[Closed] Humming in house: any noise experts in?

Is it a detached house?

If not, things like washing machines can resonate at just the right (wrong) frequency to create a hum.

Any industrial units locally?

Have you checked your wife’s bedside draw?

[url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4478526/ ]Hmmmmm.[/url] 😕

Misplaced dildo?

Edit: mere seconds!

Jimmy of this parish had similar, have a search....

[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum ]The Hum?[/url]

Electric problems. Had this in a house with old wiring.

[url= https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum ]The Hum[/url]

There was a program on R4 about it recently.

I’ve pulled the batteries out from the vibrator!

Its a semi detached house, neightbour hears the noise sometimes as well.

There are refridgerated lorries kept up the road, but when outside of the house you cannot hear anything. Only inside!

I have an audio test cd and quite a powerful sound system, it's quite supprising doing virtually inaudible bass tones what parts of the house rattle at different frequency.

If it was elecrics though, shouldn’t it have stopped when I switched the electics off at the mains?

There are refridgerated lorries kept up the road,

Presumably the lorries come and go though. Is the hum constant or intermittent?

Summon the Vicar

I’ve pulled the batteries out from the vibrator!

I was talking about a back massager!

I get this too. Sounds like a truck ticking over outside.

It's not that as we live on a very quiet rural lane.

Mostly notice it at night/early morning when it's very quiet.

Not found the source yet, but do wonder if it is "the hum"!

Presumably the lorries come and go though. Is the hum constant or intermittent?

If it's a very low frequency hum, I'd think the trucks tyres would damp it.

Someone is using a sonic weapon in your neighbourhood?

I work during the day so only hear it during the evenings and night. Lorries are parked up during this time. However I have been up to them and cannot hear anything from them, from a distance of about 100m (which is the closest I can get to them without tresspassing).

I was talking about a back massager!

Yes sorry didn't read post properly. No electrics!

Turn off your trip switches in your fuse box one at a time until the noise stops.

Yes we (or I) have the same hum. Haven't noticed it so much recently, I bet it keeps me awake tonight now.

Never got to the bottom of it, probably never will.

It could be resonance from some sort of factory machinery not nessesarily close to the house but in the local area.

Any pipelines run near property underground?

Or you could have tinnitus..

Or it could be your fridge freezer.. They can do that if they are not running properly and reverberate through the house.

If it's intermittent, it could be only when it's actively cooling, just an idea.

I went through a period of waking up at night and going round the house turning things off to track down a weird noise. In the end decided it is probably tinnitus? When it is quiet your brain ramps up the gain and you start hearing stuff.

Are you in Cuba?

As the wife and next door neighbours sometimes hear it, I don’t think its tinnutus.

As posted above I’m guessing its some kind of resonance coming from the lorries, or mayby a generator keeping the refridgerated units on while parked up, although you cannot hear it outside which is a bit frustrating!!

Windows give a very different level of attenuation at low frequency to mid and high frequencies.

A double glazed unit that will take out 32 dB for the across the spectrum down to 100 Hz will only take out 6 dB at 25Hz, this is around the frequency of idling large Diesel engines. The end result is that outside you may not be able to hear the engines as their Noise is masked by other background noises, but inside those noises are attenuated by the window and the low frequency noise isn’t, which is why it becomes noticeable.

Either that or if you have an old burglar alarm the old internal wiring in the control unit can become degraded and cause a hum at either 50 or 100Hz which the battery will still power when the electricity is switched off at the main. You should be able to hear that coming from the unit if you put your ear next to it.

Good luck! Low frequency noise issues can be very hard to track down.

Fish tank pumps/filters.

As the wife and next door neighbours sometimes hear it, I don’t think its tinnutus.

I sometimes wake up and can hear a humming noise that disappears as soon as I go outside. Eventually worked out it was a ferry a couple of miles away getting ready to leave. So the refrigerated lorries could be a possibility, especially if they are running their fridges off the diesel donkey engines rather than plugged in to the mains.

