Whining noise

Mon 5 Sep 2011, 00:29

It's not the air filters cleaning houserabbit fluff out of our house around the corner is it? When I got the dwarf rabbits for the kids 5 years ago I didn't realise I was allergic to rabbit fur which is causing problems....

Sun 4 Sep 2011, 21:02

Or it maybe the wife - especially if you haven't done decorating!!!!!

Sun 4 Sep 2011, 17:35

(Janet Biggs)

1) Kat, are you aware that 18Hz is actually just below the normal hearing range for humans, which is 20Hz? (Wikipedia). Perhaps you are hearing something which most people can't. No help at all, I'm afraid, but I just wonder how accurate your measurement is.
2) John, the Wikipedia noises are even worse than our hum, which whatever else it is, is not grating and scratchy!

Sat 3 Sep 2011, 21:15

Definitely not at 50 Hz level. We've been all around my house and found lots of things working at that pitch -- fridge, fish pumps, boiler. Then we turn off the mains to my house, and the hum is still there (and at various points around town as I previously indicated). It's possibly something that operates at 50 Hz but is vibrating something else that's resonating at 18. At this point, who knows? I'll take a walk down around Hypac and see what I hear. The high-pitched whine, by the way, may be the combine harvesters that are working throughout the night in the fields right now.

Sat 3 Sep 2011, 16:10 (last edited on Sat 3 Sep 2011, 16:57)

Perhaps being more suggestible after reading recent postings, I heard it very distinctly between 1 and 1.30 a.m. last night, and have noticed in the past that it seems most audible on nights of clear skies. I heard it as a monotonous ringing which cut through the buzz of my tinnitus, and sounded more high-pitched than an electric hum. (There's a sub-station behind our house in Woodfield Drive, so I'm used to that.)

I though Hydac had relocated to Witney. Or is there still activity there?

Sat 3 Sep 2011, 12:24

From Wikipedia:

"Electric hum, mains hum, or power line hum is an audible oscillation of alternating current at the frequency of the mains electricity, which is usually 50 Hz or 60 Hz, depending on the local power line frequency. The sound often has heavy harmonic content."

In the UK it's 50 Hz (= cycles per second).

Look up 'Mains hum' in Wikipedia and you can listen to it as well (scroll to the bottom of the page). Or listen at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MainsBrum50Hz.ogg

Is this what you are hearing?

Sat 3 Sep 2011, 09:03

So could Janet's E above middle C (which we can all sing) be a harmonic of Kat's 18Hz (which is far too low to sing!). I don't know how harmonics work. It occurs to me that one of Charlbury's experts on music and sound lives barely 100 yards from Hypac. Has he heard it? Can he measure it?

Fri 2 Sep 2011, 23:16

It is the Hypac Factory. At 23.10 we have been outside and the noise is very clear and unmistakeable. Not sure if this is the sole reason but very possible.
I will ask them next week if at 3.30am there is a change/shut down/start up, in the machinery as I live closest.

Fri 2 Sep 2011, 21:24 (last edited on Fri 2 Sep 2011, 21:28)

(A bit long ... sorry) So this is what I know. People have been hearing a similar noise like this in various pockets around the world -- Bristol in the 70s, and now there's quite a lot of investigation of a hum in Co. Durham. Just Google "the hum" and…

Long post - click to read full text

Fri 2 Sep 2011, 21:02

(Janet Biggs) I live at the top of Stonesfield Lane, and we do seem to be in a position where a lot of sound reverberates straight across the Evenlode valley. Jean, on bad nights it is going at 3.30 a.m., but although it is a continuous noise when it is there, it tends to become apparent when our circulating pump stops at 1.30 p.m. and may go away at any time during the night, or not at all. On the nights when the wind direction means I can hear the trains it is not so bad.
I don't have access to a sensitive microphone or oscilloscope but I do agree that we need as much objectivity as we can get. I thought I might keep a record of the times when the noise is there or not there and of the intensity, say on a scale of 1-5, and the weather conditions and see what that looks like Perhaps other people might like to do this? I have in the past checked the frequency against the piano, and it is round about the E above middle C, which I think will be just above 300 Hz. The note is not pure but is full of harmonics.

Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:41 (last edited on Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:43)

Perhaps the first question to ask is whether you are all hearing the same sound? From what you say it seems as if it has a definite pitch. Does that mean that anyone with a keyboard or a piano could measure the frequency and/or tell us the note?

Fri 2 Sep 2011, 13:51

We live near London Oxford(Kidlington)Airport and Brize Norton,so must expect aircraft activity.The helicopters which fly low over the Evenlode Valley and my house are practising for when Soldiers need to be rescued from a hot spot in Afghanistan and elsewhere.They have to use somewhere and have permission to fly this route. Please look on them kindly.

Thu 1 Sep 2011, 22:08

Whoops, sorry district councilors, thanks Richard and John H, for kindly pointing that out, that it's not Town councilors!

Are our town councilors are to help us Charlbury folk '?" there are at least 12, aren't there?

