Talk:Mains hum

message: I noticed on the page that there was a strong NPOV bias against American 60hz power hum.  The European file sounds slightly annoying but quiet and easily dismissed, whereas the American file is loud, obonoxious, and contains a lot of harmonics and distortion.  Could this be some Wikipedian's plot against the United States' preferred power frequencies?
Alright, kidding aside, I am curious as to why the files sound so radically different.  I would naively expect that the files would differ mostly in frequency, not in amplitude or harmonic power ratios...  Is there something special about 60Hz or the American power system that promotes terrible sounding hum?  If the American hum really is louder and more obnoxious, then perhaps these files are OK, however I can't help but feel like two very differing sampling methods were used in creating those files.  That makes the comparison likely to cause others to (possibly) make bad inferences about the differing nature of electrical noises on different continents.
And yes, I'm aware that many places that use 50Hz are radically different (I'm sure Western Europe vs Africa is a nontrivial difference).  Any answers folks? - JustinWick 17:21, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: They were recorded in different ways.  There was a discussion somewhere, but I forget where.  Maybe on the sound file talk pages.  — Omegatron 17:37, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Does :Image:MainsBrum50Hz.ogg sound better?  See  — Omegatron 17:42, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, much more fair and balanced.  I think we should replace the one on the page with that one.  Would you like to do the honors?  :) - JustinWick 20:31, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I can comment that my shitty mini-jack into my laptop soudcard makes the exact same 60Hz sound when I fidget with it, so I think it's pretty authentic.+mwtoews 08:56, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: MainsBrum50Hz sounds way more than the sound I'd expect. the one in the article sounds nothing like the noise I heard so often  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.190.176.80 (talk) 23:29, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anti-american sound files 

message: The section on tone currently talks about 60 Hz and 50 Hz tones and the piano key frequencies around those. But since, as pointed out previously in the article, the hum is primarily the 2nd harmonic and not the fundamental is that particularly relevant? Should the bracketing notes quoted be "B♭2 (116.541) and B2 (123.471)" around 120 Hz and "G2 (97.9989) and G♯2 (103.826)" around 100 Hz? Waerloeg (talk) 09:27, 11 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Exactly my question upon coming to this article more than 5 years later!  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.183.69.127 (talk) 04:58, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tone 

message: Ears detect pressure waves - sound - not electrical current.
So the opening definition of mains hum as "an audible oscillation of alternating current" is completely wrong.  Try listening to a mains wire.
:Mains hum is an audible oscillation of *something physical*, which is *caused by* an oscillation of electrical current.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.34.255.223 (talk) 16:17, 27 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: In N America, I have heard the 60Hz (and/or its harmonic(s)) hum coming from the mechanical vibrations of wires and/or ceramic insulators of very-high-voltage overhead power transmission lines. Ditto from the transformers, etc., in electric supply (voltage step-down) substations. The acoustic hum is there, although not very loud to my ears. See also Electromagnetically induced acoustic noise. Acwilson9 (talk) 23:25, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Can we really hear electrical current?  I don't think so!