The strangest thing happened to me yesterday.

I was sitting on my bed and rested my head (the temple) on my hand and I
could hear a buzzing. Now, I'd had a bad headache a few days before but
it didn't sound like the tinnitus associated with it.

So, I removed my head from my hand and the sound stopped. Then the penny
dropped, you can get bone conduction hearing.

Sure enough it was the 11W CFL lamp in my bedside light about 2-3 feet
away. If I put my ear up close to it I could hear exactly the same
sound.

Is that curious or what ?


Graham

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...
The strangest thing happened to me yesterday.

I was sitting on my bed and rested my head (the temple) on my hand and I
could hear a buzzing. Now, I'd had a bad headache a few days before but
it didn't sound like the tinnitus associated with it.

So, I removed my head from my hand and the sound stopped. Then the penny
dropped, you can get bone conduction hearing.

Sure enough it was the 11W CFL lamp in my bedside light about 2-3 feet
away. If I put my ear up close to it I could hear exactly the same
sound.

Is that curious or what ?


Graham

Not particularly, Methinks its just the modulation of the HF switcher at
twice the line frequency, 100Hz in your case. Your probably hearing the
small HF transformer in the base of the CFL sing at that frequency.

Eeyore wrote:
The strangest thing happened to me yesterday.

I was sitting on my bed and rested my head (the temple) on my hand
and I could hear a buzzing. Now, I'd had a bad headache a few days
before but it didn't sound like the tinnitus associated with it.

So, I removed my head from my hand and the sound stopped. Then the
penny dropped, you can get bone conduction hearing.

Sure enough it was the 11W CFL lamp in my bedside light about 2-3 feet
away. If I put my ear up close to it I could hear exactly the same
sound.

Is that curious or what ?

May be the lamp, or not. I get LF tinnitus sometimes when I am stressed or
tired . You could swear there is a humming transformer, resonance, fan, ac,
fridge, or whatever somewhere - but there isn't. Especially at night when
trying to sleep. It can seem very loud (ie not faint background, but very
much 'there'. I even ripped my wall-boards off once, to see if there was a
power cable running past my head (there wasn't).

Other's can't hear it, and you can't measure it. It can seem quite loud.
After years of searching the house and neighbourhood for the source, I
funally realised what it was when I had it way up a mountain , miles from
anywhere, and figured it was (on that occasion) in just one ear !

Sometimes it will strop if I press my jaw near the ear. Once I stuck my
finger in my ear and the hum stopped and it did an orgasmic pulsing thing
instead.

It is known as The Hum, and there are all sorts of conspiracy theories about
it, from weapons research, government mind-control beams, aliens, phantom
planets, the Sun getting ready to implode, electrical feilds, HARRP, gravity
waves, etc, etc, etc. Most adherents to those ideas radically HATE the idea
of something as mundane as (LF) tinnitus.

That could be what you had, and attributed it to the lamp. Or it may have
actually been the lamp (halogen transformer or fibrillating filament).

geoff wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
The strangest thing happened to me yesterday.

I was sitting on my bed and rested my head (the temple) on my hand
and I could hear a buzzing. Now, I'd had a bad headache a few days
before but it didn't sound like the tinnitus associated with it.

So, I removed my head from my hand and the sound stopped. Then the
penny dropped, you can get bone conduction hearing.

Sure enough it was the 11W CFL lamp in my bedside light about 2-3 feet
away. If I put my ear up close to it I could hear exactly the same
sound.

Is that curious or what ?

May be the lamp, or not. I get LF tinnitus sometimes when I am stressed or
tired . You could swear there is a humming transformer, resonance, fan, ac,
fridge, or whatever somewhere - but there isn't. Especially at night when
trying to sleep. It can seem very loud (ie not faint background, but very
much 'there'. I even ripped my wall-boards off once, to see if there was a
power cable running past my head (there wasn't).

Other's can't hear it, and you can't measure it. It can seem quite loud.
After years of searching the house and neighbourhood for the source, I
funally realised what it was when I had it way up a mountain , miles from
anywhere, and figured it was (on that occasion) in just one ear !

Sometimes it will strop if I press my jaw near the ear. Once I stuck my
finger in my ear and the hum stopped and it did an orgasmic pulsing thing
instead.

