what to do with resonating/vibrating noise like low bass at home

[archilles]

Hi all,

I have a problem at our new home. It is a starnge issue and I need some suggestion first to identify it and then to solve it.

First of all, it is a brand new home and we lived in it for like 2 months. Second, we are leaving in a pretty quiet neighborhood.

My problem is a with a noise that I hear quite all the time but particularly in the night when we go to bed and when there is practically no other noise or voice around. It is a low bass kind of noise, as if somebody is playing music with a lot of bass far far away and only bass is reaching to my room. I can hear it whereever I go at home. I believe the noise resonates between the walls and gets amplified. I could not find any source for such a noise but it is there constantly. If I can listen to it carefully isolating any other noise around, I can hear it during the day as well.

I also recognized that when TV is I can feel the bass in my study room. Looks like it travels pretty good in the house.

We are locating in Texas and I suspect if there is a drilling somewhere near but I don;t know.

Anyway, can please someone suggest me how to deal with this issue and solve it. I am sure I am not the first person ever having such an issue at his home. Any commnet is welcome even if it sounds stupid :)

Thanks,

[Horizon99]

Good news and bad news. From the description, I can tell you what it likely is. The bad news is while it has a name, no one knows what is causing it and you can't get rid of it The sound has probably been best described as a faint low freq sound or hum, similar to a large diesel engine, like a truck, idling way off in the distance. It occurs more inside a building than outside, more at night or early AM hours and some people can hear it and others can't. It's been heard in many areas of the world and been investigated quite a bit, without any success in determining what causes it. What is clear though is that there is no identifiable conventional source for it, as the many places it's been heard have nothing in common, no nearby industial sources, power lines, etc.

Do a search on Taos Hum. It's named that because Taos, NM is one place where it was heard a lot a decade ago, investigated, etc. For most people, it's just a curiousity, but not loud or noticeable enough to be annoying. Kokomo, Indiana was another area where it was an issue more recently.

[hallerb]

first make sure its not something in your home. when you hear it get a flashlight and turn off MAIN breaker. Is the noise still there?

[PaPaPeng]

Ditto. The most common source of a low hum is the 60 Hz household line frequency. This can come from a loose wire connection (uncommon) or a transformer with loose plates or mountings. Check your, door bell transformer, the furnace transformer , your flourescent light fixtures,and anything that uses a transformer. The next most likely source is your plumbing . Put your ear to a water pipe and check it out.

[mm]

It might be poltergeists or wind.

Can you hear it outside? Put your ear to the ground, on the ground.

You can also use a piece of broomstick or something to touch things and put the end of the stick near your ear.

Or a mechanics stethoscope. I have a very cheap one but it worked to find the clicking noise in my car**

Just listen and touch everything -- careful around moving parts -- until you find it.

**turned out to be the "duty cycle something valve" that has to do with sucking gas vapor from somewhere to somewhere and is not part of the engine itself, so even if it fails, the most I'll do is pollute a little and then engine will run fine. As long as it is clicking, it's probably working.

[John Grabowski]

I am wondering if it is a transformer that you are hearing. Are there any utility transformers close to your house? Do you have low voltage lighting? You could try shutting off each circuit breaker one at a time to see if the sound goes away.

[Art Todesco]

[mm]

OT You know, my whole life, or at least since I was 12, it has never been totally quiet in my ears. I'm 60 and this past year the sound has gotten louder. It's not the blood, because it doesnt' pulse. It sounds like "listening to the ocean" in a big seashell or like water running in a copper pipe in the wall. I hear there is no cure for these noises, but so far, I only notice it when I'm trying to fall asleep. So it' snot a problem yet.

[Art Todesco]

Same age, same problem. And, do you notice, that if you squeeze your teeth together tightly, the sound goes away, or at least gets less or changes a bit?

[mm]

I thought this was true for everyone, btw, but my ex girlfriend who is

45 says it's totally quiet in her ears.

Hadn't noticed, but I'll try it tonight.

[HeyBub]

[mm]

Thanks. Interesting.

"A 1953 study (Heller and Bergman) of 80 tinnitus-free university students placed in a soundproofed room found that 93% reported hearing a buzzing, pulsing or whistling sound."

I didn't say it, but I thought everyone was like me. Maybe 93% are.

My friend is either in that 7% who don't hear things or she has never been in a soundproofed room. Or both.

Related to this, I used to have a clicking in my ear, which I noticed only when I turned my head in a certain direction, especially when I was going to sleep. It clicked about once every 2 seconds, but once in a while as much as 4 times a second. I thought there was an insect in there, but my friends couldn't see one. Still I tried kiling it with alcohol. That would help for a couple days and then it would be back. I tried hot water to get the wax out. That didnt' help. Lasted for 3 or 4 months. Then it went away and hasn't been back in over a year! Life is strange.

If you count me as part of my home, this is about home repair.