That noise. No, I'm not imagining it.

[slowmotion]

I live in a small Victorian terraced house in a big city. There is a pub over the road but no large factories nearby. The roads around here are reasonably quiet traffic-wise.
So much for scene-setting. There is this quiet noise like a low hum that comes and goes at frequent intervals, sometimes on for twenty seconds and off for thirty seconds, sometimes off for a minute or two and on for a minute. Its length and frequency has no fixed pattern but it's always the same volume. Very quiet. This means that if there are other ambient noises it cannot be noticed. It's there day and night but not continuously. It seems to be accompanied by a really, really tiny vibration

I thought it might be a fridge thermostat or a central heating pump but it can't be because they don't cycle that frequently. Neither do sump pumps from basements. I have flipped off the main RCD and it's still there so it isn't from any electrical gizmo in the house. There's a wiki description of The Hum, but it doesn't seem to fit the bill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
I'm curious about what it might be be.
What do you reckon?

Thank you.

 

[classic33]

Hearing problem?

 

[slowmotion]

Hearing problem?

I'm pretty sure that it's external not internal. Body-wise that is.

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 3285200, member: 9609"]crossrail tunnelling deep below[/QUOTE]
I thought about that this morning, spookily, but I couldn't think of an engineering process that could sometimes cycle so frequently. Thanks for the suggestion.
Are there any tunnel moles on the forum?

 

[classic33]

[QUOTE 3285200, member: 9609"]crossrail tunnelling deep below[/QUOTE]
That'd be a constant noise though. Not a pulsing noise.

 

[classic33]

Any radar stations nearby?

 

[slowmotion]

That'd be a constant noise though. Not a pulsing noise.

It's not exactly pulsing. It's intermittent with a short but random mark/space ratio.

 

[slowmotion]

Any radar stations nearby?

The nearest is probably at Northolt which is about ten miles away.

 

[classic33]

Something like this
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...nister-emma-brooker-investigates-1424317.html

 

[slowmotion]

Something like this
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...nister-emma-brooker-investigates-1424317.html

No, it's not The Hum. The Hum is pretty much continuous. This has distinct on and off edges. It's not driving me any more bonkers than I usually am either.
It's close. There is an ever so tiny vibratory aspect to it. No @Fnaar, spare me!

 

[Accy cyclist]

I don't mind humming noises it's that thump thump bass beat that does my head in!The next door neighbour came round the other year to complain(politely)about our aquarium air pump humming, and keeping him awake.

 

[ColinJ]

I'd gladly trade the whistling tinnitus that I have been suffering for the past 2 years for a nice low hum! (The last thing I remember before blacking out was a loud whistling sound inside my head, and when I came round it was still there in the background and has been ever since.)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I occasionally hear something like it, and suspect it's due to high-tensile power lines about 1/2 km from where I live. Do you have something similar near your place, @slowmotion ?

 

[slowmotion]

I'd gladly trade the whistling tinnitus that I have been suffering for the past 2 years for a nice low hum! (The last thing I remember before blacking out was a loud whistling sound inside my head, and when I came round it was still there in the background and has been ever since.)

I've got that too but it doesn't bother me at all. It's just background noise. This hum comes and goes and it has a source that must be quite close, I suspect. I'm curious about it.

 

[slowmotion]

I occasionally hear something like it, and suspect it's due to high-tensile power lines about 1/2 km from where I live. Do you have something similar near your place, @slowmotion ?

I'm in a big city so all cables are underground and relatively low voltage as regards distribution. There are no substations that I know of within a few hundred metres, and even those are only fed by 11kV upstream. Any cables in the street are likely to be 440V three phase AC max.