Mysterious noise spectrum analysis

It's been happening in my area for about a year so I'm not sure if the spreading of the noise is related to an increase in frequency or an increased awareness. This weekend it was a little louder than usual and I could hear a distinct pattern almost like a rumble followed by a tuning fork that repeats, all of this accompanied by the usual jet plane in limbo background ambient noise.
For three evenings I placed a recording device on the window sill and left it on record, yesterday I downloaded the sounds and played them back in windows media player. As a point of reference I used the "bars" visual enhancement (the bouncing vertical lines that move up and down with the music) and left the sound exactly as recorded.
On playback I noticed an obvious underlying tone, no doubt because the use of headphones was now blocking out the outside noises. I opened the "equalizer" enhancement (ten individual adjustments from low or bass level at 31Hz to hi or treble at 16KHz) and moved them around a little. What I found was quite shocking.
The sounds seem to dwell mostly in the extreme low and extreme high of the audio spectrum, if I take the EQ adjustments to bottom on all 10 frequencies the obvious sound and visual bars drop close to zero. Raising the 62Hz, 125Hz, 4KHz and 8KHz had little or no effect. I took all the bars back down to bottom and raised ONLY the 31Hz all the way up and the entire video and audio spectrum came back (all the bars on the visual went up) not just the left side or bass frequencies.
I took all of the adjustments back down and this time manipulated only the 16KHz frequency, as soon as I did this an ear piercing high pitched screech came out, so loud and harsh I could only listen for a few seconds because it was hurting my ears. With this adjustment only one bar of lights was visible at the far right side (treble tones) unlike the 31Hz reaction. Even though I knew the answer I checked my work by playing a variety of music, vocal and natural sounds to see if I could duplicate the reaction but nothing else showed a similar response.
I'm hesitant to play this on anything but the computer because I don't want to damage my audio equipment, if anyone has the knowledge or equipment to take this further let me know and I'll try to find a way to post the sound file.

reply to post by Trublbrwing


Interesting. Another thread pointed to information that originally appeared at www.wosco.org... where there is a possible scientific explanation for these sounds. This explanation includes the idea that much of what is going on is above and below the range that we can hear. Seems to fit with what you picked up.

Post it up, il try analysing it through something more advanced.

Very cool.

Can you upload what you recorded?

I don't think anyone truly knows what is causing the noises. I've read some theories that basically blame it on cell phones / wi fi. Others think it has to do with the weakening of the Earth's magnetic field.

I don't know maybe hell is full and they're breaking out!

I was skeptical of the noises when all i was ever able to do was read about them, or watch youtube vids about them.

The other day i finally got a chance to hear it myself.

While heading out for work, i heard what sounded like an airplane taking off in the distance (In the general direction of the airport which is 10 miles away) but it was very loud and didn't seem to change pitch of intensity as one might expect from a plane taking off. It persisted for a few minutes. But i was running late for work and got in my car and headed out.

I saw people walking on the street craning their necks to see what plane was making all this noise, but there was none visible in the sky.

By the time i got to work, it was gone.

I live in a very very populated area. Silicon Valley in California, so i wonder who else might have heard it. Was yesterday morning.

Nasa and Lockheed also have facilities here at Moffet field, so i might have heard noises coming from them, as that was the general direction i heard the noise.


Can you toss it up on Soundcloud or something for us?

reply to post by Idonthaveabeard


What's the easiest way to do it? I can either transfer direct from the player via usb to computer or use the file in media player. I need to condense it down to a two or three minute sample also since I have multiple recordings at 20 plus minutes each. Never uploaded sound files before so I need instructions with basic computer skills in mind.

reply to post by Anthony2


Wow...that was a great article! Very important info in there! Thank you...

I found this sentence to raise a brow....

"they are formed in the upper atmosphere, at the atmosphere-ionosphere boundary in particular"

Doesn't HARRP play w/ the ionosphere?


www.haarp.alaska.edu...

I live near Ottawa, Ontario Canada and I heard the sound for the first time the other night.
I posted about it here on ATS and I agree with out regarding the frequency. I noted in that post the sound seemed to be in the 30-40 hz range... I use sounds for meditation (Theta, beta etc... ) to help me fall asleep at night. I found it odd that the Beta brainwave frequencies happen to be in the 30 hz range and that is the pitch of the sound I heard.. among with other sounds. More than heard it, I felt it as well.

Synthesis Learning has an interesting article entitled:
Brain Wave States & How To Access Them

To quote them directly:

Beta brain waves ( 13 to 30Hz)
14 Hz - Awakeness, alert. Concentration on tasks, Focusing, vitality.
16 Hz - Bottom of hearing range. Releases oxygen/calcium into cells
12 - 15 Hz - Relaxed focus, improved attentive abilities
13 - 27 Hz - Promotes focused attention toward external stimuli
13 - 30 Hz - Problem solving, conscious thinking
18-24 Hz — Euphoria, can result in headaches, anxiety.

I don't know if there's anything to these new-age theories of enhanced consciousness, other dimensions etc, etc, etc...

But I do find it very intriguing that the sound I heard was in the range that has a profound effect on human brainwave patterns.

reply to post by Invariance


Do your speakers even support sound in that range? Here is a high quality set of speakers (THX certified), and they only support sounds as low as 20 Hz if the subwoofer is THX certified. It actually says the frequency response is 35Hz-20kHz, so the subwoofer must not be THX certified, but it says the "system" is. (Confused, but...)

I have heard "the hum" myself, and it is a very very low sound, they say about 10-14Hz. Elephants communicate in the extremely low frequency (ELF) range. (Trivia for you).

Anyway, you cannot hear the sound through speakers. It may sounds similar to it, but it isn't "it."

Just giving you a heads up, to check the specs on your speakers to see what they are capable of producing. If it's anything other than maybe professional sound equipment, I'd say there's not a chance. Software might offer "it" but software doesn't "know" what speakers you have.

Originally posted by cavalryscout
Very cool.

Can you upload what you recorded?

I don't think anyone truly knows what is causing the noises. I've read some theories that basically blame it on cell phones / wi fi. Others think it has to do with the weakening of the Earth's magnetic field.

I don't know maybe hell is full and they're breaking out!

Cell phones have been around since the early 80s and they where a lot more powerful back then than now a days.

reply to post by daynight42


I agree, it doesn't sound "right" in a recording if you know what I mean.

How can the audible frequency be modulated for use in meditation if speakers and earphones are basically incapable of playing the sound?

reply to post by Invariance

Interference ("binaural") beats. Two sound waves of different frequency playing, one in each ear. Whenever the two patterns match up, phase-wise, you get a "beat" in the center of your audio field at the same frequency as the difference in frequencies of the two source signals. So if you have a sound at 50 Hz and a sound at 52 Hz, a 2 Hz signal will be generated in the center. It only works when the beat difference is under about 30 Hz, but that's how it's possible for speakers (or headphones, more usually) to make sounds at such low frequencies even though they can't. The sound waves are just tricking your brain, which is producing the central beat itself. It's not real, it's all in your head, yet somehow, it can still have an effect...

And I'm very interested to hear the OP recording. I have lots of audio analyzer toys... well, some.