5 min read
Dec. 27, 2023 – Sleep deficit is a global problem. But the issue is hitting Omagh, Northern Ireland hard. Residents have been kept awake since September by a sustained, persistent buzz or hum at night that often comes with a vibration.
According to Glen MacPherson, PhD, a former University of British Columbia lecturer and current high school math teacher and ethnographer, this phenomenon is known as the “Worldwide Hum” and he’s been tracking it since 2012. “It sounds strikingly like there’s a car idling outside your home,” he said. “Some people describe it as a low droning or low rumbling noise.”
MacPherson has created a World Hum Map, which shows the thousands of people who believe that they’ve heard the sound but only 2% to 4% of people can actually hear the real “Worldwide Hum.” What’s likely disturbing the sleep of Omagh residents and others in highly populated areas is low-frequency noise (LFN) made mostly by humans or industry, including ventilation systems, traffic, airplanes, and wind turbines.
“The human ear can only hear a small range of sounds,” explained Jeff Ellenbogen, MD, a neurologist, sleep specialist, and director of the Sound Sleep Project in Baltimore. “Low-frequency noise refers to sounds (in this case, unwanted sounds) that occur below 250 Hz. It’s most noticeable at night when there’s less sound overall and people are trying to sleep.”
The Costly Effect of Sleep Deficits
According to research, adults need an average of at least 7 hours of sleep a night, and environmental noises can disrupt sleep and lead to issues like increased levels of lighter stage 1 sleep and decreased deep sleep, as well as rapid eye movement sleep, or REM.
Chronic exposure to background noise, like road, rail, and airplane traffic, has long-term consequences such as cardiac changes, heart disease, depression, anxiety, increases in stress hormones, and even structural brain changes.
In the shorter term,
