Please share this widely on all your social networks. I’ve never asked for that before. The time has come to ask for specialist help in bringing the World Hum Project to its conclusion, which is to conclusively identify the source of the World Hum and then discover how to ameliorate it. I’ve helped lift this upward so far, but now it’s time for the next generation of Hum researchers to step forward. Note that it is time-consuming, brings in no profit, and subjects oneself to mild online abuse.
We need people with post-secondary credentials who can help move this project to a serious private or university laboratory where it can be quickly solved. Once that happens, I can retreat back to my previous life. I won’t quit until then.
For anybody who has a degree in History, especially Post-Industrial Revolution, we have a serious and immediate job that needs tackling that could change everything. You’ll need full-text access to the earliest Times of London.
If you work in a facility that has a 24/7 MRI, preferably an fMRI, and you have significant influence over scheduling, then we need you.
If you are a medical doctor (MD or equivalent), we need you.
If you are an expert in non-profit marketing, we need you.
If you are a medical audiologist with expert knowledge of tinnitus, your expertise would be a major push forward.
If you own high-quality recording equipment, which includes as an example the family of Zoom recorders, and you are able to use Audacity or some other sound-analysis software and you happen to be travelling around North America, then we need you.
For those who have made it this far, you should realize that the Hum Phenomenon, and this project, have appeared seriously on most of the world’s major media, and across more than 30 countries. This phenomenon has now been normalized, and serious people are becoming interested.
Let’s solve it.
Glen
World Hum Map and Database Project 
Dear Dr. Glen,
I posted on here some time ago experiencing the hum. At the dismay and frustration perhaps of some other fellow hum patients on this forum, I put my situation down to the Refrigerated trucks that carry frozen foods creating a “bass” type noise from the trailers (Was looking for an answer so sorry folks for any offence).
Now I cannot say for sure if this was indeed what I was hearing due to changes in location and circumstances but I have discovered another auditory medical condition that is now finally being recognized within the medical faculty a condition I definitely know I have now.
Misophonia is an auditory condition were sufferers “hear” and become irritated with different sounds. I suffer badly from this Dr. Glen and wondered if this may be a new consideration in your great research for us.
Could it be that us special auditory sufferers can hear sounds no one else can??
Just thought this might be worth a thought through your research?
It is important WE find an answer for this!!
AND please don’t give up on this Doctor
-bri : )
I would say the auditory processing disorder i is actually a symptom. People with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disordees) including myself are more sensitive to stimulation of any senses light, sound, touch, taste, etc. EM Frequencies are sounds by definition, so myself included among about 12 other people with similar disability are over stimulated in our brains by sounds from any source. Living creature, especially in this case human animals have a mechanism in our brain that helps us filter out constant stimulation of our enviromental stimulus when it is of the same intensity for prolonged period of time and lets us forget it, at least most do except people with ASDs. We never forget we are wearing an itchy sweater, or the tag bothering our neck or that water was on our skin, anything uncomfortable or comfortable we feel it until it goes away, i believe that everyone has a breaking point of overstimulation even if people with ASDs are more sensitive compared to “normal” people, so this effect or “new” disorder of misophonia is just a pathetic attempt to dismiss what is really the issue of environmental sound pollution which only political powers will be able to do anything about. I am for any disorder that is able to be treated without meds, as it allows people to get the accomodations they need to function normally again in society (unfortunately we can’t all be hermits)
You wrote, “EM Frequencies are sounds by definition”. I’m sorry, but it simply false. I think you need to clarify what you mean in one or two simple and clear sentences.
Hi Thanks for your commitment.
By your experience, do you recommand to try to record the hum’s audio footprint from an indoor or outdoor environement ? I own very good equipments and I live remote from noisy areas. I can try both but I want to setup multiple microphones etc so if you have useful suggestions, it will be very welcome. I plan to use a large parabolic antenna I kept for this project, thinking it can improve the signal amplitude (by placing a mic in front of it, instead of the receiver).
