Humming World

Researchers attempt to explain the mystery of Earth’s low droning noise.

15:29 17 April 2015

After years of confusion, the cause of a strange humming noise that emanates from the Earth and has baffled people for more than forty years can now be explained – researchers claim that microseismic activity from long ocean waves impacting the sea bed is what makes our planet vibrate and produces the droning sound.

 

Fabrice Ardhuin, a senior research scientist at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France said that the pressure of the waves on the seafloor generate seismic waves that cause the Earth to oscillate. This produces sounds lasting for up to 300 seconds and can be heard by people who are sensitive to the hums. 

 

The noise has been discussed worldwide and was often dubbed as “the hum.” In Britain, the sound even made it to a local newspaper in the late 1970s with the article asking the readers “Have you heard the Hum?” For years, it has been mistaken for leaking pipes, phone masts, wind farms, low-frequency submarine communications, and even mating fish. 

 

A woman told The Independent back in 1994: “For the first few years I lost sleep, couldn’t concentrate and was unable to do anything. I was constantly in tears, which put a great strain on my husband. It has changed me from an active, creative person to a stifled, angry pessimist.”