Hum
The Hum is a phenomenon involving widespread reports of a persistent low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise, typically in the 30–80 Hz range with modulation around 0.5–2 Hz, audible primarily indoors and at night to a minority of people—estimated at 2–4% globally under certain conditions—but inaudible to others in the same environment.[1][2]Sufferers often describe it as akin to a distant diesel engine idling, sometimes accompanied by perceptible vibrations, and it persists regardless of location for those affected, distinguishing it from localized environmental noises.[1][3]
While some documented cases, such as the Kokomo Hum in Indiana, have been traced to specific industrial sources like cooling fans and compressors whose mitigation reduced complaints for most hearers, many instances worldwide evade identification despite acoustic measurements and investigations, prompting hypotheses ranging from spontaneous otoacoustic emissions in the ear to distant oceanic microseisms or high-pressure gas pipelines.[4][5][6]
The phenomenon has been mapped through self-reported databases, revealing clusters in regions like Taos, New Mexico, and Windsor, Ontario, with equal prevalence among genders but higher incidence in middle-aged adults, underscoring challenges in empirical validation due to its subjective yet consistent experiential qualities.[1][2][4]
Scientific and Acoustic Phenomena
The Hum
The Hum refers to a persistent, low-frequency humming or rumbling noise, typically in the 20-100 Hz range, reported by individuals worldwide and often likened to the idling of a distant diesel engine or heavy machinery.[7] This sound is usually more audible indoors, particularly at night, and can vary in intensity, sometimes forming beats or responding to head movements.[3] Affected individuals, known as "hearers," comprise an estimated 2-4% of the population, predominantly adults over 55, with reports concentrated in quiet, rural, or post-industrial areas.[5] [8] Exposure correlates with symptoms including headaches, nausea, insomnia, and dizziness, though these effects lack standardized medical classification.[9] Notable instances include the Taos Hum in New Mexico, first widely reported in the early 1990s, where a 1993 public investigation by the University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories analyzed recordings and surveys but identified no definitive external source, noting only elevated electromagnetic fields near power lines without causal linkage.[10] [11] In contrast, the Windsor Hum in Ontario, Canada, emerged around 2011, prompting multiple studies by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Western University; acoustic measurements from 2013-2014 characterized it as a tonal low-frequency vibration, but the source remained elusive until 2020, when operations halted at a U.S. Steel facility on Zug Island during the COVID-19 pandemic, eliminating the noise and confirming industrial origins such as coke oven gas pressure relief systems.[12] [13] [14] Explanations divide into objective (external acoustic or vibrational sources) and subjective (internal perceptual mechanisms). Objective cases, like Windsor, implicate verifiable emitters such as industrial equipment or seismic activity from ocean floor waves, as proposed in a 2015 study attributing some hums to microseismic pressure on seabeds.[15] [5] Subjective theories favor physiological origins, including heightened sensitivity to infrasound or spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs)—self-generated cochlear sounds present in 38-60% of normal-hearing adults but typically inaudible—potentially amplified in susceptible individuals via mechanisms akin to those in tinnitus, though distinct in pitch and modifiability.[7] [16] [17] No single cause explains all reports, as hearers often cannot record the sound consistently, and external monitoring yields ambiguous results; peer-reviewed analyses emphasize case-specific verification over universal models, cautioning against unsubstantiated claims like covert government activity.[18] Despite decades of anecdotal and empirical data, the phenomenon resists resolution, highlighting gaps in low-frequency auditory research.[9]Physiological and Mechanical Hums
Physiological hums refer to low-frequency sounds perceived internally without external acoustic input, often stemming from auditory or vestibular system dysfunctions. A primary example is tinnitus, where individuals experience phantom noises such as buzzing, roaring, or humming due to aberrant neural activity in the auditory pathway, frequently triggered by inner ear hair cell damage from noise exposure, aging, or ototoxic medications.[19] Low-frequency tinnitus, sometimes manifesting as a persistent hum around 30-80 Hz, may involve cochlear base or vestibular resonances, with oscillations potentially located in the semicircular canals or cochlea, influenced by head movements or ambient sounds.[3] In the United States, tinnitus prevalence stands at 11.2% among adults, equating to roughly 27 million people, with 41.2% reporting constant symptoms and a subset describing hum-like qualities.[20] Another physiological mechanism involves spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs), narrowband tones generated by active outer hair cells in the cochlea, which can be self-audible as faint hums or whistles without external stimulation. These emissions occur in up to 40-50% of healthy ears but are typically subclinical; however, amplified or low-frequency variants may contribute to perceived hums through cochlear amplifier instability.