Story perspectives

Study links The Hum to tinnitus in German participants

6/3/2026

Summary

Story summary

Researchers tested 28 German participants hearing The Hum and concluded it may be tinnitus.
Professor Markus Drexl of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology led the study, which found participants lacked low-frequency hearing, though two showed better-than-average levels suggesting detection of environmental sounds.
Glen MacPherson’s 2012 interactive database, created after the Hum was first reported in Bristol in the mid-1970s, continues to collect reports while external sources remain unruled.

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Story summary

Researchers tested 28 German participants hearing The Hum and concluded it may be tinnitus.
Professor Markus Drexl of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology led the study, which found participants lacked low-frequency hearing, though two showed better-than-average levels suggesting detection of environmental sounds.
Glen MacPherson’s 2012 interactive database, created after the Hum was first reported in Bristol in the mid-1970s, continues to collect reports while external sources remain unruled.