page_title: Humming
section_title: Mechanics
hierarchical_section_title: Humming / Mechanics
caption_attribution_description: English: A Saw-billed Hermit (Ramphodon naevius) Deutsch: Ein Sägeschnabel-Schattenkolibri (Ramphodon naevius)
context_page_description: A hum is a sound made by producing a wordless tone with the mouth closed, forcing the sound to emerge from the nose. To hum is to produce such a sound, often with a melody. It is also associated with thoughtful absorption, 'hmm'.
  A hum has a particular timbre, usually a monotone or with slightly varying tones. There are other similar sounds not produced by human singing that are also called hums, as the sound produced by machinery in operation, such as a microwave, or by an insect in flight. The hummingbird was named for the sound that bird makes in flight which sounds like a hum.
context_section_description: A 'hum' or 'humming' by humans is created by the resonance of air in various parts of passages in the head and throat, in the act of breathing. The 'hum' that a hummingbird creates is also created by resonance: in this case by the passage of air against wings in the actions of flying, especially of hovering.
caption: A hummingbird with flower
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