HydrogenAudio

Hydrogenaudio Forum => Scientific Discussion => Topic started by: m00k0w on 2012-10-25 09:21:05

Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: m00k0w on 2012-10-25 09:21:05
Every time I play noise, usually pink noise, I will hear what sounds like faint vocals behind the ripping fuzz of noise. Typically I am generating the file for system tuning, and the voices catch me off guard every time. I cannot make out any content, but there is a clear (usually) male voice, at times screams, laughs, etc. However, the vocalizations are not randomly hallucinated simply because there is noise present in the room. That is, I'm not crazy, I promise  If I seek to the same spot within the file over and over, the same vocalizations (tone, pitch) repeat, especially after some sort of notable colorful deviation from a comparatively monotonous mumble. I can seek to, and repeat this especially loud vocal over and over.

Is this the brain picking what it can out of a ton of data, because some parts or patterns at certain frequencies of the sound somewhat resemble voice? I'd like to learn a bit more on this, and know if anyone else readily experiences this. If you've never noticed this, I can generate pink noise and listen myself until there are some notably loud sounds resembling a vocal, and save these parts with a description of what it sounds like is being said or hummed. As I said usually I can't pick even a single word out, although it sounds like the vocal flows and modulates like a real person speaking would. Good to try to emulate to add vocals or interesting melodies to your own sound.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: fukdup on 2012-10-25 09:24:30
reminds me of when i was a kid watching the static of an untuned television, i could see whatever i imagined in there. kept m,e entertained when the television channels switched off every evening.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: ojdo on 2012-10-25 09:26:15
Would you mind uploading a short example of such vocal noise to the Uploads (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=35) forum? That description made me curious.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: itisljar on 2012-10-25 09:28:12
Please, do that - generate pink noise ang give us excerpts where you think you hear voices.
I wonder - what kind of pink noise generator do you have if it inserts voices and screams inside?

Either you system catches AM Radio (google for Logitech speakers and AM radio receiving), but you couldn't rewind it if that is the case, or you need some heavy medications, mate.
But if you have analogue pink noise generator and recording it onto DAT or whatever, you could be picking up radio somehow and recording pink noise with the radio signal.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: senp on 2012-10-25 09:50:18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon)

"Auditory pareidolia is a situation created when the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns as being familiar patterns."

This makes sense, it would have been an evolutionary advantage to find false positives (instead of false negatives) when looking for patterns.

"For example, believing that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is only the wind does not cost much, but believing that a dangerous predator is the wind may cost an animal its life."

This can happen in eyesight too, where the brain is always seeking patterns and often finds one where there is none really.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: dhromed on 2012-10-25 11:39:40
I'm definitely curious for a few samples of this noise, and more importantly, the method by which this noise was obtained. Clouds are random, but we still see familiar shapes in them.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Destroid on 2012-10-25 11:52:51
"Auditory pareidolia is a situation created when the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns as being familiar patterns."

This is also what I figured.

It would be like the auditory-sense of a similar phenomenon of endless accounts I have heard where people see "faces" in certain things they view. As a social human, I can accept that my visual senses are accustomed to seeing symmetrical eyes-nose-mouth, as well as being attuned to hearing sounds resembling oral language. It's "natural."
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on 2012-10-25 13:58:44
"Auditory pareidolia is a situation created when the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns as being familiar patterns."

This is also what I figured.

It would be like the auditory-sense of a similar phenomenon of endless accounts I have heard where people see "faces" in certain things they view. As a social human, I can accept that my visual senses are accustomed to seeing symmetrical eyes-nose-mouth, as well as being attuned to hearing sounds resembling oral language. It's "natural."



FWIW my wife and I just completed 9 days of hiking along Lake Superior. We encountered just two people on the trail during that time, going up to 5 days at a time without seeing another human there. My wife reported hearing undecipherable human voices on the trail. Obviously, there was no one there.  The background noise was pretty much wind and waves - more like pink noise, but you get the idea.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: AwoK on 2012-10-25 14:17:34
I'm also curious for a sample.

usually I can't pick even a single word out
Usually?
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Porcus on 2012-10-25 16:26:24
It's the voice of G-d!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptions_o...tural_phenomena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptions_of_religious_imagery_in_natural_phenomena)
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: DVDdoug on 2012-10-25 19:52:39
 Or EVP (http://www.spiritsociety.org/ghost.php?page=articles&article=evp1.html) (messages from the "spirit world").  ...I think maybe the ghosts should to get together with Dolby to see if they can reduce some of that noise! 


Quote
That is, I'm not crazy, I promise
There is a fine line between being psychic and being psychotic.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Nick.C on 2012-10-25 20:29:50
(http://www.bastwood.com/projects/aphex_face/venetian_snares_look.png)
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: db1989 on 2012-10-25 21:07:06
Of course! Who else.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: ZAPNSPARK on 2012-10-25 21:29:14
Diana Deutsch's website has some interesting sound files which demonstrate "hearing" words/phrases in stereo recordings.

http://philomel.com/phantom_words/phantom.php (http://philomel.com/phantom_words/phantom.php)

Cheers.

