From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates@virtuallystrange.net>
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:02:46 -0500
Fwd Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:02:46 -0500
Subject: The Kokomo Hum

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/kokomohum020213.html


The Kokomo Hum
Reports of Mysterious Noise and Illness in Indiana

By Oliver Libaw


Feb. 13 -- Some say it's like a diesel engine idling. Others
describe it as a deep drone or fluorescent light-like buzz. And
a great many people don't hear anything at all.

Complaints about the "Kokomo Hum" began in 1999, when a handful
of local residents began to report a constant low-pitched
rumbling noise. They say they developed a range of mysterious
health problems soon after, including dizziness, diarrhea,
extreme fatigue, joint and muscle pain, nosebleeds, and
excruciating, unending headaches.

"I think we all know something was starting to go drastically
wrong about two years ago," says LaQuita Zimmerman, a
55-year-old grandmother who has lived in Kokomo her entire life.
"It went from a headache to a never-ending headache," she says.
When she leaves Kokomo to visit relatives, the suffering abates,
she says.

"It's been over two years now," says Maria McDaniels, who lives
several miles away from Zimmerman. "We just noticed a low hum -
a drone in the background. It seemed to increase in intensity in
the wee hours of the night."


[UFO UpDates thanks www.anomalist.com for the lead]

McDaniels says she, her two sons and her husband began to
experience regular headaches, sleep problems, and diarrhea
around the same time. She admits she doesn't know for certain
how the sound she hears relates to the symptoms, but she wants
the hum investigated.

Zimmerman and McDaniels are not alone; Sen. Richard Lugar's
office says it has received more than 80 letters complaining
about the sound.

But most people in this central Indiana town of 45,000 don't
hear anything at all.

Hum Complaints Met With Skepticism

Many Kokomo residents have been skeptical about reports of
mysterious illnesses caused by a mysterious vibration, and local
officials have done little to investigate.

"I know it does sound pretty bizarre", Zimmerman says. "It did
to me before I was affected."

Attention to the problem began to increase last summer, however,
when the Kokomo Tribune began an extensive investigation of the
reports of the hum.

The paper talked to 40 residents who reported hearing the noise,
and found that nearly all had visited a doctor more than once
about related health problems, and at least 15 had undergone a
series of neurological tests. Doctors typically attributed the
problems to stress or aging, the Tribune found.

In an editorial last Sunday, the Tribune called for local
officials to lead an investigation into the hum reports.

"The Kokomo Tribune editorial board wonders if city and state
officials hope this issue won't just go away on its own," the
paper said.

Hums Reported from New Mexico to Scotland

The Kokomo Hum is far from the first such complaint about
strange low-frequency noise and related health problems. The
so-called "Taos Hum" in northern New Mexico drew international
attention in the early 1990s, as residents there complained of a
persistent deep droning noise and accompanying headaches and
illnesses.

Extensive investigations there failed to measure any
low-frequency vibration that experts believed could cause either
the noise or the infirmities reported by those who heard it.
Even people who believe the Taos Hum is real admit that it has
attracted a large number of outlandish theories and conspiracy
buffs, which has hurt their credibility.

People in Taos continued to complain about the hum - some still
do so today - but attention died down and many of those who
reported serious problems moved away. A California rock band
named itself "The Taos Hum," lending further infamy to the
phenomenon.

Nevertheless, people in dozens - perhaps hundreds - of
communities around the world have claimed they have been
sickened by low-frequency noises. There is the "Larg Hum," in
Scotland, the "Bristol Hum," in England, and others in Japan,
Scandinavia and elsewhere. Some have been supported by
scientific data; others have not.

The existence of low-frequency noises that cause nuisances is
hardly controversial. Such sounds can be generated by turbines,
industrial fans, compressors and other machinery.

The vibrations can travel a half-mile or more through the
ground, causing dishes to rattle and a small subsection of the
population to hear an annoying low drone. Adding insulation or
adjusting equipment can often alleviate the problem.

Vibration Detected, But More Tests Needed

In Kokomo, reputable experts say they have detected a
low-frequency noise of some kind.

In 2000, one hum-afflicted Kokomo resident hired an acoustic
engineer to test for low-frequency noise.

The engineer, Angelo Campanella, who runs his own acoustic
consultancy firm and holds a doctorate in physics and electrical
engineering, found a low-frequency noise in the woman's home,
but at a relatively low level.

"The level that is there is right at the threshold of
perception, around 60 decibels," Campanella says.

The vibration Campanella detected would be considered a
borderline problem according to some scales, and on other scales
would be below problematic levels, says another acoustic
engineer, Paul Schomer, who reviewed the data.

Both men stress that more testing is needed before drawing any
conclusions about the hum. "We don't have really definitive
data," says Schomer. "We need to have measurements at a bunch of
these houses over a period of time."

Without speculating on the hum's possible effects on Kokomo
residents, Schomer notes that scientists have associated a range
of symptoms, such as general fatigue and malaise, with
low-frequency noises.

Caution Against Blaming Hums for Every Problem

Other acoustics experts caution against associating a range of
serious health problems to a low-frequency noise, however.

"They may be hitting on something that's a real phenomenon, but
it could be their imagination," says Bennett Brooks, an engineer
and investigator who heads the American Acoustical Society's
Technical Committee on Noise. "The levels [of low-frequency
noise] that will rattle dishes on a wall =85 haven't been shown to
cause health problems, other than perhaps people waking up at
night worrying."

He, too, is supportive of more testing for the Kokomo Hum. It
generally is not difficult to measure low-frequency noise and to
determine its source or sources. But in Kokomo, there has been
little investigation beyond Campanella's one-time measurements.

People complaining about the hum have approached myriad local,
state, and federal agencies, but none has agreed to investigate.

"We'd like to find the cause and correct the problem," says
Scott Winger, a postal employee who hears the hum and believes
he, his wife and children have suffered a range of health
problems because of it. "It's not something that we just thought
up."