Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Anyone else hear ‘the hum’?

61 replies

Hyperfish101 · 16/08/2020 07:49

I didn’t realise this was a thing but apparently around 2% of the population can hear a low background humming noise. I am one of them. It’s like a car idling in the background. It’s driving me mad!

OP posts:
Whatthebloodyell · 16/08/2020 07:54

I had this problem for several
Months earlier this year. It drove me
Mad. I don’t know if I have just filtered it out or if it has actually gone away! My husband couldn’t hear it and was convinced it was in my head but it wasn’t.

PineappleUpsideDownCake · 16/08/2020 07:56

Yes but only at night!

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 16/08/2020 07:57

I heard it on holiday earlier this year.,was convinced it was the heating. Now I can hear it at home. Hope it goes away 😩

OP posts:
Rebelwithallthecause · 16/08/2020 07:57

I thought it was just certain locations in London you can hear it

PineappleUpsideDownCake · 16/08/2020 07:58

I was convinced it was a generator or distant car running or a fridge in my garden (!?). Used to really bother me. I was aware it wasnt tinitus as it definitely sounds external.

Its only recently Ive realised its a thing.

BrokenBrit · 16/08/2020 07:58

No, I’ve just googled it, interesting.

InDubiousBattle · 16/08/2020 08:05

Do you mean tinnitus? My tinnitus is a low hum, like a freezer but it's only in one ear and is definitely internal. Is it louder in different places, outside etc?

Shesapunkpunk · 16/08/2020 08:06

Yeah, that’s tinnitus.

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 16/08/2020 08:10

Is it tinnitus though? Definitely sounds like it’s outside the house.

OP posts:
dudsville · 16/08/2020 08:13

I've heard this since I was a child. I thought it was a sensory thing and that i was actually paying more attention to the sounds of electrical appliances than others were.

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 16/08/2020 08:17

Going to have to start sleeping with white noise on to drown it out.

OP posts:
PineappleUpsideDownCake · 16/08/2020 08:19

I think its different to tinnitus as its external not internal. (Now I'm older I sometimes do get some tinnitus but I cant ell that its in my ear.)

Google suggests it IS something.

I heard it growign up too - I used to think it was a generator from the industrial esfate and the sound travelling. But that seems unlikely, it just was that kind of sound.

ApplesinmyPocket · 16/08/2020 08:19

DD2 started to grumble about this a couple of years ago - we tried hard to find out what it could be as she found it disturbing. I couldn't hear it myself...

...but now I can Shock! I realised a couple of weeks ago there was a low-pitched throbbing sound going on and on outside. I can almost "feel" it as a strong, pulsing vibration. It sounds a little like a big vehicle revving up. I hear it mostly at night, when everything else is quiet. It's worse in some rooms than others, in fact I can't hear it at all in some. I never hear it when I'm outside.

I'm still not absolutely 100% convinced it's real... but I do hear it and it is exactly as many others around the world describe it.

Original poster
Hyperfish101 · 16/08/2020 08:21

Yep. Exactly like mine Apples.

OP posts:
CaptainMyCaptain · 16/08/2020 08:21

I've always heard it and thought it was real but now I think it's tinnitus.

SerenityNowwwww · 16/08/2020 08:23

Yes - because some fucker has installed what I awaken is an industrial- size air con/ventilation system on their roof somewhere near us and it is constant.

It definitely wasn’t there before as I have tapes when I recorded some study notes a few years back and all you can hear in the background are birds tweeting. Right now I can hear the low level roar.

JadesRollerDisco · 16/08/2020 08:33

Yes there really is a sound of silence IMO
I reckon it's the sound of living with elecricity. There's always something 'on' though I have nothing to compare it too.

Daftapath · 16/08/2020 09:04

I always thought it was tinnitus

Emeraldshamrock · 16/08/2020 09:17

Yes I live in the city there is always the hum. Not tinnitus I had that too.

Gecko85 · 16/08/2020 09:19

Yes. I only hear it at night (and not every night) and it sounds like it's coming from outside, but isn't. Like a low constant vibrating noise.

Emeraldshamrock · 16/08/2020 09:21

It sounds like the phone system in work low running electricity. I work nights pre coronavirus when the world is much quieter.

Pacif1cDogwood · 16/08/2020 09:24

The Global Hum

I can hear it too. All the time. It's not tinnitus.

cupidsabsolutepsyche · 16/08/2020 09:33

Oh my goodness, I hear it! I always thought I was being a bit overdramatic about it, maybe being a car stereo with heavy bass, but it happens a lot, mostly at night, and DP and DD don't hear it. I knew it wasn't tinnitus because I have that intermittently as well. Thank you for helping me know I'm not going crazy;

stillathing · 16/08/2020 09:43

Yes! I also have tinnitus. I assumed the hum was also a form of tinnitus. I have both at the same time. I usually only notice the hum at night but if I think about it, it's there.

BogRollBOGOF · 16/08/2020 09:52

I have tinnitus because I have a high hiss, and always have. I suspect it's damage from frequent ear infections as a child.
There is also a low thrum which think is just my heart/ circulation.

It was horrid at the start of lockdown when everything else seemed so quiet and that seemed to amplify it. I like a lot of radio and music, partly that it masks the tinnitus, but having DH around permanently and his change of bedtime routines means that the house is far quieter, and I get the noise in my own head being really annoying instead.