ZAP
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: EagleScout1998 on 2012-10-25 21:47:31
reminds me of when i was a kid watching the static of an untuned television, i could see whatever i imagined in there. kept m,e entertained when the television channels switched off every evening.


I thought I was the only one that did that.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: ZAPNSPARK on 2012-10-25 22:14:46
Here's a fun example of audio pareidolia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe...-ZnPE3G_YY#t=5s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7-ZnPE3G_YY#t=5s)

(This could also be seen as an example of the McGurk effect)

ZAP
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: db1989 on 2012-10-25 22:47:12
reminds me of when i was a kid watching the static of an untuned television, i could see whatever i imagined in there. kept m,e entertained when the television channels switched off every evening.

I thought I was the only one that did that.

Ah, so many forms of DIY visual entertainment . . . washing machines, untuned TVs, those tape-loading borders of the ZX Spectrum et al. . . .
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: BFG on 2012-10-25 23:28:38
No, there's no voices in the pink noise.  At least, THEY don't want you to think so.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: smok3 on 2012-10-26 08:32:59
"You're just jealous because the little voices only talk to me"

I don't hear such voices, but i do remember that rumble of heavy machinery did produce a music for me (after some time) and it was hard to reboot that (unless leaving the place).
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: itisljar on 2012-10-26 11:06:53
And I think we were trolled.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Nessuno on 2012-10-26 11:20:39
And I think we were trolled.

How could we possibily know? The answer, my friend, is blowin in the pink noise...
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: GeSomeone on 2013-01-05 16:37:29
Easy to make fun of if you never experienced something similar  .
Apparently lots of people (think they) hear vague music- or voice-like sounds when in a noisy environment. For example in an airplane or a factory. When I use the vacuum cleaner I sometimes think I left the radio on, but when I switch it off this is not the case.
In this article (http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/hallucinations.htm) it is called "Pseudo-auditory Hallucinations".

In 2005 (a guy named) Peter van Cooten made 3 (ambient drone) mixes that were played on Dutch radio (obviously in a program for experimental music), the middle section is exactly inspired by this subject (and where I found the above link in the first place).

Some years later he put them on his website, for reference I added the links (if you're not into ambient, don't bother listening, however the notes on part 2 are related to the phenomenon discussed here)
1 Mantra of Walls and Wiring (http://www.ambientblog.net/blog/2009-07-12/mantra-of-walls-and-wiring-mix)
2 Acoustical Illusions (http://www.ambientblog.net/blog/2009-09-01/acoustical-illusions-mix)
3 The Hum in the Room (http://www.ambientblog.net/blog/2009-10-07/the-hum-in-the-room-mix)
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: jkauff on 2013-01-05 17:05:20
Happens to me, too. Sounds like someone has a TV talk show on somewhere in the house, but there was never any break. I used to have a noisy PC, and was hearing those voices in the fan noise. Turning off the computer stopped the voices. My new PC is very quiet, so no more voices.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on 2013-01-08 14:48:34
Happens to me, too. Sounds like someone has a TV talk show on somewhere in the house, but there was never any break. I used to have a noisy PC, and was hearing those voices in the fan noise. Turning off the computer stopped the voices. My new PC is very quiet, so no more voices.


Most of my experiences with hearing mysterious voices in random noise take place in the back woods or on wilderness beaches. Wind in trees and waves on a big beach from a slight distance are like spectrally shaped white noise.  Sometimes my wife and/or I hear faint unintelligible voice-like sounds out there and occasionally people show up but usually they never do.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Oki on 2013-01-24 03:19:07
Every time I play noise, usually pink noise, I will hear what sounds like faint vocals behind the ripping fuzz of noise. Typically I am generating the file for system tuning, and the voices catch me off guard every time. I cannot make out any content, but there is a clear (usually) male voice, at times screams, laughs, etc. However, the vocalizations are not randomly hallucinated simply because there is noise present in the room. That is, I'm not crazy, I promise  If I seek to the same spot within the file over and over, the same vocalizations (tone, pitch) repeat, especially after some sort of notable colorful deviation from a comparatively monotonous mumble. I can seek to, and repeat this especially loud vocal over and over.

Is this the brain picking what it can out of a ton of data, because some parts or patterns at certain frequencies of the sound somewhat resemble voice? I'd like to learn a bit more on this, and know if anyone else readily experiences this. If you've never noticed this, I can generate pink noise and listen myself until there are some notably loud sounds resembling a vocal, and save these parts with a description of what it sounds like is being said or hummed. As I said usually I can't pick even a single word out, although it sounds like the vocal flows and modulates like a real person speaking would. Good to try to emulate to add vocals or interesting melodies to your own sound.


Something like this?

Noise_file1 (http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/sounds/sounds_from_hell.mp3)

It was recorded in a drilling station. It led to some religious theories.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: BenB on 2013-01-24 05:26:03
It was recorded in a drilling station. It led to some religious theories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_to_Hell_hoax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_to_Hell_hoax)
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: dhromed on 2013-01-24 08:53:29
Something like this?

