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OK, this is an odd post but who better to ask than all of the audio folks. At my home a low frequency noise can be heard. It sounds like a motor running in the distance. There is some variance in the audible pattern. Not really in frequency but perhaps it is because it is some distance away.I remember the first time I heard it. It was a few years ago in the middle of a winter storm, a few feet of snow on the ground, the power was out so it was dead quiet with good acoustics from the snow. I thought it was a generator running but in the years since this noise is present all the time, power or no power as having gotten attuned to the noise it is easier for me to hear. I also heard the noise at a neighbors a half mile away at about the same amplitude.
Today I came home early and opened the laptop and in the quiet house with nobody here but me and no appliances on and it is of course audible. I live in a very rural area on a dirt road where maybe ten cars or so drive by daily. It's very quiet here. We love that.
So I've wondered what this could be. I thought somebody's well pump but no because it's there when there is no power. I know, its an underground meth lab run by a generator! I have no idea.
Does anyone know how to track down and locate this kind of LF noise? I imagine its between 50-100 hz, closer to 100 I believe. Any ideas welcome. If your going to go critical make it funny!
ET
Edits: 07/24/12Follow Ups:
4th harmonic of the Schuman Resonance.
Too much is never enough
We are digging huge tunnels right under your feet.
Could be an underground waterfall? Perhaps deep down. How is the noise
in winter?
Cheers
Bill
It's constant throughout the year. It also sounds quite like a motor.
ET
Where do you live?
Capon Bridge,WV - a few miles southwest of town.
ET
has built one helluva sound system down there!
may the bridges I burn light the way...
Also, keep in mind in rural America I believe you have about 17,000 Volts
running through your power lines and stepped down to your home with
a transformer on the pole.
Could it be a nearby transformer humming. We have one a few hundred yards away and it hums on occasion. It also blows up sometimes during big storms. You can't mistake that sound.
happens when power is out too
ET
Let's hope not, it's a really BAD movie!
Good luck sussing it out!
"One this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
Nice one! And yes, it could be!
ET
a lot more fun.
Since this seems to be a constant simple sine-wave noise (around 100Hz --- my guess is that it's 120Hz AC line noise ), could you generate a signal of 100-120Hz to cancel out the noise?
At least, if you can record the noise and find the specific frequency of hum --- you'd able to better narrow down possible culprits. You don't have any high-voltage lines within a few miles of your home?
happens when power is out too
ET
Edits: 07/26/12
.
and I hear a low rumble as you do.
Do you have a well on your property?
There is a newish regional sewage pumping system (underground) that comes to within maybe 1/2 mile of me and I can hear the pumps/whatever 24/7 if I make it quiet and listen. Sounds sort of like a busy distant highway.
The guy who suggested deep underground tunnel boring may not be wrong, esp. if you're really that isolated...I don't know what to believe about that in the U.S., sure is a lot of speculation along with a lot of facts too.
Yes we all have wells in here. All the homes within 3 to 5 miles have a well or cistern. In town there is "city water". It's quite a small town, just around a thousand and I'd be surprised if whatever is running runs all the time but I guess it could. As long as all is quiet the noise can be heard 24-7-365.
ET
Don't count on monotonicity. I tried to track down something similar years ago here and driving in the direction it seemed to be coming would make it go away. In fact almost any direction would. I think LF reflects and refracts in odd ways what with hills, buildings, air flow and inversions and if some of the paths add up at your place then you are the lucky one...
But it's been gone now for a decade. Maybe it was the charcoal plant a couple miles away, it's seems either quieter now not in use.
Good luck, Rick
Good points, we all have wells within many miles. There is water treatment for the closest town which is 7.5 miles by car but only about 4 as the crow flies. That could be the target. I'm near the base of a mountain and if I went straight through I'd be probably 3 miles south of that nearest town. In town there is too much baseline noise level to possibly hear the noise there.
ET
.
...the Camp David area?
Hi Dave:
That's pretty far away. I'm west of Winchester off Rt 50.
Earl
An audiophile breaking in subwoofers?
Cheers
Bill
There are several military C3 installations, best known is Raven Rock, inside the nearby mountains that would have large generators running full-time and the low-frequency noise would travel a great distance.