Or, it could be wind resonating down a flue or through an aerial, telephone dropwire, or turning a freewheeling extractor fan? A laptop or bike lights can keep a charger powered even with the mains off (my bike lights do this), normally I hear a high pitched squeal but sometimes you get a hum.

Noise reverberating through the sewer from a pumping station? Coming from the neighbours, presumably they haven't turned off their power whilst you listen.

I'm sensitive to noise, I'll wake up to anything, couple of times to the noise of water moving through the pipes (they are on the other side of the house...at least it means I find the running tap or a hosepipe that has popped off the garden tap) or even a gentle hissing from the speakers if I forget to put the sleep timer on the stereo.

Good luck! Low frequency noise issues can be very hard to track down

Definitely, sounds under 30hz you generally can't hear, or not hear much.

But they can rattle fixtures and fittings which might be what you are hearing.

I’ve pulled the batteries out from the vibrator!

Had friends to stay recently. Luggage was brought downstairs before lunch, as they had booked a driver, and needed to be ready to go.

A humming started.

He "Darling, I think your electric toothbrush has turned on in your bag."
Her "I don't have an electric toothbrush."
Both *awkward silence*

Her (bright red of face) "I'm just going to nip back upstairs and repack my bag...."
He *continued awkward silence with an ever so slight grin*

🙂

You're obviously not entertaining your guests properly old boy....

You can always rely upon me for the same old meme..

[img] [/img]

Her (bright red of face) "I'm just going to nip back upstairs and repack my bag...."
He *continued awkward silence with an ever so slight grin*

Back massager.

Had the same a few days ago. Just one spot in the dining room (stone floor). The wife was saying it's the fridge/fish tank. No it wasn't.
Strange.
I reckon aliens.

My annoying hum has turned out to be the central control box for the house alarm.

Is the annoying Hum your wife?

Is the annoying Hum your wife?

Yes. Bloody hell you're a genius. 🙂

Windows give a very different level of attenuation at low frequency to mid and high frequencies.

A double glazed unit that will take out 32 dB for the across the spectrum down to 100 Hz will only take out 6 dB at 25Hz, this is around the frequency of idling large Diesel engines. The end result is that outside you may not be able to hear the engines as their Noise is masked by other background noises, but inside those noises are attenuated by the window and the low frequency noise isn’t, which is why it becomes noticeable.

Didn’t realize that windows attenuate higher frequencies better than lower frequencies , hence why I cannot hear it outside, but can inside. Thanks.

I can hear the next door neighbours heating kicking in early in the morning and at night while in bed. It's a very low level noise. I went round my place trying to find it before I realised. Maybe your neighbour thinks you can't hear his?

The compressors in those refrigeration units will be making a throbbing vibration, which could be resonating inside the house. A pal of mine had a nightmare with them when he lived in a house where there was a chilled food distribution firm about 100 yards away.

I started a thread about this a couple of years ago. I was off work recovering from knee surgery so home alone during the day.

Switched the electrics off etc, in the end I think it was probably in my head and was just the sound of silence - not something I was used to.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/256820/mysterious-hum-could-be-mating-fish

Randomly remembered this mystery hum we had in Hampshire in recent years. 😆

"Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white"
........???

If there is a rattle too look out for an annoying Irish man, probably clicking his fingers somewhere nearby..

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/whats-the-odd-throbbing-sound-in-my-house ]Here's my post from 2 years ago[/url], nice to see drac still doing the same old lines at the same point 🙂

Install this (or similar):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.raspw.SpectrumAnalyze&hl=en

then kill the power to the house and see if it changes significantly.

After killing power some things might still be fed.

Phones have power from phone line, so try disconnecting those.

Alarm may be powered differently.

As it's a semi-detached it could obviously be something through the wall. Not sure what could be running 24/7 though. Water pump to heating?

I remember reading a story about a physics professor (or something similar) who one day started hearing a new hum that would go on and off throughout the day.

He did all number of science-y tests and investigation to find it.

Eventually, he heard a new building was built and business opened a number of miles away. They had big electrical units (or similar) running. He figured out the hum was caused from the rear door to the building being left open and the sound propagating to his house through a valley.

Interesting stuff!

