Are you one of those who have suddenly started hearing an inexplicable bass hum near the Oslofjord?
Then you may be one of the very few who can hear sound. Only two to four percent of the population feels it.
Hege Børresen Leiang (35), who lives north of Drøbak, is one of them. At first he just thought it was an idle construction machine near his home, he says NRK.
In the summer of 2021 she sat inside her house with the porch door open at night. When she heard the sound, she thought it was someone she was digging.
But when she went out to check, she saw no cars nearby. The roommate hadn’t heard the sound either.
Explanation of the mysterious phenomenon
“The hum of the Oslofjord”
She tells NRK that at first she thought there was something seriously wrong with herself. She then she thought of the sound phenomenon “The Hum”.
When he started hearing the sound, he tells NRK that he felt a strong need to find others who heard the sound as well. That’s why she created the Facebook group “The Oslofjord Hum”, which at the time of writing has over 450 members.
When most people can’t hear sound, it’s not always easy to convince others that sound is there. But Leiang says she is often believed when she talks about “The Hum”. She also helps that many others in the area have similar experiences.
– But people who don’t hear can’t relate to it. It is not just a normal sound. There are vibrations in the ear, he explains to NRK.
“The hum”
For decades, people around the world have been reporting an unpleasant buzz, known as “The Hum”.
There are many different explanations for the sound phenomenon and it can come from different sound sources. In cities where the sound phenomenon has been studied, only two to four percent say they can hear sound. At the same time, sound can often be heard over a wider geographic area.
Common to the sound phenomenon is that it is also almost impossible to find the sound source. But in the vast majority of cases these are from industrial sources.
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An example of a well-known low frequency sound is the sound that was in the city of Windsor in Canada known as “The Windsor Hum”.
Since 2011, several residents of the Canadian city have been bothered by the inexplicable nighttime noise. There were many different theories as to what the source of the sound was, but no one found out what it was.
During the 2020 corona pandemic, a foundry in Detroit, on the other side of the border, had to close its doors. Therefore, the sound also disappeared and hasn’t returned since, according to Canadian media CBC.
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Measured the sound
Low frequency sound has long sound waves that can easily travel long distances. When sounds approach 20 Hz, we speak of infrasound. Normally, it is not possible to hear these sounds for humans, unless the sound is at least 80 decibels.
Pål Jensen, Senior Advisor to the Norwegian Noise Association, tells Dagbladet that he himself embarked on the journey to measure sound around the Oslofjord.
– I made the trip to Slemmestad. Down from Bryggeveien I could hear a low-frequency hum coming and going. Then I measured the sound around 50 decibels, she says.
Jensen explains that it is a low frequency major characterized by a bass sound.
– They can also be infrasound, which aren’t usually audible to most people, he says.
The quietest place in the whole world
– Big differences
But if there are so few people who can hear “The Hum”, is it real?
Sound researcher Tron Vedul Tronstad believes there is a likelihood that it is.
– There are big differences in people’s hearing, and it’s not inconceivable that some hear a low-frequency sound that others don’t. There are also big differences in how one is attentive to sounds. Some people don’t even “hear” what they really hear, especially when the sound gets faint, says Tronstad, who is a sound researcher at the SINTEF research group in Dagbladet.
He himself studied high frequency sounds, or ultrasound, the opposite of infrasound. He states that several studies show that there are some people who hear sound frequencies that others don’t.
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It can be psychological
Tronstad believes it is not inconceivable that there are industrial sources of sound that someone can hear near the Oslo Fjord.
– Air absorbs different frequencies differently and infrasounds are less attenuated than higher frequencies. This means that low frequency (infrasound) sound can propagate over large distances. The source may therefore be far away, he tells Dagbladet.
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However, he points out that sound can sometimes also be psychological.
– In Denmark, they conducted research on the sound of wind turbines. Those who claimed to be bothered by the sound were also those who were opposed to the operation. Therefore, it is also conceivable that it may be psychological, the researcher of sound.
However, he thinks the sound setting is less likely to have anything to do with it, as “The Hum” has no known sound source.
– If they knew the sound could be coming from a factory they didn’t want there, this would be a more likely cause, says Tronstad.
