Division of Environmental Threats & Hazards
Report BIC-ETH-0107
Status: Source identified; not repairable
| Reported condition | Continuous low hum, residence-wide |
| Dispatched | Maintenance, on suspicion of mechanical fault |
| Mechanical fault | None located |
| Variability | None; constant across hours and rooms |
| Referred to | Office of Behavioral Mechanics |
Summary
Maintenance was dispatched following reports of a persistent low hum throughout the residence. The hum was present in every room, did not vary with the hour, and could not be traced to any appliance, duct, pipe, or fixture. The source was not, at first, apparent.
Inspection findings
1. The hum has no on-switch and no off-switch. It was already running when the inspection began.
2. It is loudest in shared rooms, and diminishes when one occupant leaves the building, though it does not stop.
3. It sits below the threshold at which an occupant would mention it and above the threshold at which they could forget it — the band in which it does the most work.
4. Appliances were cleared. The refrigerator, often blamed in these cases, returned nothing.
Source determination
Maintenance found nothing loose and referred the matter to the Office of Behavioral Mechanics, which traced the hum to vibration from the interpersonal tension of an ongoing silent treatment. Mechanically, the silence is the loudest thing in the residence.
Standing advisory
The work order is closed; no part can be ordered. The hum will hold at its present frequency until one of the occupants speaks — an action that remains available to both and has been taken by neither.