From TINNITUS, L. Sheppard and C. Sheppard, 
Norfolk Tinnitus Society, 1993


                 The Phenomenon of Low Frequency Hums

  What would cause an otherwise perfectly normal man to sleep on a
local park bench during many of the late Spring and Summer nights?
Or to camp out in Market Square whilst his wife brings him food and
drink during the day?  The answer to this and much more lies in the
Phenomenon of Low Frequency Noise, which is being reported by many
thousands of people in this country [Great Britain].  In this particular
case this man's local park and his city centre are two locations he
has discovered in which these mysterious noises do not trouble him.

  This problem has been known for at least two decades yet still
remains a mystery although the number of complaints have increased
at an alarming rate.

  It has been authoritatively stated that many thousands of people
all over the country are complaining of being plagued by this noise.
This may well be a conservative estimate, for amongst a wealth of
personal reports on my own files many of these people are stating
that they find it best not to say anything to others about it in
case they may be regarded as "mad" or "weird".  There must be a
host of unreported cases.

  Although not a sufferer, I personally became aware of the
phenomenon around 1986 when the media reported a number of complaints
of a low pitched humming sound in the small village of Worlingham
in Suffolk.  I am aware that there existed reports of this problem
much earlier than this.

  I spent a whole day in Worlingham at the time and interviewed
a considerable number of these people.  My tentative suggestion
that perhaps some of them were suffering from a low frequency type
of tinnitus was met on all sides with adamant rejection.  They were
quite certain that the noise they were hearing was not in their head
or ears but was reaching them externally.  

  All were articulate, sensible people, and in no way "cranky" or
unusual.  Of the people I interviewed there was a fairly even
distribution of both men and women from all walks of life.  Although
I have had tinnitus for many years, quite frankly I could hear nothing
of the kind of noise they seemed to be experiencing, yet even as I
spoke to them many were obviously being greatly disturbed by something.

  It was at the time that my earlier book on tinnitus was just going
to the publishers and I felt that the problem was so closely allied
to tinnitus that I decided at almost the last minute to include a
chapter on it in that book.

  Possibly there have been no other published books dealing with
this particular phenomenon since, but the outcome has been that
I have received numerous reports on the matter not only from
Britain but from several foreign countries as well.

  I do not think that anyone would dispute the fact that this
phenomenon exists and that everyone should be made aware of the
fact that it is causing untold misery to many thousands of people.
Yet despite many attempts no one has yet been able to trace the
source and prove it.  It has become popularly known as "The Hum"
and those suffering from it are known as "Hummers".

  In 1989 these people, finding that nothing was being done except for
spasmodic reports appearing in various newspapers etc from time to time
and leading nowhere, formed their own Society in Britain known as the Low
Frequency Noise Sufferers Association and today they appear to have a
large membership.  Not only do they keep in contact with each other by
means of a regular newsletter, but I also know that many of them have
their own private circles and these people regularly phone one another
comparing intensities and other current features of the noise. 

  Numerous suggestions have been put forward at different times
from various sources as to the cause, most popular being that
the large underground pipes carrying North Sea Gas are to blame.
The strength of this suggestion has often been apparently backed
by the fact that increased incidence seems to occur soon after
the laying of these pipe lines.  But on this British Gas reply "It
is one hundred percent certain there is no link.  We have done all
sorts of tests on the whole theory."

  Other suggestions have revolved around such things as electricity
pylons, water mains, underground railways and water pumps, generators,
fans, transformers, electromagnetic fields set up around radio or TV
transmitters, microwaves, etc...but nothing has been firmly identified
as being the cause.  Meantime, thousands of sufferers are having the
quality of their lives severely affected and feel extremely bitter
that so little is being done to help them.

  It is an interesting point that from a report of a Conference on
"The Hum" held at The Royal Society of Medicine, London, on the
25th of November 1989 it appears that the majority of people
suffering from the problem state that the noise appears to have
two differing components -- a straightforward "hum" plus another
lower frequency modulation.

  Sufferers report that the noise is quite unlike that of tinnitus
as it does not emanate from within the head or ears and to many of 
them it appears to reach them through walls, floors, and ceilings
when inside, and externally when outside.  It causes them
considerable stress and loss of sleep which greatly lowers the
quality of life.  The long term effects of such exposure have yet
to be documented. . . .

  A sufferer from Leicester whose daughters and herself are all
suffering badly from the noise writes "at all hours of the day
and night we roam around the area trying to locate the source."
Being unable to sleep in the house when the noise is particularly
bad, she is forced to sleep in the garden shed, the only place in
her home where she is free of the problem. . . .

  This phenomenon is not by any means confined to Britain for I
personally know that it exists in Italy, Canada and Spain [and the
U.S.] and probably worldwide. . . .

  There are a number of very good reasons why these people should
be taken seriously.  It is all too easy to point to the possibilities
of some aural disfunction -- this is the standard explanation from
most of the medical profession.  But it is pointed out that these
sufferers from "The Hum" are able to find certain places in which
they do not experience the noise any time.  This is very different
from the experience of anyone with tinnitus in which the noises are
with them wherever they may be.

  Additionally a number of these people will tell you that they
have tinnitus and are quite aware that one noise is within the
head and the other definitely coming from some external source.

  It seems to me that one very reasonable explanation might
be that certain people may have an extension of the normal
spectrum of hearing, and if this extension leans toward the lower
range of frequencies they may well be picking up some noise which
others cannot hear as it is beyond the range of normal hearing.

  There have been reports of "Hummers" going into deep limestone
caves such as exist in Cheddar and Wookey Hole when the noise
completely ceases -- a further indication that this is no fantasy.

  Whilst noise experts admit to being completely baffled, thousands
of people continue to suffer from the phenomenon and are being made
ill by untraceable sounds which the other members of their families
cannot hear at all. . . .

  I feel that what is needed most of all at the moment is for the
three professional camps involved -- the authorities, the medical
world, and noise experts -- to agree to pool knowledge and resources
in a combined effort to try to pin down the cause. . . .