The Riddle of the Hum Solved? Magnetic fields induce auditory hallucinations.

I found this page which has an explanation for the Hum. There are other reasons there, but these are the ones that I thought were persuasive:

# The hum is mostly heard near places where the earth's magnetic field is strong - Scotland and New Zealand, near the poles, or where the earth's magnetic field is disturbed by nearby volcanos (e.g. Taos). This is a strong indication that magnetic fields are involved.
# Aluminum foil doesn't block it. This rules out the possibility that it is caused by electric fields, which are blocked by electrical conductors such as aluminum. It also rules out the possibility of traditional electromagnetic radiation such as infra-red radiation, microwaves and so on, which can't propagate without their electrical component, which is blocked by aluminum.
# Thick steel can attenuate it, according to this page. This is pretty close to proof that it is caused by a low-frequency magnetic field. Steel attenuates fluctuating magnetic fields because steel is magnetizable. As the magnetic field passes through steel, it magnetizes the steel slightly and loses some energy by doing that. A fluctuating magnetic field which is going to pass through steel must magnetize the steel in one direction, then demagnetize it, then remagnetize it in the opposite direction and so on. This drains energy from the magnetic field, with the result that the field which gets past the steel is weaker.
# Low frequency magnetic fields are known to interact with the human brain (see the articles here and here and here) and are believed to be able to interact with human perception of fictitious sounds such as tinnitus (here).

Link: here

I've heard of the volcano-magnetic effect before but never made a connection to the hum. Are there any hum hearers here who can verify that steel weakens the hum and aluminum doesn't?

If that's really true then I'll be persuaded that it is magnetic fields. I know about the shielding effect for magnetic fields going through ferromagnets like steel - there's a page here that talks about it. There's no other reason that steel would weaken the hum when other materials like bricks and aluminum don't.

The article has a link to a bunch of papers that demonstrate the effects of low-frequency magnetic fields on the brain. I kind of thought they would probably have some effect, but it seems like it's much more significant than I thought.

[edit on 19-8-2010 by monetaryprotest]

[edit on 19-8-2010 by monetaryprotest]

[edit on 19-8-2010 by monetaryprotest]

Hmm....I know magnetic fields fluctuate and what not but why would people choose to live there to begin with? Certainly doesn't make sense to me. Maybe the effects aren't felt right away. Wouldn't the body be able to adapt? Perhaps not. It could be that magnetic fields are generated in order to test the threshold of human perception. Im willing to entertain just about any belief on this one!

Quick, patent a new method for generating electricity as a magnetic field passing through a conductor (steel in this case) generates current.

Seriously though, as various calcium-containing molecules can respond to a magnetic field, why not? Bones are made of calcium and those bones in your ears, why wouldn't they respond to a magnetic field...?

Then again if they did, we wouldn't need loudspeakers to convert electrical signals into displaced air / vibrations in order to listen to C2C would we? All we'd need is an electromagnet nearby and our ears' bones would respond to the fluctuating magnetic fields, right?

I thought this was going to offer an alternate reason for ringing in the ears.

reply to post by abecedarian


From looking at the scientific experiments, I get the impression that the magnetic fields are affecting the neurons in the brain directly, rather than affecting the ear.

Here's an experiment showing an effect on a single mollusk neuron. The frequency they used, 8.34 Hz is quite close to the frequency of the human alpha brainwave and the Schumann resonance.

The Hum is most heard by older people whose acoustic hearing is less acute than the acoustic hearing of young people.

Yes, it's called tinnitus and it not caused by magnetic fields. The "secret knowledge" blogger offers no evidence that it is.

Originally posted by monetaryprotest
reply to post by abecedarian

 

From looking at the scientific experiments, I get the impression that the magnetic fields are affecting the neurons in the brain directly, rather than affecting the ear.

Here's an experiment showing an effect on a single mollusk neuron. The frequency they used, 8.34 Hz is quite close to the frequency of the human alpha brainwave and the Schumann resonance.

From your link:

... electromagnetic fields (8.34 and 217 Hz) utilized in cell phones....

First thing I see is bad data. That frequency modulation may have been used on analog cell phones but current air-interface standards are trending towards digital encoding and spread-spectrum. Cell phones do not operate at those frequencies and in fact they operate between 700-910 MHz and 1710-2150 MHz. Notice the MHz? That's megahertz, not hertz. 8.34 Hz is just below the range of human hearing and 217 Hz is just below 1st C below middle C, if I remember properly. And it's a 'mussel' not a 'muscle' involved.

Still, I stand by what I was alluding to: that if the magnetic field strength was strong enough to influence anything within the auditory portions of the head- ears, brain... simple electromagnets placed in proximity to the ears or head should be sufficient to induce an auditory response as those electromagnets will obviously exhibit higher gauss readings than the ambient.

reply to post by monetaryprotest


Is this what you are referring to ???

This is a "Magnetic Anomaly Map" of an area in NZ...

Air traffic has to make adjustments to their navigation systems when flying past this area between Wellington and Christchurch.

Mt. Tapuaenuku is near the Clarence River, Kaikoura.

Also re. the 1978/1979 Kaikoura UFO Activity of the Coast of Kaikoura.
There was also UFO Activity inland as well.




Enlarged….




and Legend…



No audible "HUM" though !

