Have you ever heard of a buzzing heard in some parts of the world?
Imagine yourself living in one of the following places: Bristol, England; Largs, Scotland; Taos, in the USA; Windsor, Canada. So what seems to be the best choice? But before you start packing your bags, know that the destinations you choose here have in common a rather bizarre fact: they are cities possessed by the ever-known, mysterious buzz.
The noise in question was first reported in the 1950s by people who began to hear an annoying, low frequency, continuous sound, especially in Bristol, Taos and Largs. Since then, countless scientific investigations have begun to try to find out where the sound some people claimed to hear came from.
Interestingly, only a portion - 2% - of the residents of each city claimed to hear the noise considered similar to the running engine of a diesel car. Can you imagine or is it still complicated? Well, to help you better understand what kind of sound we're talking about, watch the video below and especially listen to it. But not for long if you don't want to go crazy.
To freak out? Exactly. There are reports of people who have lost their clarity due to the eternal noise. Basically, it exists every day and every moment in some places around the world. English teacher Katie Jacques, a retired teacher, in an interview with the BBC, explained that she can only stop hearing the buzz when listening to music.
According to Jacques, the noise only exists in the vicinity of his house and when he travels or goes elsewhere, he stops hearing it. This information and the fact that a clinical examination did not detect hearing problems in Jacques only add to the notion that such a noise really exists and may only be perceived by very sensitive ears.
Features and effects
About the similarities between the records already made about the damn noise, it is known that: it is best heard indoors; It is stronger at night than during the day. It is most common in rural and secluded areas and is almost nonexistent in large urban centers - probably inaudible in the midst of the noise of the big city. Jacques defines the noise as "a kind of torture, sometimes you want to scream."
This sound torture also causes other effects on tinnitus, such as nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, nosebleeds and sleep disturbances. One case of suicide in the UK has been linked to eternal noise. Just to give you an idea, there is a support association for people who hear low frequency tinnitus in England that often receives calls for help from those whose lives are disturbed by such noise.
Numbers
In the 1970s, the English region of Bristol recorded 800 complaints from people who heard the buzz. The justification at the time was the urban noise of cars and businesses that ran nonstop. Another boom of complaints took place in Taos, New Mexico City, which in the spring of 1991 had a record of complaints of such eternal low frequency noise. Researchers from the local university were sent to find out more about the subject but were unsuccessful.
Apparently, the origin of such a noise is not easy to identify, as scientists from around the world have tried to study this curious and intriguing phenomenon; including researchers from Canada began a few months ago new studies to try to unravel the buzz of the Windsor area.
Conclusions
All that is known for now is that noise cases are not any kind of collective hysteria - which is a psychological disorder that affects people in the same group - nor of an outbreak of hearing hypochondria. So far there are assumptions, among which are the presence of high-pressure gas lines, electric currents, and even wireless communicator devices.
There are also those who believe that tinnitus may be the result of low pressure electromagnetic radiation, audible only to some people. Medicine studies tinnitus with special attention and classifies it as a condition in which the carrier hears some kind of noise even when there is no sound present. The problem is that some hearing tests are done to diagnose this auditory pathology, and most people who have complained of these specific irritating noises in some regions have no dysfunctions in their ear system.
Apparently, it is more logical to "blame" environmental issues such as low-frequency seismic shocks, usually caused by ocean waves. In addition, some believe that military intelligence can have machines that send these sounds, even if they are underwater. The recommendation for those who hear these noises is to resort to other sound such as music, movies and the like, as well as therapy.
It is important to always remember that there is pathological tinnitus, caused by ear problems easily detected by a specialist in the field. The tinnitus we are talking about here is different from that which can be treated as a pathological condition because it occurs in specific geographic regions, in people with perfect ear conditions. So, did you already know this story? Where does such noise come from?
* Originally posted on 7/31/2013.
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