The reason why haunted houses and old buildings feel eerie might be because of 'sounds that are inaudible to the human ear.'
When you enter a house or old building rumored to be haunted, you might feel uneasy or even get chills down your spine, even if you don't believe in paranormal phenomena. New research suggests that the reason old buildings feel strange might be due to 'sounds too low for the human ear to hear.'
Frontiers | Infrasound exposure is linked to aversive responding, negative appraisal, and elevated salivary cortisol in humans
'The cause might be vibrating pipes rather than restless spirits': increased stress and irritability from infrasound exposure may explain paranormal experiences
https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2026/04/27/vibrating-pipes-restless-spirits-increased-stress-irritability-infrasound-exposure-paranormal-experiences-frontiers-behavioral-neuroscience
Hidden Phenomenon Could Explain Why Old Buildings Feel Haunted, Study Finds : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/hidden-phenomenon-could-explain-why-old-buildings-feel-haunted-study-finds
Generally, the range of sounds that humans can perceive is considered to be around 20Hz to 15,000Hz, and sounds below 20Hz, which are inaudible to the ear, are called ' infrasound' (very low frequency sound) . These sounds have the property of passing through obstacles without attenuation, and their effects are said to spread over a wide area.
Infrasound is known to be generated by natural phenomena such as storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, and auroras. Some animals, such as elephants, use infrasound to communicate, and certain fish species actively avoid it.
Furthermore, infrasound can be generated by traffic such as automobiles, old industrial machinery, and aging pipes, and it is possible that in older buildings, such as those sometimes called 'haunted houses,' infrasound is present on a daily basis. However, how humans react to infrasound has not been well understood until now.
Therefore, a research team led by Professor
In the experiment, subjects were seated alone in a room and played either 'calming music' or 'anxiety-inducing music.' Half of the subjects also received 18Hz infrasound from a hidden subwoofer.
Participants reported on the effects of music after listening sessions and provided saliva samples before and after the sessions. The research team used the saliva samples to measure levels of cortisol , a biomarker of stress.
The experiment revealed that subjects exposed to infrasound experienced increased irritability and discomfort, and even perceived music as sad, even when listening to calming music. Furthermore, it was found that cortisol levels in their bodies increased significantly. Notably, the subjects were unaware that they were being exposed to infrasound.
'Increased irritability and elevated cortisol levels are naturally related because when a person is irritable or stressed, cortisol levels tend to rise as part of the body's normal stress response. However, exposure to insulphur sound had an effect on both outcomes that went beyond this natural relationship,' says Kale Scatterti, the lead author of the paper and a doctoral student at the University of Alberta in Canada.
The mechanism by which humans experience stress from infrasound is unknown, but there is a theory that some animals can sense the infrasound emitted by natural phenomena such as earthquakes and tsunamis and react before a disaster occurs . Perhaps the reason why humans react negatively to infrasound is because we are instinctively programmed to avoid this sound.
Schmalz stated, 'Imagine visiting a building that is rumored to be haunted. You might feel uneasy and unsettled, but there are no visible or audible abnormalities. In older buildings, especially in basements where aging pipes and ventilation systems generate low-frequency vibrations, there is a high probability that infrasound is present. If the building is said to be haunted, you might attribute the lack of any disturbance to something supernatural. But in reality, you might simply have been exposed to infrasound.'
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