Noise Pollution

We have a similar noise here as well. This is the more generic origin of its discovery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Some days it sucks when you are one of those who can hear it.

Thanks so much for your ongoing help, you truly are the guru. As You hit the nail on the head this time! We have a local Stone Quarry nearbye also, so I wasn't sure if they were working under my house below the surfce. Like I said i've been looking at all possabilities. I wish it would just stop or run out of fuel or energy, Ive even as much as thought the place was Haunted! My neighbor doesn't hear it thou he is an elderly gentleman.

Are there certain times during the day, certain days during the week, major holidays and so forth when you don't hear the hum? If there are, make note of these times/days on a calendar. If the quarry is indeed the source of this hum, this info will help support your claims should you seek an injunction against the quarry for, as you said, "noise pollution."

If you consistently are unable to sleep because of this hum, you are suffering from sleep deprivation which could potentially cause harm to you and/or others. For example, you nod off while driving a car and cause a fatal accident. Or, you lose your job over safety- or performance-related issues caused by chronic lack of sleep. The hum is keeping you awake at night and you're going bonkers. Tell your doctor. Get a medical diagnosis (better yet, several). These also will help support your claims should you pursue legal remedies.

Document everything. Keep a journal noting when the hum gets louder/quieter/stops altogether, how it is affecting you physically, mentally and emotionally. Note the hours you sleep, times during the day you're sleepy when you ordinarily would not be, and so forth. However the hum affects you, make a note of it. Be factual.

There may be others who are adversely affected. Find out who they are and compare notes.

Meanwhile, a "white-noise" generator may help you get to sleep at night. This could be anything from a small table fan to a device made for the purpose. White noise helps mask other sounds. I have moderately-severe tinnitus because of ear infections when I was a child. Tinnitus, as I have it, is a constant, high-pitch hissing sound in my ears plus several very-high-pitch tones that never go away. The only way I can sleep is with the sound of a small fan running next to me on my nightstand. Give it a try and let us know if it helps.

Attila

If it is a taos noise you sort of just put up with it and hope that when you ask others about if they hear it they will be honest and say yes and not think you are loosing your mind.

Over the years I have learned that it apparently runs in my family being I hear it, my brother hears it, and so does my niece. But others think we are nuts because we can all hear it at the same time yet they can be standing right beside us and apparently they do not have a clue as to what we are hearing.

For those who don't know what its like it can vary from being like the thumping bass from a very big sound system some distance away that plays the same beat over and over for countless hours on end.

At other times its like a big truck or train idling in the distance but it never shuts off and the tone seems to come from all around you instead of from a specific point or direction like a real truck or train would.

Other times its a simple hum that is similar to a big electric motor or power transformer but it can vary up and down slightly from a lower frequency to a higher one and back again over time.

Most who do hear it assume it comes from industrial or commercial machinery. But yet if you live in a rural areas and are not near anyone or anything then that rules out the human source and you are stuck with the fact you simply can perceive something like a sound that others just can't.

Great Post....thanks.

Could you take a walk at night to try to pinpoint the origin? Do you have any wind generators in the area?

Hey, at least you don't hear voices! They're telling me... No! No! I will remain in cont... Kill them all - Kill them all... <sound of magazine loading and round being chambered - front door closes>

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I'll get those ruby slippers!! And your little dog, too!!!!

AAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Thanks eveyone who replied. for u are all geniuses! My neighbor did just install a windturbin, I can see it from my back deck about 500 yds, but that would not run constantly, as for the diection of the Hum, it is definenitly comming from the west/s. west. the backside of my property is on a slight bank and does not generate any sound that way. I live at the bottom of a hill, which leads me to believe that also help to trap the sound. i think the sound is bounceing off the house. I can't afford all the High tech sensors to detect the sound levels. which would only prove the sound is there,which I'm already sure of. I know i'm not crazy! and there is times it does stop, but could be cause of wind direction or weather. when it snows it gets louder. and the Hum will also be the same in the daytime(varies). as for keeping a log you almost got to pin-point the source first. Or you could be logging all your life for nothing, It would prove nothing. Thnx thou for the thought!

If you don't have money for the gear to trace the source of the hum, you might want to try ear protector muffs as a way of getting some relief. You can get a pair at most any hardware store for around $10.