[21] Research posits that SOAEs and certain hum perceptions share cochlear origins, potentially arising from self-sustained oscillations in the inner ear.[16] Unlike voluntary humming, which stimulates the vagus nerve for parasympathetic effects, these involuntary phenomena lack external triggers and may intensify under stress or in quiet environments.[6] Mechanical hums arise from vibrations in engineered systems, particularly those involving electromagnetic or rotational forces. Transformer hum, a widespread example, results from magnetostriction, wherein the iron core expands and contracts under alternating magnetic fields, vibrating at twice the power line frequency—120 Hz in 60 Hz North American grids or 100 Hz in 50 Hz regions—producing audible harmonics up to several kHz.[22] [23] This noise is prominent near utility transformers, substations, or appliances, often exacerbated by core loosening or overload.[24] Additional mechanical sources include industrial equipment like large fans in cooling towers, diesel engines in locomotives, and HVAC systems, which emit low-frequency airborne or structure-borne vibrations around 20-200 Hz due to blade passage or combustion cycles.[25] High-pressure gas pipelines can also generate hums from turbulent flow or valve resonances, detectable over kilometers via ground transmission. These identifiable sources explain many localized hum reports, verifiable through acoustic measurement or source isolation, contrasting with untraceable idiopathic instances.[26]Arts, Entertainment, and Media
Music
Hum is an American alternative rock band formed in 1989 in Champaign, Illinois, by vocalist and guitarist Matt Talbott, guitarist Tim Lash, bassist Jeff Dimpsey, and drummer Bryan St. Pere.[27] [28] The group's sound combines heavy guitar distortion, dynamic shifts between quiet and loud passages, and influences from shoegaze, post-hardcore, and space rock, often characterized by layered production and extended song structures.[27] The band's early releases included the 1991 album Fillet Show on a small independent label, followed by Electra 2000 in 1993 via BMG subsidiary RCA Records, which featured tracks like "I Hate It Too" and established their reputation in the alternative rock scene.[27] Their 1995 major-label debut You'd Prefer an Astronaut achieved commercial success, peaking at number 151 on the Billboard 200, driven by the radio single "Stars," which reached number 23 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains their most recognized song.[27] The album's production emphasized massive guitar tones and melodic hooks, contributing to its enduring cult following.[29] Hum's final pre-hiatus album, Downward Is Heavenward (1996), continued their trajectory with songs like "Why I Like the Robins" and "Suicide Machine," but received limited promotion amid RCA's roster changes, leading to the band's inactivity after a 1999 farewell tour.[27] After a 22-year break, they reunited and released Inlet on June 23, 2020, via Polyvinyl Record Co., featuring eight tracks with runtimes often exceeding eight minutes, such as "The Summoning" at over nine minutes, and incorporating ambient and experimental elements while retaining their signature heaviness.[30] The album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, affirming their influence on subsequent indie rock acts.[27] In 2021, Hum reissued remastered editions of Electra 2000 and You'd Prefer an Astronaut on 180-gram vinyl through Polyvinyl, making higher-fidelity versions available to fans.[31] The band maintains an active presence through live performances and merchandise, with over 423,000 monthly listeners on Spotify as of recent data.[32]Other Creative Works
Hum (1991) is an Indian Hindi-language action film directed by Mukul S. Anand and produced by Romesh Sharma, featuring Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role as Tiger/Bhaktawar, a dockworker who rises against a corrupt gangster and later navigates family conflicts after years in hiding.[33] The film co-stars Rajinikanth as Kumar Malhotra, Govinda as Govinda, and includes supporting performances by Kimi Katkar, Deepa Sahi, and Shilpa Shirodkar, with a runtime of 184 minutes and a reported budget of ₹3.5 crore, grossing over ₹10 crore at the box office.[33] Its narrative centers on themes of brotherhood, revenge, and redemption, highlighted by action sequences and songs like "Jumma Chumma De De," which became a cultural hit.[33] Hum (2024) is a speculative fiction novel by American author Helen Phillips, published by Simon & Schuster on August 6, 2024, with 240 pages in hardcover format.[34] The story follows protagonist May, a museum worker in a near-future world affected by climate change and advanced AI, as she grapples with a robot undergoing "rejuvenile" treatment that alters her family dynamics, exploring motherhood, surveillance, and human identity through taut prose.[34] Phillips, whose prior work The Need (2019) was a National Book Award finalist, draws on personal anxieties about technology and environment, earning praise for its unflinching portrayal despite mixed reviews on pacing, with an average Goodreads rating of 3.5 from over 10,000 users as of late 2024.[35][34] Less prominent works include Hum (2020), a low-budget independent film directed by an unspecified team, involving a young man trapped in woods with a mentor after opening a mysterious chest, rated 5.7/10 on IMDb from limited viewings.[36] These entries represent adaptations or original creations using "Hum" as a title, distinct from musical compositions covered elsewhere.Places
