- KOKOMO, Ind. - There was
only one thing Diane Anton could do about the relentless, pulsating humming
noise that broke into her life in 1999: move away.
Distance has proved to be the only cure for the headaches, dizziness,
nausea and nerve damage that she is convinced were caused by constant bombardment
by a low-frequency noise. She thinks the noise is in the background of
many neighborhoods in this Howard County community.
Though she has endured ridicule and withstood flat-out disbelief from
those who cannot hear the sound, reports of the phenomenon are not uncommon.
Kokomo is among several communities struggling to identify sources and
deal with the annoying buzz.
Complaints about the noise in Howard County have been so widespread and
consistent that health authorities want to encourage government research
into the problem.
The hum is thought to be an unintended low-frequency sound wave created
by rotating machines or vibrating equipment. The low frequencies -- sometimes
called infrasound -- can travel long distances without weakening.
The noise generally is traced to industry or technology. In the past several
years, a cement plant has been blamed in Inkom, Idaho, and in Gulfport,
Miss., a gravel operation was linked to a hum.
But tracking the noises can be difficult. Many reports are never linked
to an origin. Some experts think the noises being reported are a manifestation
of a hearing disorder, not an actual sound.
Billy Kellems, a northwest Kokomo resident who lives about a mile in the
opposite direction from where Anton first heard the hum, is used to having
his hearing questioned after he, too, tried to alert officials three years
ago.
"The fact that other people are dealing with it in other places only
justifies what we are hearing and feeling, even if it might be for different
reasons," he said.
About 100 miles away in northern Indiana, Portage residents know what
a nuisance such noise can be. People who had lived in the area for 30 years
began noticing a low-intensity hum in January 2000 after a plastics factory
completed a construction project.
"It went on 24-7. Some thought it was an engine on a railroad track.
Some thought it was traffic from the highway. One woman thought she was
having a hearing problem," said Olga Velazquez, a member of the Portage
planning and zoning board.
Tests by an acoustical scientist and a city engineer pointed to the factory,
Velazquez said. There, engineers tracked the hum to vibrations from a
ventilator fan.
The company custom-built a muffler for the fan, and the noise stopped
about a year ago.
"We were never against the plant, just the sound. And our research
showed that cases like ours were worldwide," Velazquez said. "Most
people never get help. We were lucky."
Taos, N.M., the first widely publicized location of a hum, wasn't as fortunate.
After about two years of reports from several hundred residents, researchers
in 1993 were unable to detect the sound. Since then, there have been few
complaints, but a Web site remains active with thousands of e-mail posts.
John Earshen, a Buffalo, N.Y., acoustical engineer and expert in low-frequency
sound, said that in most cases, the noises are a form of tinnitus -- a
ringing in the ears. "I am convinced that it is real, but real in
the hearing process," he said. "Very rarely can a low-frequency
sound be measured."
The Kokomo hum has been recorded by three firms, privately contracted
by Anton.
Angelo Campanella, a Columbus, Ohio, acoustical engineer, isolated the
sound in Howard County in December 1999. "I never heard it. I measured
it. It's there."
Kris Conyers, director of the Howard County Health Department, has never
heard the hum, but her agency has a file of about 80 reports of various
health problems, including headaches, nausea, dizziness and diarrhea that
residents blame on the noise.
"Something is happening in our community. People are saying it is
causing health concerns, and I am concerned about that," Conyers said.
But she said conclusive testing is needed to find the hum and fix it.
And, she said, she doesn't have the money to do the research needed to
see whether it is related to the health complaints.
Lane Ralph, a senior adviser to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said Lugar
is interested in the problem and has sent inquiries to eight federal agencies.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has recommended that
low-frequency sound be included for a research project by the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Ralph said.
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