LIBERTY ONCE LOST,
IS LOST FOREVER
-JOHN ADAMS
Or has that one already been taken?
Observe, before you think
Incoming power lines vibrating could be it. Used to work in a skyscraper where the power cable riser would vibrate at 60, 120 and 240hz. It was clearly audibe in the building. They had to add additional cable suports to stop it
Alan
Good one but it still happens when the power is out.
ET
"OK, this is an odd post but who better to ask than all of the audio folks."
A breathing body that can confirm your findings.
"Any ideas welcome. If your going to go critical make it funny!"
Your house was built over sacred burial grounds.
Hi
If you live within say 30-40 miles of a large commercial airport, you might be experiencing atmospheric focusing and a jet run up test..
This has happened before because at larger airports, they have an area set aside to test and run up the engines on big jets. These are usually open at the top and the sides are louvered.
Anyway, when there is a warm air layer high above, this can cause sound to be bent back towards the ground forming a sound channel.
When they were developing the Saturn five engine at Marshal Space flight center in Huntsville, occasionally when test firing they would break windows in towns 20 miles away. To check to see if the weather could be causing a sound channel, the used large pneumatic speakers on towers and an array of microphones is the surrounding towns. When the mics were quiet, it was safe to fire the engine.
Anyway, if you sound is only once is in a while the sound could be coming from a fairly distant source.
If the sound is a continuous drone, it might be a pumping station or generating plant somewhere. The wind blowing across the openings in the great pyramid are 'blowing on a pop bottle" except around 3Hz.
Do you have a measurement style microphone?
Best,
Tom Danley
Danley Sound Labs
Inside the Kings Chamber with the normal tourist flow it is impossible to hear yourself think.
I SHUSH'D everyone and had about 10 seconds of utter silence before the babble began again.
I'd love half an hour of silence inside the pyramid.
Also, some of the facts in the history part of the attachment are not quite.....right.
For example, the base side of the Great Pyramid is very close to 230 meters or about 760 feet.
The height of the Pyramid is in the ratio of 2PI to the base. So, the structure is therefore 'Earth commensurate'. Also, as noted by one of the 'Savants' brought to Egypt by Napolean, the stright up meaure.....from the center of a side to the tip-top is 185 meters. This is 1/10 of a minute of arc. The unit of measure used in the construction was apparently related to the side of the Earth.....as was intended when the French 'invented' the Meter.
As kind of an interesting aside, none other than Sir Isaac Newton was very interested in the pyramids dimensions.
Too much is never enough
Great post but I live about 65 miles from Dulles and the noise is there 24/7.
ET
What a great experience Tom. Not many people on the planet get that kind of experience! Thanks for sharing.
Mining operations often use pumps 24/7, both deep & strip mines. I would tend to think commercial & agree with tketcham, trains would be intermittent although a long freight could last an hour or more.
I think I know that sound, but I have no idea what it is. Here in Illinois, it was really bugging me a couple years ago. It lasted about 3 months and then seemed to go away. I have heard it only a couple of times since then, but thankfully it has not lasted as long.
I can only hear it inside our house. It can be particularly bad at night when I am trying to sleep.
Never found a recording on the internet that sounds like what I am hearing. They all seem too high in pitch.
Hi,
Not being familiar with the DC area, I'm not sure; but I've heard similar noise emanating from hydro-electric dams (the turbines), big refrigeration units (huge condensers), wind generators, and diesel generators and train engines as mentioned.
Could be something the Pentagon is working on.
Regards,
Tom
100 miles west of DC puts me in the boonies. Lots of other good suggestions too. It's nothing commercial it would be something at someones home as that is all there is within about 6 miles. I guess I'll drive around one quiet wind free night and compare the sound level at different distances.
I'm not obsessed as its been around for a few years but I'm finally curious enough to look into it.
ET
rule out Mothman.
My guess would be far off trains.
Thanks for the reply but the noise is too constant to be a train and the closest tracks are over 15 miles away.
ET
To Pointpleasant and tour the Mothman sites. Gotta do that.
Train rumble can travel a long ways..
but the noise is there at its same level 24-7 - thanks ET
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