---
title: "The Hum"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:37:38.404890+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== In popular culture ==
The Taos Hum has been featured on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, and in LiveScience's "Top Ten Unexplained Phenomena", where it took tenth place. BBC Radio 4 featured an investigation of the Hum phenomena in their Punt PI fact-based comedy programme. In October 2022, the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK covered the Hum in its Oppdatert podcast.
In a 1998 episode of The X-Files titled "Drive", Agent Mulder speculates that extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves "may be behind the so-called Taos Hum".
In a 2018 episode (Season 13 episode 21) of the police procedural series Criminal Minds, the main antagonist of the episode was made to commit violent acts as a result of mania caused by the Taos Hum. The story editors described the episode as having "an X-Files feel".
Jordan Tannahill's 2021 novel The Listeners tells the story of a group of people tormented by a continuous humming noise that seemingly only they can hear. It was the inspiration for an opera of the same name that debuted in 2022. The book was adapted into a BBC series of the same name by the BBC in 2024.
In a 2022 episode of the animated series American Dad! titled "Echoes", Avery Bullock (voiced by Patrick Stewart) muses about a mysterious background hum that several characters report hearing through the episode.
The Windsor Hum is the subject of the song "The Hum" by Canadian musician Dan Griffin, and the short documentary film Zug Island by Nicolas Lachapelle.
The Windsor Hum is also the subject of a song by Detroit band Protomartyr and appears on their 2017 album Relatives in Descent.
The Hum is thematized in metalcore band Converge's 2026 album Hum of Hurt, imagined as a physical manifestation of human suffering. Vocalist and lyricist Jacob Bannon suggests, "What if the Hum is the culmination of all the pain in the world creating an audible hum across the universe? Something noticeable to others operating on a similar frequency."

== See also ==
Exploding head syndrome
Infrasound
Mains hum, a low-frequency hum that is part of the normal functioning of electrical equipment
List of unexplained sounds
Skyquake
Havana syndrome
Auroral noise
The Listeners (TV Series)

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Deming, D. (2004). The Hum:  An Anomalous Sound Heard Throughout the World
Fox, Barry (9 December 1989). "Low-frequency 'hum' may permeate the environment". New Scientist. p. 27.
Leventhall, H. G. (2004). "Low frequency noise and annoyance". Noise & Health. 6 (23): 59–72. PMID 15273024. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014.
Moorhouse, Andy; Waddington, David; Adams, Mags (February 2005). "Procedure for the assessment of low frequency noise complaints" (PDF). Acoustics Research Centre, University of Salford. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2011. [1].
Mullins, Joe; Kelly, James P. (Autumn 1995). "The Mystery of the Taos hum" (PDF). Echos. Acoustical Society of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2014.
Vasudevan, R. N.; Gordon, C. G. (1997). "Experimental study of annoyance due to low frequency environmental noise". Applied Acoustics. 10 (1): 57–69. doi:10.1016/0003-682X(77)90007-X.

== External links ==
The World Hum Map and Database