The EVP Experiments

Shanley Hotel - March 6, 2010

Please keep this information confidential.
We will share our results but want to
keep the experiment to us!

If you are arriving to the Shanley on Friday March 5, we will be discussing and playing with whatever new equipment people bring along. We will also have plenty of time to investigate and determine if there are any hot spots for the experiment on Saturday. Meals aren't included but there is continental breakfast served in the morning and plenty of snacks and COFFEE!

contact@nyackparanormal.com 
http://nyackparanormal.com
Nyack Paranormal (C) 2010 
 

Introduction

Thank you for attending and participating!

Electronic Voice Phenomenon- Many claim they are caused by natural events, many claim they are paranormal and communications from the spirit world.  Apply basic statistics and throw these extremes onto a Bell Curve and we have most occurrences then falling somewhere in between. Fascinating thought…

No doubt we are gathered at the Shanley Hotel because we have the belief that many EVPs can not be explained away by natural or man made causes.  We all seek the truth.  We may have those EVPs that have some doubt; we know we haven’t staged the recordings, with careful investigating we also know that we haven’t been set up or captured human contamination. So what is happening? Where is it coming from?

I am not going to claim they are spirits, although I will share our most convincing EVP during our gathering.  This one EVP keeps us going and still gives me chills. Are EVP's stray radio signals?  I have seen very limited experiments where a digital audio recorder can pick up sub sonic radio signals without actually being a receiver.  Is it possible?  Maybe, under extreme conditions. Like most things I will need to see that for myself (future experiments!). Are we picking up voices from a distance bouncing around the atmosphere and landing cleanly on our microphones?  Not likely.  Are there instances of audio pareidolia? Definitely, but not all the time. Is there another dimension imprinting communications on to our electronics? Sounds far fetched but this is a fairly common belief among paranormal investigators.

We aim to begin our EVP research this weekend with quadraphonic recording and the use of amplified speech.  One technique somewhat complicated and the other so simple.

General Descriptions

Experiment 1- Quadraphonic Recording

Nyack Paranormal has designed a system where we will be recording EVP sessions through four channels simultaneously.  The amplified microphones will be calibrated with a constant tone generator. When the recording levels are set, the microphones will be evenly spaced in a square within the area to be recorded. 

The set-up will once again be calibrated and the recording session will begin.  A standard EVP session will take place as the four channels, perfectly synchronized, will record simultaneously to a laptop computer.  During the sessions standard digital voice recorders will also be recording to be used for quick review.

When the recordings are complete the review phase will begin.  If audio is found that is of questionable origin, an analysis of the sound is the next step.  The wave form peaks will be compared at the exact same point on the time line.  The quantified data will be processed with software specifically written for the experiment and validated against the Sound Model.

Screen shot of mic calibration

The model (See Appendix C) was previously constructed from measuring 100 points within a room while providing a constant electronic tone at each point. A relative measure for each microphone was calculated on a logarithmic scale to obtain absolute values.  These were compared to the actual data collected for the model and was determined there was an average error of only 4.4%. So, in theory, it can then be determined within 1-2  feet, where the recorded sound or EVP came from within the room. Since we are analyzing relative recording levels the system is scalable to a larger or smaller room.  Proprietary software was written for this experiment to analyze the data from the recording (See Appendix D).

Experiment 2- Amplified Speech

We will also begin testing a simple amplified microphone and speaker system for use during EVP sessions.

Many current theories suggest that spirits and EVPs occur in, or utilize portions of the lower Electromagnetic Spectrum.  Many investigators use EMF meters in the attempt to catch paranormal activity. It is also theorized that EVPs may imprint onto the electronics of audio and video recorders by way of EMF. It is possible that spirits may move through the non-ionizing portion of the EMF spectrum (including the Extremely Low Frequencies- ELF) as living humans move through air.  Our speech is only heard by others because the vibrations from our vocal chords travel through the air and then vibrates someone’s eardrums within detectable frequencies.  No air equals no sound. 

