I have moved into an apartment, 4th floor, and I can hear a very annoying deep humming noise, I can even feel the floor vibrating sometimes. I am guessing the deep humming noise comes from the vibration resonating in the building walls. It is interfering with my sleep.
I am determined to find the source of the vibration and I am looking for advice.
First, I do not know if it comes from the same appartment or from outside. Most of the triangulating to find the source I have read are example of houses, not apartments, and they triangulate the source in an open environment, so my first doubt is how hard will it be to triangulate the source of the vibration inside the apartment? I am guessing there will be a lot of rebounds, and the vibration should come through the main columns or maybe even pipes. Is it realistic to find the origin of vibration inside the apartment, for example as coming from a column? What kind of hardware do I need? Will a couple of mics do or do I need something more specialized?
I am pretty sure I can handle the software part of analizing the signal for isolating the noise and triangulating, at least to have a good start, as I expect to have trouble triangulating the signal inside the building. But I do not know what kind of hardware it would be better to purchase to get the signal into my computer for analyzing. Someone in this same forum said he was able to locate the origin of some vibration by using two measurement Behringer microphones (annoying vibration, deep humming noise in home the answer by Whariwharangi). So I am thinking on purchasing a couple of these https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0118 and connect them to the computer using this interface https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0BJZ . I know there are better measurment microphones, but they quickly become expensive, above 1000usd a piece. I am open to suggestions for the hardware, even considering using other sensors instead of mics, from people with more experience.
Basically, I am looking for advice on how to find the source of the vibration noise. My main doubts are about using sound triangulation to locate the source inside the apartment and what hardware do I need, but also appreciate any advice on anything else that might help.
Best Answer
There are accelerometers that can be used for vibration analysts. There are inexpensive ones for under 8$ for micro controller projects like arduous they do work well. Or you can spend more and get a premade usb device to measure the vibration.
I know in the past we had vibrations that showed up at a harmonic in the floor from motor driven pumps change the rubber pads and the vibration moved.
Since you sound like you like the data analysis the microcontroller project might be just what you want.