Mystery island hum sneaks out from below sound barrier

Those with exceptional hearing have long been plagued, but so few people could hear the mysterious low rumbling sound that their complaints fell on deafer ears.

Now Tom Moir, a Scottish engineer and signals processing expert living in New Zealand, has succeeded in recording the hum — finally validating the complaints of many affected people from New Zealand to England and America, some of whom believed that they were losing their minds to the noise.

Using a high-sensitivity digital sound recorder and aided by a student who could hear the noise, Dr Moir visited about 30 homes in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, where the hum can be heard. Last week he succeeded in making a recording that he wants to share with people in other parts of the world — particularly in Bristol and in New Mexico, where the phenomenon is known to have occurred.

The sound, often described as being similar to the sound of air being blown over a bottle top, has troubled sensitive ears in Auckland’s northern suburbs and isolated parts of New Zealand’s far north for several years. One man who contacted Dr Moir became so frustrated by the sound that he deliberately damaged the hearing in one of his ears — by holding it close to a chainsaw engine — so that he could sleep.

You can hear an mp3 of the New Zealand hum here.