Historical Sites
The town of Hum in Istria, Croatia, stands as a prime example of a preserved medieval fortified settlement, with its origins traceable to the early 11th century. First documented in written records in 1102, it was constructed on a hilltop as a defensive stronghold amid regional conflicts, featuring encircling stone walls and bastions that remain largely intact. The site's compact layout, encompassing just a single street lined with stone houses from the Middle Ages, underscores its role as a self-contained acropolis-like outpost in the Mirna River valley.[37][38][39] Central to Hum's historical fabric is the Church of St. Jerome (Crkva sv. Jeronima), a Romanesque structure erected in the 12th century, which houses artifacts linked to the Glagolitic script—the earliest Slavic liturgy used by Croats. Nearby, the Viale Glagolitico trail connects Hum to other inscribed stones from the same era, highlighting the site's significance in preserving early Croatian paleographic traditions dating back over 1,000 years. These elements collectively position Hum as a microcosm of Istrian medieval defensive architecture and cultural resilience, with no major alterations since Venetian oversight in the 15th–18th centuries.[40][41] In the broader Balkan context, Humska Zemlja represents a historical administrative territory in medieval Herzegovina, emerging as a defined unit under the Kosača noble family by the 15th century, though it lacks discrete physical sites comparable to Hum's structures. This region's feudal organization facilitated control over trade routes but dissolved amid Ottoman incursions post-1460s, leaving archaeological traces in scattered fortifications rather than centralized landmarks.[42]Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hum, historically known as Zachlumia or Zahumlje, was a South Slavic principality that occupied the territory of modern-day Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the early Middle Ages until its incorporation into the Kingdom of Bosnia in the 14th century. The region emerged as a distinct entity following Slavic migrations into the Balkans around the 7th century, with settlements attributed to Serb tribes granted lands by Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in the 630s, as recorded in contemporary sources.[43] By the 9th century, Zachlumia functioned as a semi-independent principality, maintaining ties with the Byzantine Empire while navigating influences from Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Croatia, and emerging Serbian states; its rulers, often titled knez or župan, controlled coastal areas extending into southern Dalmatia and inland territories along the Neretva River valley.[44] In the 10th-12th centuries, Hum experienced fluctuating sovereignty, including periods of Bulgarian overlordship under Tsar Simeon I (893–927) and later integration into the Grand Principality of Serbia under Časlav Klonimirović (927–960), which encompassed Hum alongside Raška, Zeta, Travunia, and Bosnia.[45] The principality's strategic position facilitated trade and military campaigns, but it also invited conquests, such as by Croatian King Tomislav in the early 10th century. Archaeological and genetic evidence from the period indicates a continuity of late Roman-era populations admixed with incoming Slavs, shaping a mixed cultural landscape with fortifications, churches, and early urban centers like those near present-day Mostar.[46] By the late 14th century, Hum fell under Bosnian control; Ban Stephen Tvrtko I asserted dominance over the region during the 1370s–1380s amid Ottoman incursions, which raided Bosnian-held Hum as early as 1388.[47] The area's noble families, notably the Kosača, rose to prominence in the 15th century. Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, who inherited domains in Hum around 1435, proclaimed himself "Herceg [Duke] of Hum and the Coast" on 1 February 1448 (or 1446 per some charters), a title that evolved into the regional name Hercegovina (Herzegovina), first documented in an Ottoman letter of 1454 referring to his lands. This marked the transition from medieval Hum to the eponymous Herzegovina, which retained semi-autonomy until Ottoman conquest in 1468, following Stjepan Vukčić's death in 1466. The historical core of Hum thus forms the foundational geography and nomenclature of Herzegovina within contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several modern villages bear the name Hum, such as those in the municipalities of Trebinje and Foča in Republika Srpska, often situated near historical sites or borders, reflecting toponymic persistence from the medieval era; for instance, Hum near Foča lies at the Tara River's right bank under Mount Hum, serving as a Montenegro border crossing.[48] These locales preserve rural Serb-majority demographics and Ottoman-era architectural remnants, though they lack the scale of the ancient principality.Croatia