It is known as The Hum, and there are all sorts of conspiracy theories about
it, from weapons research, government mind-control beams, aliens, phantom
planets, the Sun getting ready to implode, electrical feilds, HARRP, gravity
waves, etc, etc, etc. Most adherents to those ideas radically HATE the idea
of something as mundane as (LF) tinnitus.

That could be what you had, and attributed it to the lamp. Or it may have
actually been the lamp (halogen transformer or fibrillating filament).

It was a CFL. And listening up close revealed an identical sound.

Looks like my hearing threshold must still be around 0 dB (phons actually).

Graham

geoff wrote:

It is known as The Hum, and there are all sorts of conspiracy
theories about it, from weapons research, government mind-control
beams, aliens, phantom planets, the Sun getting ready to implode,
electrical feilds, HARRP, gravity waves, etc, etc, etc. Most
adherents to those ideas radically HATE the idea of something as
mundane as (LF) tinnitus.

You obviously have you mind made up about whatever it was that you were
hearing and that everyone who differs must be a raving nutcase. But....

I had The Hum for years when I lived near Wolverhampton. An LF pulsing sound
that sounded like a large truck parked with its engine running. It started
soon after a large gas main was installed nearby and I could "hear" it in
and close to our house, especially at night. It sounded so real that I would
wonder around the house looking for the source. Nobody else could hear it.

I'm not sure it was tinnitus because I only ever heard it in/around the
house. It was so location specific. I recall pulling up onto our drive after
a completely hum-free holiday and turning off the car engine....immediately
I could hear The Hum. Since we have been living in Wales for the last 9
years I have never heard it.

I don't know what it is but I would not dismiss it out of hand as LF
tinnitus.

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:07:26 -0000, "TonyL"
wrote:

geoff wrote:

It is known as The Hum, and there are all sorts of conspiracy
theories about it, from weapons research, government mind-control
beams, aliens, phantom planets, the Sun getting ready to implode,
electrical feilds, HARRP, gravity waves, etc, etc, etc. Most
adherents to those ideas radically HATE the idea of something as
mundane as (LF) tinnitus.

You obviously have you mind made up about whatever it was that you were
hearing and that everyone who differs must be a raving nutcase. But....

I had The Hum for years when I lived near Wolverhampton. An LF pulsing sound
that sounded like a large truck parked with its engine running. It started
soon after a large gas main was installed nearby and I could "hear" it in
and close to our house, especially at night. It sounded so real that I would
wonder around the house looking for the source. Nobody else could hear it.

I'm not sure it was tinnitus because I only ever heard it in/around the
house. It was so location specific. I recall pulling up onto our drive after
a completely hum-free holiday and turning off the car engine....immediately
I could hear The Hum. Since we have been living in Wales for the last 9
years I have never heard it.

I don't know what it is but I would not dismiss it out of hand as LF
tinnitus.


Ever try recording it? That would have settled the matter once and for
all.

d

Don Pearce wrote in message news:4953186d.528987093@localhost...
On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:07:26 -0000, "TonyL"
wrote:

geoff wrote:

It is known as The Hum, and there are all sorts of conspiracy
theories about it, from weapons research, government mind-control
beams, aliens, phantom planets, the Sun getting ready to implode,
electrical feilds, HARRP, gravity waves, etc, etc, etc. Most
adherents to those ideas radically HATE the idea of something as
mundane as (LF) tinnitus.

You obviously have you mind made up about whatever it was that you were
hearing and that everyone who differs must be a raving nutcase. But....

I had The Hum for years when I lived near Wolverhampton. An LF pulsing
sound
that sounded like a large truck parked with its engine running. It started
soon after a large gas main was installed nearby and I could "hear" it in
and close to our house, especially at night. It sounded so real that I
would
wonder around the house looking for the source. Nobody else could hear it.

I'm not sure it was tinnitus because I only ever heard it in/around the
house. It was so location specific. I recall pulling up onto our drive
after
a completely hum-free holiday and turning off the car
engine....immediately
I could hear The Hum. Since we have been living in Wales for the last 9
years I have never heard it.

I don't know what it is but I would not dismiss it out of hand as LF
tinnitus.


Ever try recording it? That would have settled the matter once and for
all.