Thanks Jess
De : World Hum Map and Database Project Envoyé le :4 juillet 2020 20:03 À : citriquecitron@gmail.com Objet :[New post] The World Hum Project Needs Expert Assistance
Dr. Glen MacPherson posted: “(www.thehum.info) Please share this widely on all your social networks. I’ve never asked for that before. The time has come to ask for specialist help in bringing the World Hum Project to its conclusion, which is to conclusively identify the source of th”
Hi Jess,
That’s difficult to answer with regards to equipment tests.
I suggest maybe Dr Glen and the forum look at Misophonia. This is a definite auditory condition that teh human ear and brain will make happen.
Equipment won’t help unfortunately at the moment. I can tune guitars, hear someone eat a pack of chips…even hear them breathe from distance.
Was speaking to Leeds University UK about this regarding an experiment they conducted on sound and what human ear response was….I scored off the scale!!! Please look at the condition Misophonia first to rule this out before equipment tests.
Hope this helps.
-bri
Hi Dr. MacPherson,
Your request has been shared on our Twitter (@alberta_hum) and Facebook (AlbertaHum) feeds.
Thank you.
-dn
WWH – SDIY
With regard to asking for Expert Help – there exists a body of expert audio engineers (music synthesizer designers – good ears) on their SYNTH DIY site archived here:
https://synth-diy.org/pipermail/synth-diy/
If you are curious click on April 2021 and sort by “author” and scroll to my postings. Since a current topic was “tinnitus” I saw an opportunity to fish for possible input on LF tinnitus (The Hum). Here is what I posted on SDIY on April 24, 2021:
“LF Tinnitus ???
“Since the subject of “ordinary tinnitus” (HF; say 5 kHz – 10 kHz) has appeared here as a topic, please humor me in allowing mention of the “World-Wide Hum” (WWH, sometimes Taos Hum, etc.) which is a mysterious LF hum (like an idling diesel engine in the distance – perhaps 30 Hz to 100Hz – I hear 64 Hz), often 24/7/365, the exact nature and cause of which is largely unknown.
“Few people hear this (perhaps 2%), but observations are confounded by real trucks, refrigerator units, failing power transformers, etc., as well as (conspiracy directed) entertaining suggestions of government mind-control or underground invasion tunnel drilling, cell towers, etc. Few good audio engineers are hearers and participating investigators.
“This Hum is likely an individually generated (internal) artifact – not a real physical sound; a LF tinnitus. Importantly and diagnostically, various “impulsive” INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS (vigorous head-shake, exhale, grunt) seem to interrupt the WWH for about ½ a second, after which it is found to have ramped back up. This ramp-back-up timing reminds an audio engineer of AGC, which in turn might suggest actions of protective muscles in the middle ear (supposition here).
“For those interested, Dr. Glen MacPherson maintains an excellent website on the WWH:
https://hummap.wordpress.com/
and I have posted on my EN site Webnotes linked here:
Click to access ENWN56.pdf
-Bernie”
*********************************************************
Among the replies was this from frequent SDIY contributor Richie Burnett (many thanks)(also April 24):
“I think I’ve heard about the Tensor Tympani Muscle being implicated as a
possible cause for this. It’s a muscle that normally contracts to reduce the sensitivity of the ear in the presence of loud sounds, (a sort of AGC), but the process can malfunction leading to a range of symptoms classed as “Tensor Tympani Syndrome”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle
”It mentions that muscle contraction produces noise… “Fast twitch fibers
produce 30 to 70 contractions per second (equivalent to 30 to 70 Hz sound frequency)”. Some people hear rumbling if they close their eyes really tight, etc.
. . . . . . . . . .
-Richie,”
*************************************************************
Of considerable interest here is how this corresponds to our ongoing speculation regarding The Hum and AGC due to middle-ear muscles: (1) The frequency range of 30-70 Hz, and (2) the time responses of the protective muscles reproduced from Wiki below :
Click to access Time.pdf
which show the ½ second delay in the ramp-up which is just what we observe.
-Bernie
Well done Bernie, and thank you Ritchie.
Your latest post ticks many boxes, perhaps all of them?
Maybe Glen can now classify this phenomenon as “probably solved” and take that long deserved break back to the quite life??
