The Hum is a constant and annoying low-frequency noise, such as a hum, rumble, or drone, that some people can hear but not everyone in the same area. People have reported The Hum in many countries, such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Sometimes, The Hum is named after the place where it is most widely discussed, like the "Taos Hum" in New Mexico and the "Windsor Hum" in Ontario.
The Hum is not one single event. Different reasons have been linked to it, such as machines or equipment from factories or industrial areas. It may also be connected to health-related hearing issues, like tinnitus, or other biological causes that affect how people hear.
Description
In 1973, a university study found that 50 people reported hearing a "low throbbing background noise" that others could not hear. This sound, most common between 30 and 40 Hz, was only heard during cool weather with a light breeze and often early in the morning. The noise was usually limited to an area about 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide. For some people who could hear it, the sound, called "The Hum," has been linked to at least three suicides in the United Kingdom.
A study of the Taos Hum in the early 1990s in Taos, New Mexico, found that at least 2% of people could hear it. Each person heard it at a slightly different frequency between 32 and 80 Hz, with the sound changing between 0.5 and 2 Hz. Similar findings were reported in an earlier study in Britain. Some people who could hear the sound could move away from it. One person who heard the Taos Hum said the sound could be heard up to 30 miles (48 kilometers) away. About the same number of men and women could hear it. Age seemed to matter, with middle-aged people more likely to hear it.
In 2006, Tom Moir, a researcher at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand, recorded sounds that matched the Auckland Hum. His earlier research using simulated sounds suggested the hum was around 56 Hz.
In late 2011, people in Windsor, Ontario, began reporting a low, droning vibration that sometimes became loud enough to be annoying. One evening in 2012, officials received 22,000 reports about the sound. It was thought to come from Zug Island, a heavily industrial area on the Detroit River, which separates Windsor and Detroit. Canadian officials asked the United States for help finding the source, but U.S. authorities refused to allow access to the island. A steel mill owned by U.S. Steel was suspected as the cause, though officials said no new equipment had been added around the time the noise began. When the blast furnaces were turned off in April 2020, the noise stopped.
In 2021, people in Frankfurt and Darmstadt, Germany, reported hearing hums. A year later, three sources of the hum were found in Darmstadt: two broken air conditioners, a broken heat pump, and three faulty noise protection systems at energy plants.
In 2022, hums were reported in St. Louis County, Missouri, and nearby areas.
In 2023, a hum was reported in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
In November 2025, people in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, described hearing a low, mechanical humming that one resident called "repetitive and random." Yukon Energy, which used diesel generators because of lower-than-usual hydropower that season, said it was "unlikely" the sound from their generators could reach distant neighborhoods.
Possible explanations
Industrial-facility mechanical engineer Steve Kohlhase spent $30,000 on legal fees and equipment for his independent study of the low-frequency hum. Garret Harkawiks’ 2019 documentary film Doom Vibrations focused on Kohlhase’s ten-year effort to identify the source of the noise and his theory about it. In all cases Kohlhase studied, he found that the locations were near high-pressure gas pipelines or close to them.
In 2009, David Baguley, the head of audiology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, said that about one-third of the time, people’s issues with the hum were linked to physical causes, such as industrial machinery or fans. However, he noted that most cases remained unexplained. Baguley explained that many people think the hum is a rare belief because it is subjective—people hear something others cannot. He added that the large number of people who report hearing the hum suggests there is something real to investigate. Baguley also suggested that people’s hearing may have become overly sensitive.
Although mechanical sources seem likely, as the hum is often described as sounding like a diesel engine, most reported cases have not been tied to specific machines.
In Kokomo, Indiana, a city with heavy industry, the hum was linked to two sources: a 36 Hz tone from a cooling tower at a local factory and a 10 Hz tone from an air compressor at another plant. However, even after these devices were fixed, reports of the hum continued.
Three hums have been linked to mechanical sources. The West Seattle Hum was traced to a vacuum pump used by CalPortland to unload ship cargo. After replacing the machine’s silencers, reports of the hum stopped. Similarly, the Wellington Hum was linked to a diesel generator on a visiting ship. A 35 Hz hum in Windsor, Ontario, was connected to a steelworks near Detroit, and reports ceased after the U.S. Steel plant closed in April 2020.
