BBC News
Friday, May 22, 2009
For decades, hundreds of people worldwide have been plagued by an elusive buzzing noise known as “the Hum”. Some have blamed gas pipes or power lines, others think their ears are faulty. A few even think sinister forces could be at work.
The hum is a phenomenon that has been reported in towns and cities across the world from Vancouver in Canada to Auckland in New Zealand.
In Britain, the most famous example was the so-called “Bristol hum” that made headlines in the late 1970s. One newspaper asked readers in the city: “Have you heard the Hum?” Almost 800 people said they had.
So what is the cause? Various features of modern life have been blamed - gas pipes, power lines, mobile phone masts, wind farms, nuclear waste, even low-frequency submarine communications.
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The internet is abuzz with rumour and speculation. There are dark mutterings about secret military activity, alien contact and government cover-ups. The hum even featured in an episode of the sci-fi drama “The X-Files”.
Such conspiracy theories are understandable, but unhelpful, according to Dr David Baguley, who’s head of audiology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
He estimates that in about a third of cases there is some environmental source that can be tracked down and dealt with.
“It may be a fridge or an industrial fan or a piece of heavy machinery at a nearby factory that is causing the disturbance and can be switched off,” he says.
Most of the time, however, there is no external noise that can be recorded or identified.
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