Charlottesville, Va · 2019-12-26 · from the WORLDHUMMAP archive
A low hum in Charlottesville, Va
A low mono-tonal hum, as though of a refrigerator, but more constant when heard-I've always thought of it as something that just IS, below all other sounds. I don't always hear it, but when I do it seems to be at night or late in the day. I've linked it in my head to the Morlocks in HG Wells' "The Time Machine." It's as if there's machinery in the earth's core that makes the world run. When I was in third grade, (so about 8--1958ush) I was sent to lip-reading classes in my school because a school traveling hearing test showed that I was losing my hearing. I was one of seven kids in a blue-collar household. In 1960, one of my brothers began dating a woman whose father was an ENT, and as far as I know, she suggested that I see her father. I did, on Christmas eve of 1960--and it turned out that I had had chronic ear infections and full eustachian tubes all that time. The doctor inserted medication soaked cotton through my nostrils and deep into the eustachian tubes, then had me make say the letter K three times--while he blew compressed air through my nose. Suddenly, I could hear again. I have been prone to ear infections since, and once had tubes inserted in my ears as an adult, because I was planning to fly. My eardrums are now so scarred that they are opaque, and I think my eustachian tubes are sensitive as well. I didn't know others heard 'the hum". I think I always assumed I heard it because of my hearing history, but somewhere in the late 1980s or 90s, when living in this house, I seem to have begun to notice it more. Perhaps my strange hearing history is why I do hear it, because I'm now quite sure it's separate from other sounds.
What they reported
First noticed: Before 1990
Pitch: I can't get it exactly, but in the 110-130 Hz range
Loudest: During the night
Where: Equal indoors and outdoors
Symptoms: Insomnia, Sense of vibration, I am sometime anxious for no apparent reason. I never thought to connect it with the hum, since until now I didn't know others heard it too.
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the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
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This is a Hum report from Dr Glen MacPherson's World Hum Map, an open, worldwide record of people who hear an unexplained low-frequency hum. Reproduced with permission and with thanks; the project is at thehum.info. We remove anything on request. Location shown is approximate.
Anomaly