The Taos Hum: The Sound Science Can’t Explain

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In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tune into one of the strangest modern mysteries: the Taos Hum.

Since the 1990s, people in Taos, New Mexico have reported a low, constant humming sound that only a small percentage of the population can hear. The rest? Silence.

🎧 What is the Taos Hum—and why can only some people hear it?
 🌍 Is it microseismic vibrations from the Earth itself?
 ⚡ Could it come from hidden electrical or industrial sources?
 🌬 Or is it all in the mind—a psychological echo that science can’t detect?

From tectonic tremors to infrasound, Katy and Laura explore every theory behind the hum that refuses to be recorded—and why some ears might just be more tuned to the planet than others.

🎧 This is part of our Nature Mysteries series—short, eerie, and full of science that’ll make your brain vibrate.

Transcript

Katy: [00:00:00] All right guys, this is the last week. They're gonna be talking about nature's mysteries. Last week, Laura, what did you, the lights, what did, what were they called? There you go

Laura: I, I mean, I hope I'm saying that at least semi correctly.

Katy: I'm glad that you did that one because it flows very well into my next one, which is the last one.

And that's the Taos hum. Last one I talked about was the ocean. So we're gonna go onto land now into the desert in Taos, New Mexico. And since the early 1990s, so this is very recently, , people there have been reporting something very strange, a low frequency humming sound that they cannot find the source for at all.

It's not like a buzzing power line. Not a neighbor's like music playing or something like that. Not tinnitus. 'cause that's would be my, because I have tinnitus, that'd be my first thing is oh, it just must be my tinnitus acting

Laura: Yeah. Yeah.

Katy: Surveys suggest that depending on the validity of the science of these sources.

Some [00:01:00] surveys that seem to be more scientific are saying that it's around at least 2% of the population, the population of Taos, New Mexico. There are about 6,400 people, but a lot of these surveys were of people who might not permanently live there, either come through there anyway. So it can be anywhere from two to 10% of the population picks it up.

Laura: Gotcha.

Katy: While others absolutely hear nothing, but we also know from other hearing studies, there's a certain frequencies that only kids can hear that as you become an adult, we can't hear 'em anymore. So there's definitely things like that as well.

Laura: But no. What about instruments? Or has nobody done it yet?

Katy: Done. What.

Laura: Like went there with a radio

Katy: Oh, no, no, no. They had, they've been, yeah, they've been looking into this stuff. So the Taos hum has a few defining corks first. No consistent physical source has ever been identified. People hear it in town, outside of town, indoors, outdoors day night.

Laura: that would drive me insane.

Katy: So, so those that can hear it, there's [00:02:00] no consistency on where or, or when.

, Again, second, those who do hear it, the hum isn't just annoying. It's been linked to headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and even anxiety over it. So it's

Laura: what I was finding. One thing I was looking at is that low frequency vibrations have been shown to cause those

Katy: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Which again, imagine

Laura: That's like scientifically linked. Yeah. Like you,

Katy: Yeah. And your brain insists that there's an idling something noise 'cause I know my tinnitus, that's the main reason why I have to sleep with some noise. And the last place I lived so it was right against a pretty busy road.

And so that constant noise hum, most people hated it. But I was like, I can't hear my tinnitus 'cause that it's just constant ringing in my ear. , thirdly when researchers have come in with microphone, seismographs or sound mapping equipment,

Laura: It's not showing

Katy: they don't pick up a consistent hum where people swear they hear it.

So they'll be like, do you hear something now? And they're like, yes, I hear it right [00:03:00] now. They're like, not that it's not being picked up at all.

Laura: right. 'cause so that seems pretty weird, is that like a psycho? Yeah. That's weird. If it was something even really low, like, you know, like

Katy: But it, but it's consistent, but it's consistently among the people. So the people who can hear it can be like, oh yeah, I heard it. It started last night around eight o'clock. And everyone's like, yep. Or not even like Biasly say it, you know what I mean? Like, because they did that was in the surveys. When did you hear it? Last kind of thing. And they went into these are the dates that I hear it. So it's co consist, like a blind, double, blind study set up sort of thing.

So it's definitely something is there, they just can't pinpoint to what it is.

