The Theory of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs)

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 The following is the compilation of a theory I've put together from research of various media, common and not so common theories floating around the paranormal community, and personal experience from field work I have done over the last few years. Although some of what is written here is scientific fact, most of it is purely speculative, and I  shall henceforth make no guarantees otherwise. Thank You. Daniel L. Barnett


          The Theory of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs) By Daniel L Barnett

                                                 

PART I: Sound and Human Perception

  1. How sound is created.

The basic physics of sound are fairly simple. There are 3 basic ingredients needed. The first is the original vibrating object. When kinetic energy is applied to any object, that object will vibrate. The vibrations cause the surrounding air to expand and compress in an alternating manner creating a wavelike pattern, commonly referred to as sound waves. Each expansion and compassion together is called a cycle. However many cycles occur within one second is referred to as frequency and is measured in Hertz. The peak of each half cycle is measured in decibels, and this determines loudness. (an easier way to think of loudness is how high (or low) the wave, or how strong the vibration).

 The second ingredient in the creation of sound is a medium for which the sound waves must travel ,be it air, a liquid, solid, or plasma. One wouldn't be able to perceive sound naturally on the moon or open space, because of the lack of an atmosphere.

 The final ingredient needed is a sympathetic receptor. What this means is an object that can receive the sound wave and either absorb it, repell it, repeat it, or convert it.
 To absorb it is to do what most matter does with sound waves. It takes the wave into its mass and stores it until the wave dissipates. (Remember this)
 To repel means that the object is not conducive, for whatever reason, to the absorption of the sound wave. The wave hits said object and reverberates (bounces off), causing an echo.

 The repeating of a sound wave is when the sympathetic object absorbs the wave and then itself vibrates at the same frequency. (Metals are well known for this. On one hand you have tuning forks which are designed to vibrate when the right frequency is created on another object. On the other hand there are the "magic frequencies" that are notorious in the constructual engineering world. Every steel structure in the world has a frequency that can bring it crumbling to the ground.This knowledge is on the cutting edge of engineering buildings and bridges in earthquake prone areas.)

 Finally, to convert a sound wave is to first absorb it and then to repeat it. The sound wave created by the sympathetic object is then converted into an electrical signal. This is true of all sound perceiving/ recording devices from the ears of all animals to digital voice recorders and players.

 Pretty Basic, huh?

(OK let me stop right here. I've been having problems with VISTA lately just shutting down and dumping files. So what I'm gonna do is divide this up over a few posts so if something happens I don't lose it all. I'll do another section shortly. Thanks, Daniel)                 

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2. Hearing

A)

How we hear:

The human ear is a fascinating device. No sound capturing equipment we have ever made ,or will ever make, will match the complexity and efficiency of our own two ears. The shiny, cartilage part of the outer ear acts like a radar or satellite dish. When a sound wave strikes it's surface, it bounces around and is eventually funnelled into the auditory canal, making its way to the Tympanic Membrane (Ear Drum).

 Once the wave reaches the surface of the membrane, the membrane begins to vibrate sympathetically. These vibrations pass through 3 bones in the middle ear; The Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup. These bones amplify the sound waves so that they can be converted. Now amplified the waves pass through the oval window of the cochlea(The cochlea is the organ that looks like a pinwheel snail), in the inner ear. The fluid filled cochlea converts the sound vibrations into electrical pulses. Tiny hairlike cells on the inner cochlea absorb the pulses and transmit them to the auditory nerve, which carries the signal to the brain. Finally the brain interprates the signal and matches it to whatever representative word or sound it has stored in memory.

B) What we hear:

As most people know our range of hearing isn't that great when compared to the rest of our mammalian brethren. Human beings hear a frequency range from about 16Hz to about 20,000Hz or 20kHz. Various factors such as age,disease, injury, and environment can all effect that range somewhat, but the general scientific consensus is within the above numbers.

 Conversely man's two favorite pets, dogs and cats, can hear frequencies 3 to 5 times higher respectively. And dolphins can hear at 200,000Hz (200kHz), ten times our own.

 A lot of scientists, and I myself, believe this is due to man's evolution. When we were still on the Savannah in times forgotten, our hearing range was probably much greater. But as our thinking brain evolved, our struggle for survival became mundane. We no longer needed supersensitive hearing to detect predators that we could not see, for we were the ultimate predator. Thus, sensitivity gave way to intelligence.
But that's not to say the ability is gone, only suppressed. Evidence of this comes when people are forced into survival situations, and there perceptions of sound and sight become supercharged.
 
 Knowing that, one could speculate on the sensitivity of those considered sensitive to the paranormal. It is my conviction that some traumatic event within the sensitives past triggered those survival "super-senses", and became permanently turned on for some reason, thus making them receptive to paranormal frequencies. I will delve into this further in a later post.