And in that case - try recording it on a laptop, with a widely separated set
of stereo mikes. Turn the set in different directions and look at the phase
relation - should indicate direction.

I found a "humming source" that way (transformer house with a resonating
wall). I used a program to display the live stereo phase vector (AFAIR
Cooledit 2000).

Regards,
Arie de Muijnck

On Dec 24, 6:39*am, "Arie" wrote:
Don Pearce wrote in messagenews:4953186d.528987093@localhost...
On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:07:26 -0000, "TonyL"
wrote:

geoff wrote:

It is known as The Hum, and there are all sorts of conspiracy
theories about it, from weapons research, government mind-control
beams, aliens, phantom planets, the Sun getting ready to implode,
electrical feilds, HARRP, gravity waves, etc, etc, etc. *Most
adherents to those ideas radically HATE the idea of something as
mundane as (LF) tinnitus.

You obviously have you mind made up about whatever it was that you were
hearing and that everyone who differs must be a raving nutcase. But....

I had The Hum for years when I lived near Wolverhampton. An LF pulsing
sound
that sounded like a large truck parked with its engine running. It started
soon after a large gas main was installed nearby and I could "hear" it in
and close to our house, especially at night. It sounded so real that I
would
wonder around the house looking for the source. Nobody else could hear it.

I'm not sure it was tinnitus because I only ever heard it in/around the
house. It was so location specific. I recall pulling up onto our drive
after
a completely hum-free holiday and turning off the car
engine....immediately
I could hear The Hum. Since we have been living in Wales for the last 9
years I have never heard it.

I don't know what it is but I would not dismiss it out of hand as LF
tinnitus.

Ever try recording it? That would have settled the matter once and for
all.

And in that case - try recording it on a laptop, with a widely separated set
of stereo mikes. Turn the set in different directions and look at the phase
relation - should indicate direction.

I found a "humming source" that way (transformer house with a resonating
wall). I used a program to display the live stereo phase vector (AFAIR
Cooledit 2000).

Regards,
Arie de Muijnck

When I was a kid I noticed a wierd hum when I was near our
refrigerator.
Further exploration revealed that it was actually only when my ear
rubbed against the refrigerator handle. Further investigation of this
hum revealed that it was actually creating a very tiny electrical
buzzing and stinging sensation at the point of contact with my ear.

The refrigerator was grounded but by way of a considerable
length of romex and apparently a small voltage was
induced in the ground wire over the length.

In essence, the run of romex was acting like a badly
designed air core transformer and creating a low voltage
induced potential on the ground.
It was noticeable between a pipe ground and the refrigerator
but only by using the sensitivity of a human ear.

I'm sure I'm not the only very nearsighted person
who has noticed that under certain accidental
back lighting circumstances floaters on the
surface of the eye closely resemble images
you would see only under a low power
microscope.

Somehow science is more interesting in the ragged margins.

Don Pearce wrote:

Ever try recording it? That would have settled the matter once and for
all.


No, I didn't. It is entirely possible that nothing whatever would have been
recorded. I don't have an explanation. Just that the Tinnitus explanation
doesn't seem to be the answer, in my case.

I'm wondering about direct excitation of the auditory nerves by....something
electromagnetic. This is just speculation, of course. I didn't do any
measurements. Also, this doesn't explain why others could not hear it.

And no, I have never been abducted by aliens and I don't believe that the
Earth is about to be engulfed by a black hole when they get the LHC going
again :-)

In article ,
TonyL wrote:
I'm not sure it was tinnitus because I only ever heard it in/around the
house. It was so location specific. I recall pulling up onto our drive
after a completely hum-free holiday and turning off the car
engine....immediately I could hear The Hum. Since we have been living
in Wales for the last 9 years I have never heard it.

I don't know what it is but I would not dismiss it out of hand as LF
tinnitus.

I'd say tinnitus would stay pretty constant when you move your head -
whereas something acoustic is likely to change. Nodes and things.

I've had an early Xmas present - next door have had a new boiler fitted so
the hum from the old pump has gone. It was very audible in my kitchen -
their boiler was mounted on the party wall. It's about the only noise I
heard from them - despite them having two young kids - so I just put up
with it, as it was like that when they bought the house.

--
*7up is good for you, signed snow white*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.