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[scottstephens]

Hey all,

   Yesterday morning while walking the dog in the minus 7 degree weather, I Heard and then FELT in the pit of my stomach a Very low rumble. And even though it lasted  just a few seconds it made me feel a little weird; but not quite queasy. I believe the sound started about 18-20 Hz and went down quickly.

  Here in southeastern Ohio we have lots of Oil and Gas activity (drilling)  going on so I "assume" the noise and feeling was from a well site. The nearest one is about 3 miles away. Anyway, is it true that very low frequencies can make you lose control of bodily functions; your bowels?

  I think I remember reading that Bag End did some research on this with their E.L.F. Processors back in the day; but I'm not sure. I've done a quick search on the web, but it doesn't seem to be very valid; a lot of "crap", if you will forgive the pun.

So, Ivan? Mac? Tim?

Scott

[John Fruits]

Who ya gonna call----Mythbusters!
Brown Note

[Tim McCulloch]

Hey all,

   Yesterday morning while walking the dog in the minus 7 degree weather, I Heard and then FELT in the pit of my stomach a Very low rumble. And even though it lasted  just a few seconds it made me feel a little weird; but not quite queasy. I believe the sound started about 18-20 Hz and went down quickly.

  Here in southeastern Ohio we have lots of Oil and Gas activity (drilling)  going on so I "assume" the noise and feeling was from a well site. The nearest one is about 3 miles away. Anyway, is it true that very low frequencies can make you lose control of bodily functions; your bowels?

  I think I remember reading that Bag End did some research on this with their E.L.F. Processors back in the day; but I'm not sure. I've done a quick search on the web, but it doesn't seem to be very valid; a lot of "crap", if you will forgive the pun.

So, Ivan? Mac? Tim?

Scott

We had a discussion when the Myth Busters did their experiments.  The consensus was they were playing too high in frequency, that the "Brown note" (Alton, is that YOUR recipe?) is much lower, likely in the single digits.

While Meyer makes some good stuff, 5Hz sub response isn't in their catalog... and Myth Busters borrowed a bunch of Meyer subs for the experiments.

There is allegedly an ELF sonic weapon but the folks who know if that's true, can't tell us either way.

I suspect you have a body cavity resonance (or a harmonic thereof) down in the range you experienced.

[Doug Fowler]

We had a discussion when the Myth Busters did their experiments.  The consensus was they were playing too high in frequency, that the "Brown note" (Alton, is that YOUR recipe?) is much lower, likely in the single digits.

While Meyer makes some good stuff, 5Hz sub response isn't in their catalog... and Myth Busters borrowed a bunch of Meyer subs for the experiments.

There is allegedly an ELF sonic weapon but the folks who know if that's true, can't tell us either way.

I suspect you have a body cavity resonance (or a harmonic thereof) down in the range you experienced.

IIRC they stuffed the sub ports in order to seal the boxes.  I wonder how much more LF extension was  gained (and SPL was lost)?

[Hayden J. Nebus]

IIRC they stuffed the sub ports in order to seal the boxes.  I wonder how much more LF extension was  gained (and SPL was lost)?

This could be much more efficiently tested with organ pipes.

[Kevin Conlon]

Hey all,

   Yesterday morning while walking the dog in the minus 7 degree weather, I Heard and then FELT in the pit of my stomach a Very low rumble. And even though it lasted  just a few seconds it made me feel a little weird; but not quite queasy. I believe the sound started about 18-20 Hz and went down quickly.

  Here in southeastern Ohio we have lots of Oil and Gas activity (drilling)  going on so I "assume" the noise and feeling was from a well site. The nearest one is about 3 miles away. Anyway, is it true that very low frequencies can make you lose control of bodily functions; your bowels?

  I think I remember reading that Bag End did some research on this with their E.L.F. Processors back in the day; but I'm not sure. I've done a quick search on the web, but it doesn't seem to be very valid; a lot of "crap", if you will forgive the pun.

So, Ivan? Mac? Tim?

Scott

Once, a while back a bass player with a SVT turned 3/4 full made me leave before i threw up. Everyone is a little different so results may vary. I think there is some truth to it. I also remember a you tube of Danley building a sub in a semi container, for the gov i think. It was pretty cool and someone in the vid. suggested it could be used to cause an avalanche.

[Tim McCulloch]

Once, a while back a bass player with a SVT turned 3/4 full made me leave before i threw up. Everyone is a little different so results may vary. I think there is some truth to it. I also remember a you tube of Danley building a sub in a semi container, for the gov i think. It was pretty cool and someone in the vid. suggested it could be used to cause an avalanche.

The Danley Matterhorn.  One of the videos has an employee standing in the throat of the horn.... you can see his clothes flap around.  Ivan would have to tell us the LF cutoff, but I think it was around 12Hz or so.

IIRC it was built on speculation to meet a proposed specification for a military unit.  I don't think the DoD ended up buying for the proposed purpose but I'd not be surprised if other military applications eventually come to mind.

[Dave Pluke]

Once, a while back a bass player with a SVT turned 3/4 full made me leave before i threw up. Everyone is a little different so results may vary.

Similar experience here, though it was TWO HIWATT DR201's (200w) dimed into 2 x 15" cabs...and, it hit me a bit lower than my stomach...

Dave

[John L Nobile]

I had a similar experience with a Bon Jovi cover band where the lead singer was tone deaf. The hi notes made my stomach churn.

[Art Welter]

Hey all,

   Yesterday morning while walking the dog in the minus 7 degree weather, I Heard and then FELT in the pit of my stomach a Very low rumble. And even though it lasted  just a few seconds it made me feel a little weird; but not quite queasy. I believe the sound started about 18-20 Hz and went down quickly.
 Anyway, is it true that very low frequencies can make you lose control of bodily functions; your bowels?

Scott,

Studies and personal experience definitively show that exposure to very low frequency sound of adequate level can result in "a sense of unease", "feelings of dread" and nausea. VLF at high enough levels can cause ocular movement (eyeballs flopping around in their sockets), the blurring effect can be mistaken for unexplained movements.

Response to nausea can result in vomiting or bowel movement, but there is no specific "brown note" that will cause a resonant spasm in a statistically wide enough test group to be predictive, or useful as "crowd control".

Sensitivity to VLF varies quite a bit from person to person, and continued exposure can acclimate individuals to very high levels over a period of time, large rotor helicopter pilots and large ship engine keepers for instance. That said, my personal experience is exposure to a continuous tone from around 11 to 20 Hz at levels as low as 80 dB SPL can make me feel queasy after a just a few minutes, and the feeling can persist for 15 minutes or so after removing myself from the sound field.

Whenever I read about home theaters with dozens of infinite baffle long excursion drivers capable of 120+ dB down to the low single digit frequencies in room, I have no more desire to "chase that rabbit" than I would to volunteer for influenza research ;^).

Art

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