[edit on 20-8-2010 by The Matrix Traveller]

My mother first talked to me about low frequency hum and other extremely low frequency sounds which she had been hearing, which I had been hearing also. I just assumed it was the motorway generating some weird standing waves which is 8-10km away. Even at night when the motorway is quiet it still happens though. Lately have had some very weird 'sky quakes' and other loud LF noises in later evening and early morning... The conspiracy theorist in me thinks it fits common descriptions of scalar EM testing grids overhead various populated areas. People here are waking up to the two party govt corporation joke, perhaps something to do with it.

I don't know what it is, anyone who knows about sound knows that LF sound is incredibly hard to determine directionality. We have no powerlines or anything similar nearby, live next to forest and two houses and a large paddock with a huge gully where trains run most days - which build up standing waves in the tunnel but it's a different, slightly higher pitched LF sound accompanied by shaking and high frequency train noises with a longer continuous sound, it's not tinitus, I have very minor tinitus being often around high volume noise sources by trade and hobby, even with precautions taken!

And do keep in mind that Auckland has about 20-30 dormant volcanoes, perhaps it's something to do with tectonics and not just magnetic fields.

@the matrix traveller... very cool map. Will have to make some inquests into that spot

[edit on 20/8/10 by GhostR1der]

reply to post by GhostR1der


There was proposed to be a very low frequency transmitter in Blenham some years ago. Involves "standing waves".
Blenham is near this area...

Check to see if such a station was installed ???

[edit on 20-8-2010 by The Matrix Traveller]

Auditory hallucinations????

If something like Magnetic fields are causing the hum it would not be a hallucination.

A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus.

en.wikipedia.org...

But if a magnetic field is the cause you have a stimulus.
So that means its not a auditory hallucination

reply to post by GhostR1der


Also check out what was/is known as "Pine Gap" in Australia...

Check out the Magnetic anomalies in that area too.

reply to post by The Matrix Traveller


I know of pine gap DUMB and reactor, there's all sorts of stuff going on there and sightings of various craft not to disimilar to dulce new mexico... wonder what the fields are like around there. My parentals went there and said the amount and size of underground caverns is ridiculous.

Blenheim is where the ECHELON recievers are and other various radio antennae.. perhaps they had an ELF scalar em experiment going on there to accompany the JORN in auzzieland...?

Only magnetic maps I can find I have to pay for.. any tips on where's a good source for them?

reply to post by GhostR1der


Please check your U2U....

reply to post by Phage

Yes, it's called tinnitus and it not caused by magnetic fields. The "secret knowledge" blogger offers no evidence that it is.

I don't think he has to. The Hum has been extensively documented elsewhere and it's not tinnitus because it occurs in specific geographical areas for specific periods of time and then goes elsewhere. Also, it can occasionally be recorded - there's a guy in New Zealand who recorded it and put his recording on the web. Fluctuating magnetic fields can also be recorded, because they induce a hum in recording equipment.

reply to post by ANNED

But if a magnetic field is the cause you have a stimulus. So that means its not a auditory hallucination

You're right. "Illusion" might be a better word.

reply to post by The Matrix Traveller


That's great! If there are usually magnetic anomalies in places where the hum is heard, then I think we're on to something.

It turns out there are big magnetic anomalies over Scotland as well - another hum hotspot.

There's a map of the anomalies in a book called the Geology of Scotland that you can see here:
Great Glen and Lossiemouth anomalies



[edit on 20-8-2010 by monetaryprotest]

reply to post by abecedarian

That's megahertz, not hertz. 8.34 Hz is just below the range of human hearing and 217 Hz is just below 1st C below middle C, if I remember properly. And it's a 'mussel' not a 'muscle' involved. Still, I stand by what I was alluding to: that if the magnetic field strength was strong enough to influence anything within the auditory portions of the head- ears, brain... simple electromagnets placed in proximity to the ears or head should be sufficient to induce an auditory response as those electromagnets will obviously exhibit higher gauss readings than the ambient.

I think you're right - they must have meant MHz.

And yes, electromagnets should do it and the experiments seem to indicate that they do have an effect on neural activity. In order to get the person to hear a sound, though, you'd have to have exactly the right frequency - frequency is more important than field strength when you're trying to get a resonant response.

I would also doubt that you could get the person to hear a complicated sound like rock music. The cochlea takes incoming sound waves and projects them onto a membrane that responds to different frequencies in different places, and the nerve endings in the membrane detect the vibrations and convert them to electrical pulses that get sent off to the brain. Then you have millions of electrical signals representing the whole spectrum of hearing. With the brain's resonant response to magnetic fields, it looks like you could just get a bit of resonance around the alpha frequency, so a "hum" is probably the most complicated signal you could get across.

Originally posted by Phage
Yes, it's called tinnitus and it not caused by magnetic fields. The "secret knowledge" blogger offers no evidence that it is.

Well you can't say that with certainty, I am a tinnitus sufferer I have it quite seriously and one thing I do know is that it is often very very hard to find the specific cause for tinnitus in any given person, that is simply because tinnitus is not a condition in it's self, it's only a symptom... It could be anything from medication such as aspirin, it could also be a neurological condition, blood flow issues, very slight brain damage, exposure to strong electro magnetic fields literally a million and one things.

reply to post by Now_Then

I have tinnitus too. Permanently. I doesn't matter where I am, even 20 miles at sea. It doesn't matter what time of day. It's there. Always. I have no doubt that mine is a result of hearing loss as, shortly before the tinnitus appeared, my high frequency hearing began to degrade.

Others may experience something different but what the blogger describes is hearing loss associated tinnitus.

The Hum is most heard by older people whose acoustic hearing is less acute than the acoustic hearing of young people.