Forget ear plugs - a waste of money IMHO for low frequency stuff - like the wiki says, people say the plugs even make it worse. I think it's possible (if not probable) that the "hearing" of these low frequencies is actually more a function of the waves resonating against your skull, as opposed to the usual sound perception via the "little hairs and tuba" of the ear.

The muff is about the right size to bounce waves away from your auditory cortex - that part of the brain is more or less above the ears on the sides of your head. So if muffs over ears doesn't work perfectly, push the muffs up above the ears, over the cortex instead.

True, you will look a little odd. What price, comfort? You can even sleep with muffs over your cortex.. if you balance right it's a little like having a tiny pillow.. It may be a little uncomfortable but definitely worth it in exchange for being able to sleep! How would I know this? Don't ask!

I would imagine that any local college with a scope would lend you one with a couple of cheap mics.

Just get an electronics student to follow Guest at post #8 instructions with the two mics. on the ends of a six foot pole. Much easier with a scope than trying to train your ears/brain to interpret the two signals.

It'll need to be a battery powered scope: might not be so readily available.

I will add this from an observation made many years ago. I was in the country on a quiet, windless day and thought I heard a hum as I stood near a high-tension pole. I placed my hand on it, but felt nothing. I pressed an ear to the pole and the hum was quite intense and shockingly loud. I presume this hum was caused the the frequency shifts of so many conductors.

I do not know whether this is your cause or not - I just offer it as an example of a mystery noise.

Best Regards,

Ing. Robert Forbus

Guest.

One time I traced a similar noise to vibration of the telephone overhead service drop cable. It was an oval cable and would vibrate when the wind blew.

--JMM

The problem is now that you have become aware of this noise you are also sensitised to it. A cheap and easy solution is to start using a walkman. Some nice soothing music will turn down the "AGC" of your hearing system and you wil at least get some sleep.

I used this 4 years ago when totally imobilised in hospital.

Chas

try these links for earth hum

Ive heard it and it sounds like a large diesel engine throbbing i traced it using a sensitive microphone to the ground

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3701944.stm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351732,00.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11190-earths-hum-linked-to-coastal-waves-.html

this is the best one

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1184592/Have-heard-The-Hum-The-throbbing-noise-just-wont-away.html

or the woodpecker over the horizion radar?

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/scalar_tech/esp_scalarweapon_a.htm

This is so interesting. I often hear a hum at home which I was convinced was a diesel generator running somewhere but I could never trace the source. There's no significant industry where I live but, having read the Wiki link, I guess it could be from overhead power lines or even the sea.

noise from the ground.

when i first moved to Tamworth. UK i noticed on quiet days a humming like a diesel engine, As i knew the area where i lived used to be a coal mining area,i wondered if sound was coming from mine,

I placed a micraphone i made into a hole in the ground to see if sound was coming from ground and sure enough the sound was clearer there.

it sounded like a diesel generator ticking over in the distance, but each time i moved to a new location with sound equipment the sound was still present but no louder.

It seemed to be every where, which it was of course as it was coming from the gorund

My god! This is truly fascinating. While it has not happened very often, every now and then I hear this same noise. I would usually just think that it was a diesel gen set somewhere in the distance. Perhaps it wasnt after all. Of course, maybe, I am just crazy. I've been accused of it before. It wasn't because I was hearing things, though, but that's another story all together Then again, my hearing is definately atypical. I can hear 15 to 20Khz TV flyback transformers hum very clearly, too.

I would just hop on the bike or in the car with a map, Biro, and a good ear.

after a couple miles or more (if that's what it takes) of driving in each direction from my home, I would decide which locations I could hear the noise in the loudest and which locations I could hear nothing in.

Use the map and triangulate

for myself, that too much fun to be called work or exercise.

As a bonus, there are none of the equipment issues that would be subject to reflected noise. You can get all sorts of cheap SPL- sound pressure level meters for under $50, but it seems to be the duration of the noise, and not the level that begs question.

Can you imagine the complaint if you said 'come out to my house and listen to this racket you're creating!' and when the 'team' came out.. only half of them could hear the noise, and look... 2db! .. not the right approach

maybe your house is built in such a way that it has a harmonic vibration problem tied to the pull of the moon?

if so.. drive some screws instead of nails into the drywall

best

er thanks i think

yeah.. you're welcome..

i think

you still look confused..

sometimes simple is too hard to comprehend

I am always confused it keeps me on my toes

I think the problem is that some people can hear below the so called limit for instance at my age over 50 i should have lost the upper end but in my case this is not true, i can still hear high frequencies.