We have the same hum, starts at night and I cannot fathom what is causing it. Definitely not heating which has been off for months

Didn’t realize that windows attenuate higher frequencies better than lower frequencies , hence why I cannot hear it outside, but can inside. Thanks.

It's one reason. Another is that a low frequency noise source from outside is coupling to the natural resonance of the room(s) you're in. The resonance of the volume of air in the room can amplify the noise level. I expect that the noise level changes as you move about the room.

It's similar to being on a bus when it's sat idling and low frequency noise increases, although the physical structure of the bus may also be resonating in that case, as well as the enclosed air volume

I imagine I'm one of the few here who know the meaning of rt60's username 😀

I imagine I'm one of the few here who know the meaning of rt60's username

Not any more you're not, thanks to the wonders of Google 🙂

AlexSimon - Member
After killing power some things might still be fed.

Definitely, but at least it would be one thing you tick off the list.

I imagine I'm one of the few here who know the meaning of rt60's username

It means I was trying to write a report and choose a username at the same time 😀

Room nodes will also lead to variable levels in different areas of the room even with a constant source.

With the downloadable spectrometers, I would treat them with a big pinch of salt. They may give you an idea, but even with £10K+ of laboratory calibrated equipment, there is still a significant margin of error at low frequencies and phone mics are notoriously unreliable below 100Hz.

I’m pretty sure its caused by the refridgerated lorries kept in the yard up the road. Just enquired and there is no planning permission for them to keep the refridgeration units neither. - if planning is needed?

However considering their close proximity to residential properties I’d be surprised if they can get away without planning permission. Even if the planning was to only stipulate some acoustic fencing or whatever.

The local council is investigating now.

I’m pretty sure its caused by the refridgerated lorries kept in the yard up the road. Just enquired and there is no planning permission for them to keep the refridgeration units neither. - if planning is needed?

These lorries can be quite loud and I think you might be on to something there.

If it required a change of use to be a lorry park then I'd expect a noise impact assessment to have been done. However if it was a lorry park that now has noisy refrigerated lorries then I wouldn't expect any formal process has been gone through. That sort of thing happens a fair amount.

The noise barrier will have to be carefully spec'd to ensure it blocks the low frequency noise, i.e dense enough, and of sufficient height and length. It's not an usual issue so finding someone competent is unlikely to be an issue.

However, unless someone taking the measurements really knows what they are doing, attempts to quantify the low frequency noise level might not end up in your favour. E.g. "Bob" from the council can't measure anything exceeding a certain level so they regard there being no issue. I'd play very much on the subjective impact, i.e. "I can hear it, can you hear it? It's disturbing me and keeping me awake." Don't let their technical ineptitude cause you an issue*

I'd also talk to your neighbours, but due to the type of noise source it might not be those next door to you who are affected. Is there a local Facebook group you could use find out how widespread the issue is?

*I was an acoustics engineer at Nokia, then moved to be closer to family and went into "acoustic and noise consultancy", tried it, got fed up and then eventually changed career. There are very good people in the industry, unfortunately there are also some very inept people in the industry. Hopefully you'll get someone who knows what they are talking about. Happy to help out if I can

Thanks, just noticed your response. The planning permission refers to it as a transportation site. They have been keepin hgv there and there has been no problem with them. Its only when he’s subcontracted an area within the site to a refrigeration business that the problem has started.

To be honest the environmental health person hasn’t been much help. I think he’s looking for loud noises. The humming is just a hum, all the time.

Do you know of any retrospective powers the council may have to make the owner fit some kind of noise barrier?

Did you find the planning permission in the council's online planning portal? Find the original application in the planning portal and look through the documents to see if there is a noise impact assessment. If not they should have justified why one was not done, perhaps vehicle movement activity was only going to be in the daytime for example? As there is now constant activity (the hum from the refrigeration) then the owner could be in breach of conditions of the original planning decision.

The council can very much tell them to cease activity or review mitigation of emissions.

I know a lot about the technical/physics aspects of sound and have some experience of planning. From a post I saw today, rt60 seems to have a lot more experience in the planning/legislation side, so hopefully he'll return to this thread...