Anomalywhat we found
The Hum gets blamed on earthquakes and on the aurora. We cross-referenced the reports against both. The top hotspots are seismically quiet, and the reports sit at mid-latitude, not up where the aurora is. See what the data shows.
The Hum
Somewhere between 2 and 4 percent of people hear it: a low droning, rumbling, or throbbing sound with no source anyone can point to, often likened to a diesel engine idling far away. It is worse indoors, worse at night, and most people around the hearer cannot hear it at all.
It goes by local names where it gets bad enough to make the news, the Taos Hum in New Mexico, the Windsor Hum here in Ontario, the Bristol Hum in England, but the reports describe the same thing the world over. This record holds 3,914 of them, the largest of any single characteristic here.
3,914
reports of the Hum
3,671
places they came from
43
in Ontario alone
What people describe with it
Nobody picked these from a menu. They are the characteristics the engine pulled out of what people actually wrote, and what rides alongside the sound tells you as much as the sound itself.
a low hum (2,259) · rumbling (404) · pulsing light (337) · buzzing (104) · hovering (19) · voices (15) · boom (15) · sleep event (9)
In their own words
2024-10-02
Subtle low drone, which reminds me of something like hearing bass from loud music a block or more away. Consistent in that any fluctuation is subtle, albeit it's not just a consistent note or sound ex…
2018-03-02
ohhhh Wow...thank you thank you thank you....so I'm not crazy!!! I am sensing something. I live in the NE US. I can certainly relate to this, I hear/sense it a lot, usually late in the evening(over…
2020-07-13
Mechanical, rhythmic. Reminds me of what it might feel/sound like being close to a gas well. Almost a rhythmic thump. I don’t know if I hear it or feel it. I assume I hear it but it sounds far awa…
2024-01-06
Low rumbling Yes, I think have something to add to the subject I have/had experienced three hum/rumbles. The first one I believe is a “memorised” noise, I was awoken one morning by a large diesel tru…
2018-11-04
Very low hum, which is constant, with a deeper, cyclical hum lasting maybe 3 seconds embedded in it. It's not regular. If I had to give someone a description of it who has not heard it, I would pro…
2018-01-26
Low frequency like bass music from a loud car. It is rhythmic and happens intermittently. The sound intensifies when I lay down in bed because it carries through the bed frame. If I go outside I can't…
2019-06-06
It's more of a feeling, with a rumble or drone that seems to be right at the edge of my hearing. It ranges from a low frequency rumble that feels like the bed or floor is slightly shaking (I thought…
2018-01-29
low sinus shaped noise around 62 herz, somtimes pulsing in volume of 1hz The low frequency hum I experience goes away when I'm not at home. If I go on holiday (and don't visit a place where I've hear…
Where these came from
The Hum reports here are from the World Hum Map, the open, worldwide, science-first survey built by Dr Glen MacPherson. He collected them, we reproduce them with his permission and with thanks, credited on every account, and we cross-reference and connect them with the same engine that runs the rest of this record. His project is at thehum.info, and anything comes down on request.
Do you hear it?
Write down what it sounds like and where you are. The engine will look for the others who described the same thing.
Tell us what you hear