The Concert with a Hidden Sound
In 2003, scientists secretly played a sound too low to hear during parts of a London concert. Some of the audience felt anxiety, chills and sorrow.
What was reported
In 2003, the psychologist Richard Wiseman and a team of scientists and musicians held an unusual concert in London. During some pieces, a huge pipe played infrasound, a very low note of about 17 hertz, below the range of human hearing. The audience didn't know which pieces had it.
Afterwards, the audience filled in questionnaires. During the pieces with infrasound, about a fifth more people reported strange feelings, such as unease, sorrow, chills down the spine or a sense of nervousness.
Explanations offered
The experiment suggested that infrasound could cause odd sensations, and might explain some feelings people have in places said to be haunted, where low-frequency sound from wind, machinery or pipes can be present. The researcher Vic Tandy had made a similar suggestion a few years earlier.
- When
- 31 May 2003
- Where
- Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London, England, UK
- Witnesses
- About 750 concert-goers and a team of scientists
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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