The humming sound

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  • I've heard of various cases of people being annoyed by sounds like you describe. It's probably some sort of industrial process or a ventilation system that's resonating. The source can be extremely difficult to track down, and can be some distance away, since low-frequency sounds can carry for many kilometers. (Did you know elephants make sounds below frequencies humans can hear - "infrasound"? The hypothesis is that these sounds carry long distances across the savanna and allow them to keep track of the herds around them so they don't clash over resources.)

    As for what you can do about it, I guess you might talk to the appropriate department in your local government. In the UK, this would be the local Environmental Health Department. However, as I said, these sounds can be very difficult to trace, and while they are very annoying to people who are able to hear them, and it's easy to get fixated on them which makes it worse, they aren't deemed to be actually dangerous. You have to accept that it's unlikely you're going to get a business to shut down or carry out expensive modifications on their equipment to stop the noise.

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