Here's one website on noise pollution '?" that states the laws www.environmental-protection.org.uk/noise/environmental-noise/noise-pollution/

I need some plane spotters too, to work out what planes keep on humming all day, over our town!

Sleep well!

Thu 1 Sep 2011, 19:54

Has anybody out there got a sensitive microphone they can hook up to a laptop or oscilloscope to find these mystery noises? The scientist in me wants some experimental data!

I haven't heard the noises myself but will have to go out tonight to say... hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, Because a vision softly creeping, Left its seeds while I was sleeping, And the vision that was planted in my brain, Still remains, Within the sound of silence...
..sorry couldn't get the tune out of my head reading all the posts..

Thu 1 Sep 2011, 18:00

Where in Charlbury are these sounds being heard?I think I hear them, but have tinnitus so not sure.Does anyone else get woken at 3.33am or thereabouts?

Thu 1 Sep 2011, 15:06

Or strictly speaking, one of our two district councillors!

Thu 1 Sep 2011, 14:19

Charlotte
FYI Hywel is our distict councilor, not Town.

John (A tinnitus suferer so I here strange noises all the time)

Thu 1 Sep 2011, 08:38

Dear Kat and Janet and all,
Neil Shellard at the council, is usually very helpful, but I agree that more of us who suffer this whining noise do need to make a complaint, to him in order for him to help us.
I do suffer from tinnitus, but do have acute hearing. The humming noises from constant aircraft flying over 10 hours a day, and then military helicopters late at night and early morning '?" with noises coming from the station, with workman working on the railways through the night '?" all have caused me sleep problems. I have fibromyalgia and need to rest and this has caused me health issues.
Then, in addition this whining at night on a clear night is there, does cause me problems. This whining is not our imagination, and I'??m sure that Neil Shellard will help. I have also found Hywel Davis (our Town councilor) very helpful too, with my complaint about consistent humming aircraft recently.
It is our Town Council, who should be supporting us, in finding out where these consistent noises, are coming from? I look forward to hearing more from them.
This is not the first time, that we have raised these issues on this forum, discussing all of the above noises.
I look forward to receiving some support, as we have a right by law, to some peace after 11pm '?" 7am, and to able to sleep. There are many websites giving advice with the above.

Wed 31 Aug 2011, 23:32

John -- I mean, Janet -- please don't let the council fob you off like that. It is, unfortunately, the Government's official position that it's all in our heads and we just need to get some training as though we have tinnitus. But it can lead to all kind of physical problems (like, for me, increased migraines), and is not something to ignore. My contact at the Environmental department is Neil.Shellard@westoxon.gov.uk. Right now, he thinks I'm the only person with the problem, so the more who hear it, the more we can get something done.

Wed 31 Aug 2011, 14:06

Yes, I thought of that and have tried lurking around substations in the dead of night, but it doesn't seem to be that. Thanks anyway. (Janet Biggs)

Wed 31 Aug 2011, 05:31

Perhaps the numerous Electrical Substations situated around Charlbury may be the source of the whine? They tend to "Hum" at all times but are more noticable in the quiet of the night, due to less ambient noise. A subtle change in wind direction would make it seem to come and go! Just a thought!

Tue 30 Aug 2011, 20:01

I have been much troubled by a whine/hum at night for some years in Charlbury - no, not tinnitus as I don't hear it when I go away. It seems to be worse in hot weather, and is not consistent through the night. A loudly ticking clock is the best remedy. I have contacted the WODC who said that if I could identify it they would try to do something about it, but of course that is the problem. I don't think it is agricultural machinery, more an electrical type noise. Some people can hear it, but for others it seems to be the wrong frequency. If anybody could track it down, it would improve the quality of my life.
(Janet Biggs)

Sat 27 Aug 2011, 19:54

I've been hearing a Low Frequency Noise for over a year -- I describe it more as a "hum" than a whine. Could we be hearing the same thing? It's all over Charlbury as far as I can tell, as long as I'm trying to listen for it when it's really quiet (ie, toward evening when the wind is calm).

Fri 12 Aug 2011, 22:02

The whining noise may be the combine harvesters which are very busy at this time of year and often work late into the evening with headlights.

Fri 12 Aug 2011, 19:03

The whining noise may be the combine harvesters which are very busy at this time of year and often work late into the evening.

Thu 28 Jul 2011, 22:39

or even necessary!

Thu 28 Jul 2011, 18:17

Wine is the neccesary antidote!

Thu 28 Jul 2011, 13:46

Whine - or wine? Hic!

Thu 28 Jul 2011, 11:54

Maybe women have something to whine about?

Thu 28 Jul 2011, 08:33

Might have been Ken of course, so I've clicked the x by his name. If it was him, I've cured it for me anyway!

Wed 27 Jul 2011, 19:37

could be women?

Wed 20 Jul 2011, 23:09

Nice one Paul

Wed 20 Jul 2011, 18:49

I think its people that use the train station!

Wed 20 Jul 2011, 17:54

Anyone noticed this appears to be back?