{"id":15808,"date":"2019-09-16T20:11:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T03:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=15808"},"modified":"2019-09-16T20:11:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T03:11:06","slug":"the-unexplained-noise-2-percent-of-people-can-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=15808","title":{"rendered":"The Unexplained Noise 2 Percent of People Can Hear"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-zwe8kibd1xy\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer &apos;none&apos;;autoplay &apos;none&apos;;bluetooth &apos;none&apos;;browsing-topics &apos;none&apos;;camera &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-read &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-write;display-capture &apos;none&apos;;encrypted-media &apos;none&apos;;gamepad &apos;none&apos;;geolocation &apos;none&apos;;gyroscope &apos;none&apos;;hid &apos;none&apos;;identity-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;idle-detection &apos;none&apos;;keyboard-map &apos;none&apos;;local-fonts;magnetometer &apos;none&apos;;microphone &apos;none&apos;;midi &apos;none&apos;;otp-credentials &apos;none&apos;;payment &apos;none&apos;;picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create &apos;none&apos;;publickey-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;screen-wake-lock &apos;none&apos;;serial &apos;none&apos;;summarizer &apos;none&apos;;sync-xhr;usb &apos;none&apos;;web-share;window-management &apos;none&apos;;xr-spatial-tracking &apos;none&apos;;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-zwe8kibd1xy\" data-lenis-prevent=\"\" data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/ZwE8kIBd1xY?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name=\"\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/ZwE8kIBd1xY?feature=oembed&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autoplay=0\" title=\"\" width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"http:\\\/\\\/schema.org\\\/\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/emrabc.ca\\\/?p=15808#arve-youtube-zwe8kibd1xy\",\"type\":\"VideoObject\",\"embedURL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\\/embed\\\/ZwE8kIBd1xY?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0\"}<\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/video\/index\/593992\/doom-vibrations\/\">THE ATLANTIC SELECTS<\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Jul 18, 2019<\/p>\n<p><i>Video by\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.garretharkawik.com\/\"><i>Garret Harkawik<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some describe it as sounding like an engine idling just outside the house. Others report hearing a low-frequency rumble. But almost everyone who can hear it\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/hum-heard-world-video_n_3663631\">2 percent<\/a>\u00a0of the population, by some estimates\u2014agrees on one thing: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/132128\/maddening-sound\">the hum<\/a>,\u201d as it has come to be called, is a persistent, maddening noise for which the scientific world has no known explanation.<\/p>\n<p>Since it was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-35344544\">first reported<\/a>\u00a0in Bristol, England, in 1970, this elusive phenomenon has plagued thousands of people across the globe, slowly eroding their sanity. One of them is Steve Kohlhase, an industrial-facilities mechanical engineer living in Brookfield, Connecticut. In Garret Harkawik\u2019s short documentary\u00a0<i>Doom Vibrations<\/i>, Kohlhase describes the noise: \u201cYour ears are ringing real bad. If it\u2019s a bad day, it feels like your brain is being squeezed. It\u2019s nauseating.\u201d Kohlhase says his dog, too, seems to suffer from the noise; once Kohlhase started hearing it, the canine became lethargic, and has never recovered.<\/p>\n<p>In the film, Kohlhase lays out the extensive evidence he has collected on the unexplained noise pollution. The quest for answers has consumed him; he estimates that he has spent $30,000 on legal fees and equipment related to his independent investigation. The single through line in all reported cases Kohlhase has studied, he says, is that the locations are along high-pressure gas pipelines, or at least in close proximity to them.<\/p>\n<p>The phenomenon has spawned many conspiracy theories. Sufferers, known as \u201chummers,\u201d have pointed fingers at sources such as electrical power lines, wireless communication devices, and low-frequency electromagnetic radiation. For decades, doctors dismissed patients\u2019 complaints as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/tinnitus\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20350156\">tinnitus<\/a>, an auditory problem that affects 15 percent of people. But the latest research suggests that the noise is not a hallucination and that many hummers do not suffer from impaired hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. David Baguley, an audiologist at Addenbrooke&#8217;s Hospital in Cambridge,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/uk_news\/8056284.stm\">estimates<\/a>\u00a0that about a third of cases can be attributed to environmental causes, such as industrial machinery at a nearby factory. But the majority of cases remain unexplained. Baguley himself believes that many of his patients suffer from extreme sensitivity to signals outside the normal range of human hearing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think most people view the hum as a fringe belief,\u201d Harkawik told me, \u201cbecause it\u2019s so subjective\u2014people say they hear something that most people can\u2019t hear. But when you look at the vast number of people who say they hear it, it\u2019s obvious that there\u2019s something going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, does the filmmaker subscribe to Kohlhase\u2019s gas-pipeline theory? \u201cSome parts are definitely believable; others less so,\u201d Harkawik said. He admits that some of Kohlhase\u2019s wilder extrapolations veer into conspiracy-theory territory. \u201cI don\u2019t think we will ever know for sure, though, since it would require an extraordinary amount of coordination and work to prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Harkawik was drawn to Kohlhase\u2019s story regardless of the relative plausibility of his claims. \u201cWhen I make something about a person with unusual beliefs, I no longer go into it thinking,\u00a0<i>What will it be like if they realize they\u2019re wrong?<\/i>\u201d he said. \u201cI spend more time on how they arrived at their beliefs and what of myself I see in them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In this case, the filmmaker identified with Kohlhase\u2019s obsessive devotion to his project, despite the fact that it had very little broad appeal. \u201cThe response to his research was underwhelming to him, but the people he has positively impacted keep him going,\u201d Harkawik said. \u201cI often feel the same way about documentary film\u2014I spend years on a project, inevitably feel underwhelmed by the response, but ultimately keep working because one or two people email me to say it meant something to them. I think most creative people would identify with Steve\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>We want to hear what you think about this article.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/contact\/letters\/\"><i>Submit a letter<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0to the editor or write to <\/i><a href=\"mailto:letters@theatlantic.com\"><i>letters@theatlantic.com<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Author:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/author\/emily-buder\/\">Emily Buder<\/a><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/video\/index\/593992\/doom-vibrations\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE ATLANTIC SELECTS\u00a0\u00a0 Jul 18, 2019 Video by\u00a0Garret Harkawik Some describe it as sounding like an engine idling just outside the house. Others report hearing a low-frequency rumble. But almost everyone who can hear it\u20142 percent\u00a0of the population, by some estimates\u2014agrees on one thing: \u201cthe hum,\u201d as it has come to be called, is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[381,423,378,379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anxiety","category-hum","category-insomnia","category-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15809,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15808\/revisions\/15809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}