Cheers everyone, it’s been a great journey.
I think that’s premature at this point, but progress is certainly being made!
Thanks George,
To a large extent, I concur with your assessment: – the extent limited to aspects of THE HUM relates to the satisfaction of my own basic CURIOSITY about its origins (internal – middle ear) while remaining elusive with regard to RELIEVING AFFLICTIONS for others that are far more annoying than my own.
-Bernie
Hi Bernie,
Yep, message received and understood, many thanks.
Oh, I might add, for the past two weeks I have had a middle ear infection in my right ear.( My hum ear) Haven’t heard the Hum for two weeks.
Cheers mate, feel free to call in for a beer or a cuppa tea whenever you visit OZ.
Hi all. If the tensor timpani muscle is involved. Is there a surgery to correct it?
I’d definitely be up for trying it. Quality of life is very minimal because if the hum. I’d try anything!
Predictably, I’ll say that this site – and I – offer no medical advice. However, if anybody does go through any surgical procedure(s) that change the perception of the Hum, I’d be glad to hear about it.
AGC
Let’s try to tie up some loose ends regarding electronic AGC (Automatic Gain Control) and “The Hum” speculation; with regard to a possible connection with the expected function of the protective middle-ear muscles (tensor timpani, stapedius – protection against the loudest sounds).
Audio AGC is intended (for example) to accept speech from a microphone and adjust the gain so that loud signals (shouting directly into mike) are possibly reduced while weak signals (back of room) are usually amplified (frequently to mainly amplifying background noise! – not knowing it is usually not wanted). Accordingly, normal pauses of a second or so by a speaker can be filled by the AGC ’’searching” for any signal; and finding only random noise (ramping up to some max gain) until a normal speech input returns and thusly restores normal gain.
Note that the AGC must NOT respond instantaneously, else the circuit could respond to fine details, even to those within each and every “cycle”. Instead a “time constant” of roughly one second is designed in to delay the gain changes, resulting in a characteristic “surging” of any rsidue noise when the desired signal is inactive. This noise surging is likely familiar (unconsciously) to most everyone and may contribute to the contemporary increased awareness of The Hum.
Likewise, the surging of The Hum could be the response of the middle-ear searching for some signal and finding only a “rumble” in the case where the protective muscles are fully relaxed. When an “impulsive” event (grunt, head-shake, etc.), or continuous “masking” sound (like a fan or music, etc.) occurs, the muscles tense-up to reduce the middle-ear transmission and simultaneously eliminate The Hum. The Hum (noise) of course ramps back up (an observation) with a time constant of about 1/2 second when the louder sound (impulse or mask) stops; pretty much as the AGC does.
Recently above (my comments of April 28, 2021 and following), show considerable agreement between tensor timpani time response and Hum interruption time constants (although the Wikpedia reference is incomplete!). See also: http://electronotes.netfirms.com/ENWN46.pdf
None of this would seem to provides significant insight into a treatment or cure.
-Bernie
Hello,
I’ve just moved to Sechelt BC (Wilson Creek to be more accurate).
I’ve been hearing the Hum since moving here from North Vancouver 2 weeks ago. Like most, I searched indoors and outdoors, high and low to try snd figure out what the Hum is, to no avail. This is my first experience with it and it is constant 🙁
I asked my landlords for help to track it down snd address it, but try as they might, they just don’t hear it. They’re wonderful people, don’t think I’m crazy (yay!) and it was the wife who sent me an article she found in the New Republic when researching last night regarding the Hum I told her about, yet she couldn’t hear.
So…hear I am!
How the heck do I deal with this noise?
Leesa, believe it or not, you will learn to! Get a white noise machine or a loud fan if it’s keeping you awake – that will help. I also discovered that when I put my head between two pillows when I go to sleep, so my ear is in the small space between them, I don’t hear the hum. I don’t know if that will work for you but it’s worth a try. I’m sorry you have this problem now, but you WILL get used to it and it could well lessen over time. Mynoise.net is also a good place to play around with different sounds, which you are able to adjust with levers. I used to use it a lot on my desktop but not so much lately.