I would like to record ultrasound that comes from my neighbors’ apartment.
We had a problem with them being 24/7 noisy. So, instead of stopping being loud they started using some equipment (I guess an ultrasound producer) that creates a pressure in ears and head. It gets stronger when I am in rooms that are closer to them. It started 3 weeks ago with pressure in ears and headache. Now it feels like very strong pressure in head and ears, strong headache, pressure in chest, high heart rate and pain in heart, my gums started periodically bleeding, I have nausea and this is not the whole list… I had migranes before but this made it unbearable to live at home. Sometimes I have to leave my apartment at nights because it gets difficult for me to breathe.
Home appliances also started behaving weirdly. Refrigerator started making crinkling sounds when I feel that the pressure and headache got stronger. My gadgets get extremely hot, when I’m using them. When I’m cooking, kitchen appliances get so hot that I can’t touch them (though, I could do this all this time before this).
They won’t open the door to talk. That is why I would like to collect an evidence that it is happening.
Please, suggest me what equipment should I use on a maximum low budget possible to record it and to make it proof worthy for others (e.g. police) that they are using it. And, also, how should I use it myself, because I am far from understanding such equipment.
I’m going with you can’t. Most microphones and certainly all home microphones can’t record ultrasonic sound. It’s Marketing. Nobody is going to pay money for a home microphone that can pick up interference to their voice or piano from motors and video screens.
I don’t think you have the whole story. Any generator that can produce ultrasonic effects in your rooms would be loud enough to kill people on the other side of the wall. Ultrasonic doesn’t go through barriers very well.
There you have two problems.
You have to get someone to pay attention to you and not run the other way. There have been a number of similar forum postings.
There’s no way to certify a recording or produce time stamps, so Audacity can’t be used for Surveillance, Law Enforcement, or Conflict Resolution.
Ultrasound doesn’t normally cause any sensation. It also doesn’t go through walls very well. (Low frequencies… bass… goes through walls better and it travels farther.)
You can search for an ultrasonic microphone, or there are ultrasonic sensors. If you buy a “sensor” you’d have to “adapt” it for audio with a microphone plug.
Then you need an audio interface capable of high sample rates. The sample rate has to at-least twice the signal frequency. Interfaces that to up to 96kHz (48kHz signal limit) are pretty common. Some go to 192kHz, or even higher. Your regular soundcard can fool you - You can set Audacity to record at 192kHz and if your soundcard goes to 48kHz the drivers will automatically and “secretly” up-sample , but the signal is still limited to 24kHz.
Perhaps infra-sound from an electric-motor, (heat-pump?, oxygen-concentrator?),
rather than ultra-sound.
But infra-sound-would not directly harm your health.
(could cause sleep-deprivation, which in turn could exacerbate pre-existing disease).
NB: There are diseases where sufferers people mistakenly accuse their neighbors of being responsible for their symptoms. Worth considering that possibility before confronting them.
In some countries there are environmental health officers who have equipment to determine if noise is illegal.
Well, the thing is that the neighbor works in construction, so he has an access to various equipment, maybe he could use some ultrasound measurement equipment, I don’t know… that is why I wanted to make sure myself first.
I still consider the possibility that this is not the reason too, I understand. Simply the situation is more complex. They were bothering with noise (this is another weird story) and now every time they start making this noise, there begins this strange situation with home equipment and physical symptoms.
We have two common walls and both of them have ventilation. I am not good at physics and ultrasound, but the usual sounds travel between our walls very well. It is possible to recognize even the words, without intention.
Absolutely! I have a pet rat that my neighbor is currently tormenting because they think it will make me commit suicide. They are using adjustable ultrasonic rodent repellers which can be purchased anywhere fairly cheaply. I am trying to figure out how to obtain audio to add to an anti-harrassment order.
Like I said above, ultrasonic frequencies don’t go through walls very well and they attenuate over distance through the air. …You’ve probably noticed that when you hear a neighbor’s stereo, it’s mostly the bass.
And they don’t seem to work very well… Animals seem to adapt quickly to anything that doesn’t actually hurt or kill them. There are little animals living around airports where the sound of jet engines would scare them if they weren’t used to it…