In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a hum was suspected to originate from a power substation nearly two miles from a couple’s home. The substation houses the state’s largest transformer. The couple sued the power company, claiming the hum disrupted their lives. They said the noise was louder inside their home, possibly because their house vibrated in resonance with a 60 Hz hum. In the lawsuit, they reported the hum reached up to 64.1 dB in their home.
Some researchers suggest the hum might be caused by low-frequency radio waves from the military’s TACAMO system, used for submarine communication. David Deming noted that the difficulty in locating the hum’s source might be due to its transmission from moving aircraft. However, he pointed out that no reports of the hum have been linked to the Navy’s stationary broadcast stations in Cutler, Maine, or Jim Creek, Washington.
Deming also noted that the hum often stops when local media covers it, suggesting the source might be human-made.
Some doctors suggest tinnitus, an internal disturbance of the hearing system, as a possible explanation for the hum. Tinnitus occurs without an external sound source. While some believe the hum could be a type of low-frequency tinnitus, others report hearing it more clearly indoors than outdoors. Some people hear it only at home, while others hear it everywhere. Some say soundproofing, like double-glazed windows, makes the hum more noticeable by reducing other noises.
Long-term use of ibuprofen is linked to an increased risk of hearing damage, which some suspect may be related to the hum.
Human ears naturally produce sounds called spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAE). Studies show that 38 to 60% of adults with normal hearing have these emissions, though most are unaware of them. Those who notice them typically hear faint hissing, buzzing, or ringing, especially in silence. Researchers studying the Taos Hum considered SOAE as a possible cause.
In 1973, Philip Dickinson suggested that a 30- to 40-Hz hum might result from the jet stream interacting with slower-moving air, possibly amplified by power line posts or rooms with matching resonant frequencies. Geoff Leventhall of the Chelsea College Acoustics Group dismissed this idea as "absolute nonsense."
One possible cause of the West Seattle Hum was the midshipman fish, also called the toadfish. A similar hum in Sausalito, California, was linked to the fish’s mating call, which resonated through houseboat hulls. However, researchers in West Seattle said it was unlikely for such a hum to travel far inland.
The Scottish Association for Marine Science suggested that a nocturnal hum in Hythe, Hampshire, might be caused by a similar "sonic" fish. However, the council doubted this, as such fish are not common in UK waters. As of February 2014, the source of the Hythe hum remained unknown, though the sound had been recorded.
Treatment
At a sound lab at the University of Salford, David Baguley studied ways to reduce stress caused by a constant humming noise. His research used psychology and relaxation methods to help people feel less troubled by the sound, which could make the noise quieter or even stop it completely.
Geoff Leventhall, an expert in noise and vibrations, proposed that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) might help people affected by the noise. He explained, "It depends on whether you feel tense when you hear the noise or stay calm. CBT was shown to work by helping people change how they think about the noise."
In popular culture
The Taos Hum has been mentioned on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries and in LiveScience's list of "Top Ten Unexplained Phenomena," where it was listed in tenth place. BBC Radio 4 explored the Hum in their comedy show Punt PI, which uses real facts. In October 2022, the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK discussed the Hum in its podcast Oppdatert.
In a 1998 episode of The X-Files titled "Drive," Agent Mulder suggested that extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves "might be the cause of the so-called Taos Hum."
In a 2018 episode of the police drama Criminal Minds (Season 13, Episode 21), the main villain committed violent acts due to mania linked to the Taos Hum. The writers compared the episode to The X-Files style.
Jordan Tannahill's 2021 book The Listeners describes people tormented by a constant humming sound only they can hear. The book inspired an opera of the same name, which premiered in 2022. A BBC series based on the book aired in 2024.
In a 2022 episode of the animated show American Dad! titled "Echoes," a character named Avery Bullock (voiced by Patrick Stewart) mentions a mysterious background hum that other characters also hear.
The Windsor Hum is the subject of the song "The Hum" by Canadian musician Dan Griffin and the short documentary Zug Island by Nicolas Lachapelle. The Windsor Hum is also featured in a song by the Detroit band Protomartyr on their 2017 album Relatives in Descent.
The Hum is a theme in metalcore band Converge's 2026 album Hum of Hurt, imagined as a physical form of human suffering. Vocalist Jacob Bannon suggests, "What if the Hum is all the pain in the world making a sound that can be heard everywhere? Something others can notice if they are on the same frequency."