Consider the possibility that on a very rare occasion our voices overlap with the ELF portion of the EMF spectrum making it possible for spirits to hear us. The ELF borders on the frequencies that carry sound.  This may be the reason why good clear EVPs are rare. It may be the rare occurrence that a spirit ELF voice overlaps with our sound waves. There must be a way to increase the chances at communication.

Therefore, we must attempt to communicate with EMF if the theories above have any validity. Some investigators use EMF generators.  I would think that maybe this method is too "noisy", full of random EMFs. Maybe it’s the same as a noisy electric fan to us.  The fan would give off random EMFs as well as random sound frequencies that we would most probably irritate the human ear.

We propose to do a simple experiment.  We will utilize a basic amplified microphone connected through a volume control and attached to a small amplified speaker.  Speakers are designed with a voice coil (a coil of wire) which is adjacent to magnet.  When the amplified signal is sent to the speaker the coil moves back and forth by the magnet which not only vibrates the speaker cone to produce sound, but also naturally emits EMFs. The EMFs are a very low intensity but they increase with increased sound volume. We do not want to amplify it very much above the volume of the spoken human voice. We are not implying that the speaker will literally translate the spoken word into an equivalent EMF language; however, it may produce more organized EMFs for the spirits to 'hear'. We will also employ Spectrogram Analysis to determine which frequencies these sounds come from. (See Appendix B)

We will also combine this experiment with Experiment 1. 

Conclusion

We hope that this brings fresh new evidence to the table.  However, in science, experiments do not guarantee the results you are looking for.  You form your hypothesis, set up your plan, control your variables and conduct your experiment.  The interpretation of the results is usually somewhat based on previous data collected from the field of study.  Paranormal investigating has too many variables in what limited data is presented from groups, many with little of no scientific background.  So, what will we get out of these experiments?  Hopefully groundbreaking results!  If not, we’ll accept what we get, form new experiments and at the least we hope to provide new tools to the community and expand these techniques increasing our chances of discovery in the future.  Advancement is our goal.

How

QUAD RECORDING OUTLINE

            We will set up quad system based on room dimensions

Recording on laptop in separate room

            Basic Rules: Only specified person(s) asks questions

                        Have several voice recorders going

                        Record questioners in regular voice and whisper as baseline

                        Include K2 and RF Detector (sub experiment)

            Session

                        No whispering

                        No provoking

                        Please tag

                        Wait at least 10 seconds after question

                        10 min (or TBD) controlled sessions- then review voice

                                          recorders-

                        If hit- then review laptop recording

            Place people in adjoining rooms with recorders remaining quiet

            We will rotate groups through the rooms

            Session Content

                        Introduction

                        Explain experiment  

                        General questions

                                    Anyone would like to participate

                                 Anyone here please say name

                                    Can you see us

                                    Why are you here

                                    How many are here

                                    Etc.

            Optional 4 room set up (one mic in each of four rooms)
                                with session in one room others quiet in other rooms

                                with recorders

AMPLIFIED SPEECH OUTLINE

            Within room with voice recorders

            Alternate same questions with and without amp

            Session Content

Ask if anyone would like to participate     

Anyone here please say name

Can they hear us with mic and speaker

                                    Can you see us

                                    Why are you here

                                    How many are here

                                    Etc.

Microphone on tripod

 
Recording USB interface, home built gain control and laptop

Some detailed information and possible theory

Where are these frequencies that interest us located?

(From Wapedia and various sources) (See also Appendix A).

ELF- Extremely Low Frequencies- from 3 to 300 Hz on the electromagnetic spectrum.  The Navy uses these frequencies to communicate with submarines since it travels well through sea water as a very long wave with little change over great distances.  However it needs a lot of energy to be produced and its long wave pattern causes slow data transmission. Some radio ham operators record ELF (or even lower) signals from very large homemade antennas, and play them back at higher speeds to catch natural fluctuations in the Earth's electromagnetic field. Increasing the playback increases the pitch, so that it is brought into the audio frequency range.