Noise_file1 (http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/sounds/sounds_from_hell.mp3)


Sounds like a loop of a really busy street or railway station.
Title: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: rick.hughes on 2013-01-24 20:56:38
Something like this?

Noise_file1 (http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/sounds/sounds_from_hell.mp3)


Sounds like a loop of a really busy street or railway station.

Snopes: the Well to Hell (http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp)
Title: Re: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: robertcb on 2017-12-05 10:01:52
Every time I play noise, usually pink noise, I will hear what sounds like faint vocals behind the ripping fuzz of noise. Typically I am generating the file for system tuning, and the voices catch me off guard every time. I cannot make out any content, but there is a clear (usually) male voice, at times screams, laughs, etc. However, the vocalizations are not randomly hallucinated simply because there is noise present in the room. That is, I'm not crazy, I promise  If I seek to the same spot within the file over and over, the same vocalizations (tone, pitch) repeat, especially after some sort of notable colorful deviation from a comparatively monotonous mumble. I can seek to, and repeat this especially loud vocal over and over.

Is this the brain picking what it can out of a ton of data, because some parts or patterns at certain frequencies of the sound somewhat resemble voice? I'd like to learn a bit more on this, and know if anyone else readily experiences this. If you've never noticed this, I can generate pink noise and listen myself until there are some notably loud sounds resembling a vocal, and save these parts with a description of what it sounds like is being said or hummed. As I said usually I can't pick even a single word out, although it sounds like the vocal flows and modulates like a real person speaking would. Good to try to emulate to add vocals or interesting melodies to your own sound.

I confirm the existence of such a phenomenon.
From my scientific research it appears that it is caused by the observer effect known from quantum mechanics.
Noise or other random sounds are to some extent reduced in the observer's mind to specific values of amplitude, frequency, waveform and duration.
As a result of the progressive reduction of sound superposition - it is possible to arrange a modulation resembling a human voice or other sounds.
Who is responsible for this process - I do not know (ghosts, aliens, multidimensional beings, UFOs etc ..)
The phenomenon itself is real, although most often it is a weak enough effect, that without careful listening - most people will hear nothing but noise.
I understand electronic voice phenomena in the same way.
Title: Re: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: Chibisteven on 2017-12-05 11:35:25
I think the vast majority of time is that you're looking for recognizable patterns in white noise subconsciously and there's a small percentage of the time where you might actually be hearing something as well.  If you can, feel free to investigate the cause of what it might be.
Title: Re: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: ajinfla on 2017-12-05 13:11:16
I thought it was a joke until I played white noise backwards
Title: Re: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: andy o on 2017-12-05 21:02:11
Every time I play noise, usually pink noise, I will hear what sounds like faint vocals behind the ripping fuzz of noise. Typically I am generating the file for system tuning, and the voices catch me off guard every time. I cannot make out any content, but there is a clear (usually) male voice, at times screams, laughs, etc. However, the vocalizations are not randomly hallucinated simply because there is noise present in the room. That is, I'm not crazy, I promise  If I seek to the same spot within the file over and over, the same vocalizations (tone, pitch) repeat, especially after some sort of notable colorful deviation from a comparatively monotonous mumble. I can seek to, and repeat this especially loud vocal over and over.

Is this the brain picking what it can out of a ton of data, because some parts or patterns at certain frequencies of the sound somewhat resemble voice? I'd like to learn a bit more on this, and know if anyone else readily experiences this. If you've never noticed this, I can generate pink noise and listen myself until there are some notably loud sounds resembling a vocal, and save these parts with a description of what it sounds like is being said or hummed. As I said usually I can't pick even a single word out, although it sounds like the vocal flows and modulates like a real person speaking would. Good to try to emulate to add vocals or interesting melodies to your own sound.

I confirm the existence of such a phenomenon.
From my scientific research it appears that it is caused by the observer effect known from quantum mechanics.
Noise or other random sounds are to some extent reduced in the observer's mind to specific values of amplitude, frequency, waveform and duration.
As a result of the progressive reduction of sound superposition - it is possible to arrange a modulation resembling a human voice or other sounds.
Who is responsible for this process - I do not know (ghosts, aliens, multidimensional beings, UFOs etc ..)
The phenomenon itself is real, although most often it is a weak enough effect, that without careful listening - most people will hear nothing but noise.
I understand electronic voice phenomena in the same way.

^^ Quality first post + necropost bonus.
Title: Re: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: polemon on 2017-12-05 23:39:12
People are very good at recognizing patterns, be it auditory or visual.

Often people seem to kinda recognize patterns in random data. Sometimes they that present as evidence, even.

Matt Parker - the Stand Up Maths guy - did a pretty interesting talk on that with the London Mathematical Society:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf5OrthVRPA (1h 3m)
Title: Re: Hearing voices in white noise
Post by: plonk420 on 2017-12-06 07:50:49
i guess the age-old question is if the pattern can be ABX'd against another clip of pink/white noise