The Bristol Hum

Bristol is plagued by a mysterious, untraceable low-level hum, some residents have claimed.

17:09 22 January 2016

Over the past fortnight, Bristol residents have been complaining about a mysterious “hum” to the local newspaper and on social media. They said that the seemingly untraceable strange sound has been driving them to distraction.

 

The same hum has kept Bristol awake in the 1970s. Back then, the sound was blamed to factory noise, electricity pylons or tinnitus. Others, on the other hand, suggested that it was caused by flying saucers hovering over the city or secret military activity. The strange sound stopped as abruptly as it began.

 

Last year, French scientists said that it was due to the continuous waves causing the ocean floor to vibrate. Fabrice Ardhuin of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique said: "We have made a big step in explaining this mysterious signal and where it is coming from and what is the mechanism,"

 

However, his explanation does not shed light as to why the sound was only around for a number of years or why it might have returned.

 

Chris Borak, senior acoustic consultant at Ion Acoustics in Bristol says the most likely answers are disappointingly mundane. "It's probably traffic noise. When it's night and there's no background noise you can hear sounds more easily. Or it could be some sort of industrial installation nearby or air conditioning units - even a wind turbine some distance away."