Naturally occurring ELF waves are present on Earth, resonating in the region between the ionosphere and the surface. They are initiated by lightning strikes that make electrons in the atmosphere oscillate. The fundamental mode of the Earth-ionosphere has a resonance frequency of 7.8 Hz. This frequency and higher resonance modes of 14, 20, 26 and 32 Hz appear as peaks in the ELF spectrum and are called Schumann resonance. A typical pass-band of the instruments used to measure Schumann resonance is 3-100 Hz. Could this be the world that spirits live in? These low frequencies or infrasound are also known to have an effect on the human brain.  Is it possible some people are attuned to this zone and they are the sensitives or psychics?
 

VF- Voice Frequency, or voice band, is one of the frequencies within part of the audio range that is used for the transmission of speech. In telephony, the usable voice frequency band ranges from approximately 300 Hz to 3400 Hz. It is for this reason that the ultra low frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum between 300 and 3000 Hz is also referred to as voice frequency (despite the fact that this is electromagnetic energy, not acoustic energy).
Fundamental Frequency- Fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency of the sine waves composing a complex sine wave of sound. The two higher frequency components are the second and third harmonics, the fundamental frequency is also called first harmonic.

The voice of a typical adult male will have a fundamental frequency from 85 to 155 Hz, and that of a typical adult female from 165 to 255 Hz. The fundamental frequency of most speech falls below the bottom of the "voice frequency" band as defined above. However, enough of the harmonic series will be present for the missing fundamental to create the impression of hearing the fundamental tone.  Maybe an EVP gets ‘constructed’ from a mix of these harmonics and they are actually missing fundamentals?

Frequencies capable of being heard by humans are called audio or sonic frequencies. The range is typically considered to be between 20Hz and 20,000Hz. An audiogram is a standard way of representing a person's hearing. Most audiograms cover the limited range 100Hz to 8000Hz which is most important for clear understanding of speech,

So what does this all mean?  I don’t know.  No one really knows how this applies to paranormal research.  However, the majority of articles and information out there suggest that we must monitor the EMF spectrum for fluctuations and/or presence to find spirits.  Has this theory been developed by scientific means? No way.  Has it been brought on by TV shows and those wanting to sell equipment for a fast dollar?  Possible.   Let’s suspend disbelief for a bit and figure that, although not scientific, there has been enough evidence collected from all investigations in modern times to suggest that the role of EMF detection is viable. So where in this vast electromagnetic spectrum is the ‘sweet spot’?

Many of the so called EMF meters being used on investigations such as the Extech 480823 (a), has a detection range that includes the ELF region of 30 Hz to 300 Hz.  The infamous KII meter (b) detects from 30 Hz to 20000 Hz.  The popular Trifield meters (c) have a detection range of 50 Hz to 100 kHz covering ELF frequencies. The new Mel Meters measure down to 30 Hz.  They all watch the ELF part of the spectrum.

The description provided above shows these ELF and VF zones of frequencies lie next to each other and have certain characteristics that overlap.

Maybe this is where we find our EVPs.  The disembodied voice that is sometimes heard could be at the cusp of ELF and VF, a bit more toward the VF.  An EVP which is found on a recording may be below this cusp.  The sensitivity and harmonics of our equipment captures the sounds and records it.

Conclusion

We will concentrate our experiments where we theorize the EVP energy resides. We chose our microphones not only based on cost (pretty cheap amplified microphones) but on their limited frequency response of 100 Hz – 5500 Hz. 

We hope the amplified speech can produce sounds at the cusp of the ‘spirit’ world making it easier to communicate. We hope the quadraphonic recording helps determine where physically EVPs come from.  If the results warrant further investigation we shall do that.  If the sharing of this knowledge helps advance the community, we shall do that too.  Our goal is to develop new technology and make new discoveries that are accessible to all.