Hum is a medieval hilltop settlement in central Istria, Croatia, administratively belonging to the town of Buzet in Istria County, situated at an elevation of 349 meters above the source of the Mirna River.[49] Often described as one of the world's smallest towns, it features a compact layout with two narrow stone streets enclosed by remnants of defensive walls, housing a permanent population estimated at 52 residents as of 2024.[49] [50] This designation stems from its historical town privileges rather than modern urban criteria, distinguishing it from mere villages despite its scale.[51] The settlement's origins trace to the medieval period, with the earliest written record appearing in 1102, though some accounts link its foundations to 9th-century fortifications under Frankish rule in Istria.[37] Constructed as a defensive stronghold amid regional conflicts, Hum developed within fortified walls that largely persist today, reflecting Glagolitic architectural influences from Croatia's early literacy traditions.[38] Key structures include the 12th-century Church of St. Ivan and stone inscriptions in Glagolitic script, underscoring its role as a preserved artifact of Istrian medieval heritage.[52] Over centuries, it endured Venetian, Austrian, and Italian administrations before integration into modern Croatia, maintaining its insular character through depopulation trends common in rural Istria.[53] Economically, Hum sustains a niche tourism profile centered on its historical authenticity, local cuisine like truffle-based dishes, and production of biska, a mistletoe-infused brandy traditional to the region.[54] Accessibility involves a short drive from larger Istrian centers like Buzet, with no public transport directly serving the site, emphasizing its remoteness and appeal to visitors seeking unspoiled medieval sites.[55] Despite claims of being the absolute smallest town globally, such assertions lack formal Guinness recognition and vary by definitional standards for "town" status.[38]Other Locations
In Slovenia, Hum denotes several minor settlements, including one in the Municipality of Brda within the Littoral region, situated directly on the border with Italy.[56] This hamlet consists of scattered rural dwellings amid vineyards and hills, reflecting typical characteristics of Slovenian border villages with populations under 100 residents as of recent mappings.[57] Another instance, Hum pri Ormožu, lies in the northeastern Podravje region near the town of Ormož, serving as a dispersed agricultural community without recorded urban development.[57] Additional localities named Hum appear in Montenegro, with at least four documented sites primarily in rural inland areas, and in Serbia, featuring two smaller hamlets, though precise coordinates and demographics remain sparsely detailed in geographic databases.[58] These Balkan examples often trace etymological roots to Slavic terms for elevated or forested terrain, akin to regional toponymy patterns. Beyond Europe, a locality named Hum exists in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, representing a remote highland settlement amid rugged terrain, with no available population figures exceeding a few hundred based on exploratory mappings.[58] Such non-European instances are rare and typically lack historical or touristic prominence compared to their continental counterparts.People
Surname Origins and Demographics
The surname Hum exhibits multiple etymological origins, reflecting diverse linguistic and cultural influences. In Germanic contexts, it appears as a variant of Humm, potentially linked to personal names like Humbert or Humboldt, where elements such as "hun" (cub or warrior) combine with "berht" (bright) or "bald" (bold), and records trace early instances in England from the 12th century, including Gilbert Om in 1177 Hampshire and Ernald Hum in 1208 Lincolnshire.[59][60] Alternatively, European roots may stem from Norman French "homme" (man), denoting a nickname for a strong or fierce individual, or from locational terms like "Hulme" in Lancashire and Cheshire, signifying a river island or holm.[60][61] In Asian contexts, Hum functions as a romanized variant of Chinese surnames such as 譚 (Tan in Siyi Cantonese) or 湛 (Zhan), often associated with migrations from Guangdong and Fujian provinces, while in Cambodia, it derives from the Khmer term for performing music at ceremonies.[59][61] These origins highlight how phonetic adaptations and regional naming conventions have contributed to the surname's variability, with no single etymology dominating across all bearers. Globally, the surname Hum is borne by approximately 13,329 individuals, ranking as the 39,381st most common family name worldwide, with 71% of occurrences in Asia and 56% in Khmer Southeast Asia.[61] It shows highest incidence in Cambodia (7,462 bearers), followed by significant populations in Canada and the United States, where early 19th-century records indicate concentrations in Pennsylvania.[61][59] In the US, bearers are disproportionately of Asian/Pacific Islander descent (about 60%), reflecting immigration patterns, and the name has grown 797% there from 1880 to 2014.[61]| Country | Incidence |
|---|---|
| Cambodia | 7,462 |
| Canada | 1,596 |
| United States | 1,387 |
| Indonesia | 574 |
| Saudi Arabia | 557 |
| India | 234 |
| Malaysia | 181 |
| Hungary | 174 |
| Vietnam | 146 |
| Singapore | 111 |