Ottawa offers help in quest to solve ‘hum’ mystery
Windsor, Ont., plagued by odd sound for years
For two years, local politicians in Windsor, Ont., have been lobbying Ottawa, Washington and policymakers in Michigan to help solve the mystery of a strange hum that has been plaguing the west end of the city. Now, they may be a step closer to finding out where exactly it’s coming from and what’s causing it as the federal government has stepped in with research funding.
Monday, Bob Dechert, parliamentary secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, came to Windsor to announce the government’s plan to fund a $60,000 research project that will help figure out what is causing the strange low-frequency noise, which has been afflicting the city since the spring of 2011.
“We want to protect citizens’ quality of life,” Dechert said. “This study is a step in the right direction.”
The decision to fund the research comes after a recommendation from the International Joint Commis- sion, a binational organization that implements the boundary waters treaty between the U.S. and Canada, which Baird tasked with developing a “scientific approach” to finding the source of the mysterious vibrations.
The 10-month study will be led by University of Windsor mechanical engineering Prof. Colin Novak and Western University physics and astronomy Prof. Peter Brown.
Building on a previous investigation by Natural Resources Canada, Novak and Brown will use sophisticated instruments to map out the hum and its frequencies in a quest to figure out its source and cause.
Gary Grosse, who heads the 1,200-member Windsor Essex County Hum Facebook group, said the announcement was welcome news for Windsor residents. “What a relief,” Grosse said. There’s no way the group could have brought together that kind of expertise and equipment on its own, he said, adding that 10 months sounds like sufficient time to gather up enough data, given the hum’s frequency can vary depending on time and location.
Novak will use what’s known as a pentangular array and multiple noise monitors (similar to those used in airports, but more sophisticated) to detect and map the amplitudes and frequencies of the hum, focusing mainly on the Brighton Beach area and the city’s west end.
The gangly five-pronged device, which spans about three metres and uses microphones, takes only about five seconds to map out a sound similar to thermal imaging, Novak said. The pentangular array can be moved easily along the waterfront to pick up the hum in different loca- tions, Novak said. There’s even talk of putting it on a boat and floating it out onto the Detroit River to get closer to Zug Island, he said.
Brown will use infrasound microphones, which can pick up sounds that are at frequencies below what humans can hear and determine the direction from which they come.
“We’re starting out with no assumptions,” Brown said of the potential source of the hum. “All sorts of things can cause it.”
Because the hum spans the Detroit River and appears to involve both Canada and the United States, it has become a matter of international co-operation.
Dechert said the government is confident political and industry groups across the river will co-operate with the research.
“They’re all very empathetic,” Dechert said.
NDP MP Brian Masse said he would like to see the federal government start working with the U.S. now on a commitment to deal with the problem if it is confirmed the source of the hum is on the U.S. side.
There is no treaty that governs noise and vibrations, Masse said, but depending on the outcome of the study, the mysterious hum might become the impetus for it.