Can you only hear it in the house? There are a lot of possibilities, I too tend to pick up on persistent noises especially at night. At my parents house at night I can be kept awake by a persistent hum, I think it is distant traffic noise causing the double glazing to resonate, it sounds a bit like a distant road roller. I’ve also been driven mad by a transformer that powers their kitchen lights, it buzzes away, they can’t hear it but it drives me mad.
You might well be hearing a generator, outside there might be too much other noise to hear it clearly, but inside only the low frequencies make it into your house so it seems much clearer. Aren’t you in a river valley? Falling water can generate deep frequencies too.
I’d say try reporting it to the council anyway, if they come they will have good equipment to see if there is a noise and if it is at a level they are required to investigate. One thing you could do is record it yourself, you could then do things like play it back at a volume others can hear (I told you I wasn’t mad etc) and use a frequency analyser to establish what frequency it is at, might identify if it is related to a 50Hz power source. I imagine you could hire a noise consultant too but that would start getting expensive.
If you are hearing it at night in bed, is the noise present everywhere in the room or just specific locations? The noise I mention above is only present in the corners of the room, resonance an ting.
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