The Hum: Villagers say they're 'tortured' by mystery noise

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A strange hum has been plaguing people in Holmfield - now they want answers

At first glance, Holmfield looks like a quiet village. But for some residents, their lives are being made a misery by a mysterious rumbling noise in their homes. Not everyone can hear it and investigations have failed to find the source. The BBC went to investigate what locals call the Holmfield Hum.

"I love my home but some days I absolutely detest being in it. It feels like there's no happy space here any more."

Yvonne Conner hears the hum. Aside from the odd weekend when she has had to "escape", it has been the background sound in her Victorian stone terrace since 2019.

For her, the hum is a constant droning sound, like the whirring of a washing machine or an idling diesel engine. Not everyone in Holmfield experiences it, but for those that do, its impact has been severe, even costing Yvonne her health and job.

As we chat in the high-ceiling kitchen at the back of the house, Yvonne says the hum is whirring away, like it does most days and nights. I concentrate on trying to pick it up, but can't hear anything.

She explains: "As much as I can hear it I can feel it on my eardrums. It resonates and feels like a pressure against them. That's pretty much what it's like all the time."

Unlike high-pitched noises, low-frequency sounds like the hum - which range in frequency from about 10Hz to 200Hz - can't be masked and are capable of penetrating through blockers such as ear plugs and headphones. On a night when the streets and houses are silent, the noise is amplified.

"One particular night I woke about 5.30am with a start. 'For God's sake', I thought, I could hear it through my pillow. The only thing I could do was to put my headphones on, play music, lie on my back and hope somehow, I could just forget it was there.

"But it's impossible and it feels like this never-ending cycle of torture."

Yvonne is not the only one affected. In 2020, many others in and around the West Yorkshire village signed a petition prompting an investigation by Calderdale Council.

Holmfield sits at the bottom of a valley - homes dotted around a fairly large expanse of industrial and commercial premises. Villagers have previously said they believed local industrial units were to blame for the noise.

Zoe Millar has also endured years of disrupted sleep: "It leaves you feeling worn out because it's worse on a night so trying to sleep is hard. We have considered moving but why should we when it's something that's not our fault?"

Initially, the authority said it had pinpointed three possible sources, although never specified which ones. But at the end of their investigation, officers concluded they had not been able to find the cause.

The phenomenon of difficult-to-trace, low-frequency hums is not unique to Holmfield. Similar irritating noises bother people elsewhere across the country.

In Bournemouth, Chris House has been driven to despair by a constant droning. It started out slowly in 2019 but built up during lockdown to become "absolutely horrendous".

He says there was "no escape from it inside", adding: "I would go out shopping and have this abject fear about coming back home. You can't find the words to describe how it feels to live with. It's soul destroying."

Feeling like he was getting little help in solving the mysterious noise, Chris spent £3,000 trying to get answers. He paid for a private investigation by an independent sound expert which revealed the likely source was a nearby internet booster hub serving the city.

Though Chris is confident he's found the problem, pinpointing these types of noises is challenging, according to acoustic expert Peter Rogers. He says it requires a scientific approach to proving the noise exists by measuring it, but also understanding the physical and psychological factors at play.

Peter explains: "Sound is something which has been used for torture and when you can't get away from it, it becomes all consuming. Think the dripping tap idea.

"If you can't control it and have to live with it, then it's a physical stress and you start to see chronic physical symptoms."

Therefore, he says, it's not an exaggeration for these sufferers to say that their lives are being ruined by the hum. Since 2000, the World Health Organisation has recognised low-frequency noise as an environmental problem that causes various health impacts.

In Yvonne's case, she says living with it has caused shingles, anxiety and headaches. At its worst, she quit her job as a charity support worker because the stress left her unable to function properly.

The maddening reality she endures means at times she has questioned her own sanity, wondering whether the rumbling really exists.

It's not an uncommon response, says Peter. Having been involved in similar cases over his 30-years experience, he finds people like Yvonne are hearing real noises.

He explains: "Quite often they start doubting themselves and think they're going crazy. We're able to go in and prove with science that by measuring it, it's there and they're sane.

"The problem is then trying to find where it's coming from and it's a bit like searching for that elusive needle in a haystack.

"If you imagine the soundscape people are living in, there's all sorts of noises coming and going day and night so you've to effectively turn everything off to start the job of finding it."

Peter says common causes of such sounds can be something as minor as a mains hum in the home, a neighbour's hot tub, a transformer on a telegraph pole or industrial premises. Often it may be that residents are hearing different versions of the hum or the noise is coming from a mixture of sources.

"When you go in with the right equipment and approach you can get a sonic fingerprint which will then start giving you some clues as to what it could be.

"For example, if there's a 50Hz element to it, it's probably mains related so you would start looking at things likes transformers near the house."

Back in Holmfield, the council said it had "given its all to the investigation and left no stone unturned" but has now closed the case.

Councillor Jenny Lyons, cabinet member for public services and communities, said: "At this time, we are unable to take matters further. We know that this is not the outcome that the complainants were hoping for, but we have exhausted all current lines of inquiry.

"We don't doubt that some residents are experiencing noise, so we will regularly review the situation and we're happy to restart our investigations if any new evidence comes to light."

Meanwhile, it doesn't change the daily droning and misery for Yvonne and others.

She says: "We should be able to live peacefully in our homes but I'm sorry, Calderdale Council might have stopped their investigation but I'm still not living peacefully in my house."

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