So its possible that some of us can also hear frequencies lower than the so called norm.

For those who are troubled by the sound may i suggest getting used to listening to a soothing music station to mask the annoying sound.

And try not to listen for the sound and hopefully you will become accustomed to it.

"listening to a soothing music station to mask the annoying sound"

Trouble is one persons soothing music is another persons annoying sound.

True or use earphones as sugested by earlier post, and you can also get pillow speakers.

or what about those devices that generate white noise that sound like the sea etc

http://www.whitenoisemachine.co.uk/

http://www.electronichealing.co.uk/sndcondition.htm

http://www.naturestapestry.com/generator.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_5119060_choose-white-noise-machine.html

I hope this Helps

Yes, white noise could help. I found these downloadable sound loops that I might try.

White Noise ON LINE FREE.

http://www.simplynoise.com/

Do i get commision for this service??

https://www.digital-meters.com/categories/Sound-Level-Monitoring/Sound-Meters/?gclid=CPPKj7L0oaACFaFi4wodvyMUaA

Do i get commision for this service??

No, I got there 1 minute before you!!!

75% to you 25% to me?

Never Mind the thought we have helped is payment enough

I did not read on any of your (good) posts about white noise that it sounds like the sea or rain or whatever, though it could be changed possibly to do that.....

(By the way, your last link appears to have a bad reputation, at least with Kasperky anti virus!! Be warned, "drive by" viruses are a possibility!!)

What I did read was that white noise blocks unwanted and annoying sounds, which is what might be needed by our OP and some others.

Here is a great link about white noise:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_noise

Here is a great link about a CD with mixed rain sounds and white noise, an .mp3 download is available too:-

http://www.purewhitenoise.com/p-55-restful-rain.aspx

I have collected some great CDs over the last couple of years with natural noises and sometimes low level music to "quieten" the blood. Rain, distant thunder (surprisingly very relaxing!) and the like, I can highly recommend such CDs for sleeplessness of any sort, not just because of irritating noises from unknown sources......

Although my experience probably does not explain your situation, readers may find this one interesting.

When I worked at a theme park, we had a neighbor complain when a sound check was performed at night on an attraction. The park thought that she was nuts, but wanting to be a good neighbor had a sound engineer check it out. When the sound was found to be barely detectable outside the building, it was thought that the neighbor that lived three miles away could not possibly hear the attraction and that what she was hearing at night must be from another source.

A few days later the sound check was performed again and the neighbor called within minutes of starting the test.This could not be a coincidence. So the sound engineer went to her home to instrument the sound during a sound check. Sure enough, the sound was there. It turned out that the sound was traveling through the sewer system and coming up at her home. Although there were dozens of homes between hers and the park and not one of them had complained of the problem. An acoustical trap was added to sewer and the problem was solved.

Here is another possible explanation. I have occasionally worked at a plant located in a rural area. When it was quiet in the office I could hear a low-frequency humming or rumbling sound like you have described. I was able to trace the sound to a vibratory compactor being used at a nearby construction site. Similar to this but bigger:

Could be but the noise i heard was there all the time night and day weekends etc

Maybe the easiest solution is not trying to find the noise source, but eliminating the noise source in your sleeping room, so you can sleep.

So, I suggest to buy anti-noise windows with double glass and with vaccum between the glasses, so no noise can enter in your sleeping room.

Ahhh but what if the noise is coming up from the ground?

Additionally, if it is low frequency, it tends to resonate through the structure of the building. Sound windows may be of little value. At least the double pane windows will help with your heating and cooling costs,

I propose a simple test for the owner, so he can define if the sound cames from house vibration (ground or structure) or from the air

Open the windows and door from his sleeping room and feel the noise.

Afterwards close the windows and door from his sleeping room.

If the noise reduces , than probably cames from the air and solution is simple.

If not , than probably cames from a low-frequency vibration as explained by IanR

Common problem of night time readers and sleepless adults.

Humming sound should originate from Rotating motions connected to air friction or turbulence.

The possible sources could be,

Fan with worn out bearings

Rotary fans of A.C units, where the exhaust fans are fit out side walls.

Exhaust fans facing your window.

Compressor fans

Blower fans or humidification blowers.

Inductions and transformer units also are potential hummers.

Check out your proximate sources based on this.