Laura: And so maybe it's not, maybe it's not sound, it's just perceived as sound.

Katy: Well, exactly. And so what's behind it? So scientists have floated a handful of possibilities. One micro seismic vibrations. So the earth itself is constantly vibrating at very low frequencies, which again goes into a whole other realm of theories and implications. I do not think [00:04:00] that we have studied enough of vibrations and what that does.

'cause again, you have to remember that everything. And us is made up of cells. Everything around us is atoms. And what vibrations do to things around us, I don't think people give enough study and weight into the implications of that. So something since Earth is very, is constantly vibrating and very low frequencies driven by ocean waves.

Tectonic motion. Maybe some people are unusually sensitive to the faint. Faint like Earth hums is. What they're saying is just

Laura: but why

Katy: and Taos Hap, and Taos happens to be one of those places that okay, so think of an amphitheater.

All right. For instance, if they say if you sit in the center, in the center, there's always the prime hearing seats. They're like, okay, maybe Taos is just that prime location to be able to hear all that stuff as well. Another theory is industrial or electrical sources. Others suggest that high voltage power lines, gas pipelines, or underground equipment might generate low frequency noise.

That could [00:05:00] explain why some people hear it and others don't. I can and ev on multiple situations. They say it's an A, DHD thing, but I can go into the A room and , I have moderate hearing loss in my one ear is what they said.

But then I have an auditory processing disorder too, but the moderate hearing loss. So I'm like, I cannot hear crap. But I can, sometimes I can walk into a room and I'm like, the lights are too loud and it makes you sound like a crazy person. But I'm like, no. In our old city hall for my day job where I work, I would go in and be like, does anybody hear that?

Like, do you guys not hear that? And they're like, hear what? And I'm like.

Laura: like those tubes?

Katy: Yeah. I'm like, do you guys not hear the freaking, 'cause I don't wor I did. I worked across the street from 'em. So when I would come into the building, I'd be like, do you guys not hear that? They're like, I guess I'm just used to it. I'm like, how does nobody hear that?

Hum? So they're thinking maybe it's something like that. Third guess is. Atmospheric Infrasound. So infrasound is a sound below 20 hertz too low for most humans to hear, but still physically present. [00:06:00] Technically, storms, winds over mountains, even distant ocean waves can generate it. And some people might just perceive infrared sound as pressure in the ears, which could then be interpreted, like you said, as a hum.

The last one is psychological explanations, which Laura even said. There, there could be just that the tatham isn't external all, it might be an auditory phenomenon inside the brain itself. Something like tinnitus, but triggered or perceived differently. And then you add in the layer of this is a known thing around the town.

So everybody's I have tinnitus. Yeah, I have tinnitus. This must be the hum. This isn't tinnitus, it's the hum kind of thing.

Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could see a couple of different things being that way, a couple of those theories

Katy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very. Explainable for it not being explainable, if that make, if that makes sense. So the mystery really is still wide open. No instrument, like I said, has consistently picked [00:07:00] up the hum, where people have reported and been consistently hearing it being reported, and it's not unique.

Similar homes have been reported in Bristol, England, Windsor, Canada, and even Auckland, New Zealand, everywhere it shows up this. Story is the same. A low drone heard by a few, confirmed by absolutely no instruments. But again, it's confirmed by a group of people being like, I definitely hear this. It started here and I would have to move because my tinnitus gets to me after a while anyway.

Laura: of wanna go just to see if I could hear

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: but I would never move there.

Katy: Right. But again, I can't hear like for crap anyway, and it's getting worse as I get, as I'm getting older. And, but then my tinnitus, so it's like I can't hear anything. But then my tinnitus, like, he, you know, right. I'm like, so like, I don't know, but it'll be better or worse if I go there.

So anyway, so yeah, that's the, the TAs hum. I again. [00:08:00] That would be something that would drive me insane. There's a child. Her little giggle. All right guys, well that is the last week. Next week we start season 13, , with the full episodes. So we're very excited. We have a variety of episodes for this upcoming season, so make sure you guys go check us out on Patreon and support us if you can. And then, go follow us on all of our social media accounts and we will talk to you guys next week, season 13.

Laura: Season 13. Let's go