Investigating a (Wireless) Haunted House

Looking (Literally) for Evidence of Electrosensitivity

I am always interested in claims of electrosensitivity, which is defined as a negative effect on human health (or at least well-being) from electromagnetic fields. While I've yet to read a definitive study correlating a negative health impact of any form in humans from a consumer-grade electromagnetic field, again, of any form, I'm also always up for a little field work when the opportunity presents itself. Before we get to that part, I should restate: if such a correlation is ever found, I will find a new line of work - I'm not going to promote a technology that harms people. Hey smoking! It's great! But only do it until you start wheezing!

So I was recently contacted by a homeowner in a small, rural town out in the beautiful Berkshires of Massachusetts who was absolutely convinced that the high-pitched and warbling tones being heard in the house, by the homeowner and others, just had to be the result of electromagnetic energy of some form. Now, there's no mechanism I'm aware of, save for a few anecdotal reports of receiving AM radio on tooth fillings, for electromagnetic energy at any frequency to be converted into sound apart, obviously, from that wonderful machine we call a radio. But I had to allow for the possibility that perhaps some other transduction was taking place, resulting in the symptoms being reported.

So my friend and colleague Mike Craig and I piled into my Honda and headed 90 miles west of Farpoint Group's headquarters, armed with a very expensive 50 GHz. spectrum analyzer and a surprisingly useful Radio Shack sound pressure meter which we coupled to an incredibly useful (and amazingly low-priced) Pico 2105 USB oscilloscope and proceeded, in Ghostbusters-like fashion, to look for a wireless, well, ghost.

To cut to the chase, we didn't find one. We did see some self-jamming from the notebook that the scope was connected to, a few low-amplitude narrowband signals, and some DSL uplink leakage, but no smoking wave. We did, however go to very quiet parts of the house and just listen. And, there it was - a very high-pitched tone, slightly buzzy, equal in both ears. Note also that this part of the Berkshires is very, very quiet, with ambient noise in the 30-40 dB range. Hence, with little encouragement, the tone was indeed everywhere, with most people in the house reporting it.

My conclusion, however, is that this is tinnitus, not the result of any effect from electromagnetic energy. The whooshing and other more complex sounds reported could be pulsitile tinnitus, which is literally hearing the blood flowing in vessels near the inner ear. I have that in my right ear from time to time; it's usually the result of nasal congestion. I also have low-grade (only noticed in very quiet environments) tinnitus likely from, well, too much heavy metal, which I still enjoy to this day, albeit at reduced volume levels. In short, though, we saw nothing from the test equipment that would lead us to conclude that electromagnetic waves are the culprit here.

If you're interested, though, check out electromagnetichealth.org, which is a large compendium of information from a group that is convinced that electromagnetic waves do indeed represent a health risk. The jury remains out regardless, and I'm looking forward to more time in the field.

• Wireless / Mobile
• electrosensitivity
• ghosts
• wireless test equipment