r/Acoustics • u/spirit_desire1 • 2d ago
Low humming noise at night
Hello! I am having an issue regarding a low frequency humming noise in a bedroom in my apartment that only happens at night. It’s been going on for almost two weeks now and it’s very inconsistent time-wise but very disruptive. It’s hard to explain but it’s the kind of noise that’s so low of a frequency you like feel it in your head and it’s been causing a lot of sleep deprivation and headaches… We’ve reached out to the landlord who is basically ghosting us saying he doesn’t know what the issue could be. We have a theory it’s some new appliance/ac unit installed that’s tripping something to cause the hum? I also want to mention there was one night i turned our whole power out via breaker and the humming was still going on.
We’re unsure of what the next step is to take, the landlord is basically unresponsive and his only action was sending some guy with no equipment or anything to stand in the room and say he doesn’t hear anything when both me and my girlfriend both clearly heard/felt it. I want to add that I live in NYC so if anyone has any advice for the noise itself and what to investigate or any legal advice to get our landlord off his ass to help it would be appreciated!
I’ll provide pictures of some decibel readings we took as well.
•
•
u/Sehawkin 2d ago
The frequency would help. High rise building or 5 story walk up? Type of floor? Near a subway line or market / bodega?
•
u/fakename10001 2d ago
50 dBC is not that loud. What’s the dBA rating? The data you’ve shown does not provide much, unfortunately
•
u/FeeltheBlood3 1d ago
like u/intelligent_Law_5614 said, a motor is a likely culprit. I had a client that experienced something similar, but in their case it was the motor that maintained water pressure for the higher floors in their building. They only heard it when they lay their heads on their pillows at night. They could not hear it if they sat on the edge of their bed.
•
u/Intelligent_Law_5614 2d ago
See if your sound measurement app can display a spectrogram of the sound. The specific frequency may give you a hint as to the sort of equipment involved, and a real-time spectrum display would make it easier to hunt for the source even if there is background noise present.
A motor, of course, is the likeliest culprit. A newly installed air conditioner or blower seems possible, if the sound is continuous. If a motor or compressor has been installed, and just bolted to the building structure without isolation pads, it could vibrate the whole building and the sound would carry for quite a distance. Elevator or similar motor noises would probably come and go.
Air resonating in a chimney or vent is another possibility (like blowing over an empty Coke bottle) and would tend to come and go as the speed of the wind changes.