In Scotland, residents have been hearing a strange humming noise, day and night, which doesn't let them sleep or work. The bigger problem is that no one knows where it is coming from. Some residents on the Scottish Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides even think that the sound might not be real.

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A Facebook support group did a little digging and found that the hum isn't coming from anywhere on the island. The members are now looking at offshore regions. The environmental health team is also investigating the matter.

The sound has been described as “a very low humming, droning, pulsating noise" by Lauren-Grace Kirtley, founder of The Hebridean Hum: Low frequency noise disturbance action and support group on Facebook. "It’s incredibly intrusive and distressing," she told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland program. "It’s making me dizzy and giving me headaches," she added.

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The hum isn't coming from the island

The group looked for sources from which it could possibly be coming. They found that a "persistent, recordable 50 Hz signal of variable strength present in all locations." The researchers ruled out all on-island sources.

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Other groups have been brought in to understand the origin of the hum. There is no consensus on where it could be coming from. However, Kirtley thinks the hum isn't from a natural source.

Another member of the Facebook group thinks the sound isn't real and is being produced inside the ear of the people hearing the hum. Pamela Weaver Larson wrote in a post that it could be caused by otoacoustic emissions, that is, low-intensity sounds produced in the cochlea.

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However, she contradicted her own theory by saying that the hum vanished when she went somewhere else. 

Worldwide project on strange sounds people hear

This isn't the first instance of people reportedly hearing strange sounds. In fact, there is a World Hum Map and Database Project, founded by hum-hearer Glen MacPherson, a former University of British Columbia lecturer, that documents all such noises.

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The project calls such hums the “Worldwide Hum.” The website compares such sounds to a car or truck engine sitting outside on the road, or as “a low rumbling or droning sound. It gets louder at night and indoors. 

However, unlike Larson's experience, people can hear this sound everywhere they go.