 Well that's it for this post. On the next I will discuss how we create speech. Until next time.
Thank You. Daniel

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  3. Speech:

If there is one factor that truly separates us from our brethren in the animal kingdom ,it is our language. All animals vocalize, but our vast library of learned sounds we can produce is staggering. Ishall refer to these sounds as speech, but that is to include all sounds we create vocally: i.e. talking, singing, clearing the throat, etc.

  Speech is created when air is exhaled from the lungs across two ligaments commonly referred to as the vocal chords.This causes vibrations in the chords. Depending on the sound desired the tension on the chords is automatically adjusted for pitch, like the strings of a violin. The Larynx acts as a resonating chamber which modulates the sound wave produced by the vocal chords. Finally the waves are manipulated by the positioning of the teeth, lips ,and tongue, again depending on what the brain has determined is the desired sound or word.

 The time it takes for the brain to react to stimuli, choose a sound, send the lungs the signal to exhale, adjust the tension of the chords and position the mouth, is virtuously instantaneous.

  What is truly amazing is that all this happens because of physical energy is being created by pure thought. This is important when formulating a theory pertaining to EVP.

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   4. Recording sound:

  All recorders work on the same principal as the human auditory organs. First is the microphones diaphragm . It acts in the same manner as the tympanic membrane, vibrating sympathetically in response to incoming sound waves. It is a very thin material made from paper, plastic, ceramic, or aluminum.

  The resulting vibrations pass through a magnetic coil called a transducer. What this does is convert the sound variations into electrical pulses. Then the converted signal is put into a storage media, be it the groove of an LP, or magnetized ferric oxide coating thin plastic as in the cassette.

  In the case of a digital recording the electrical pulses are converted into binary numerals, represented as 0s and 1s. This digital signal is then stored within a microprocessor until either downloaded and played or put into the beam of a laser and then "burned" onto a disc.

 Playback of the recorded signal is basically the reverse of the above. However there are a couple of differences. One there is an amplifier between the storage media and the transducer. Secondly the diaphragm is enlarged so that the sound wave is distributed multidirectional .

  This is the end of the hard science part of this. From here out everything is THEORY. However, I've researched and done a lot of trial and error to come to my conclusions. I know not everyone will have the same opinions as my own, and I respect that, so long as it is known that my opinions are educated and not random thoughts.
Thank You
Daniel

[bigyeti12]

gee whiz D, you really have put some thought into this. Keep going...

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  "If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, feelings, other faculties and knowledge that we acquire on this Earth. Therefore if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something."--THOMAS ALBA EDISON, INVENTOR.


                     

Part II: Electronic Voice Phenomena, Its History, Meaning, and Use.

 

 1. The history of recording voices; a timeline.

Although Thomas Edison did hold interest for the subject he did not live long enough to see it materialize. There was a major talking to the dead movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s.This was where spirit photography originated, although as it turned out, 95% of the spirit photos were fakes. I think that when it started the anomalies were genuine, but when a few shady people began to see dollar signs it created a counter-movement that destroyed the integrity of anything paranormal. The ramifications have lasted over a century and continue today.

 The first EVP recording was in 1949 when an Italian named Marcello Bacci began recording voices on a Tube Radio. Then, 10 years later in 1959, Swedish artist Friedrich Jurgenson was recording birds in nature when he captured the voice of his dead mother. Over the next 4&1/2 years he made many more recordings and published 2 books :" Voices From The Universe" and " Radio Contact From the Dead" Around the same time, a Latvian scientist named Konstantin Raudive had heard of Jugenson's work, But was skeptical. However upon experimentation, he was able to record voices himself, including his own dead mother.

 Work was continued in the 60's and 70's by George and Jeanette Meek, working with psychic William O'neal. Over the next 3 decades they recorded hundreds of hours of EVP.

  Finally in 1982 the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena was formed by Sarah Estep. They have membership in over 20 countries, and set the standard of excellence for the recording and review of EVP today.

Until the next part tomorrow, good day everyone.--Daniel

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 2. Meaning. What are they. (A list of theories)

A) They are the voices of people who are no longer physically alive, but exist in an enthral form.

B) They are the voices of entities from other dimensions.

C) They are actually psychic impressions from the subconscious of the researchers themselves.

D) They are voices of Angels or Demons.

E) (The skeptical view) That all EVPs are either hoaxed,random noise that the brain interprets as voices, or a bleedover transmission from radio, cell phone or other media.

 Knowing that, there is a grading system in place to rate the quality of EVP recordings:

   CLASS A: Easily understood by anyone who hears it, with little or no dispute. These are also usually the loudest.

   CLASS B: Usually characterized by the warping of certain syllables. These are lower in volume than the CLASS A, and are the most common.

   CLASS C: Characterized by excessive warping. Low in volume and hard to understand; they sound different to each listener.

 In my opinion there should only be a CLASS A & CLASS B. CLASS C EVPs ,again in my opinion, are nothing more than the mind receiving a sound,going through its memory files and trying to find something to match it to. And, since the listener is looking for voices, matching the unknown noise to a voice. That is why no 2 people ever agree on what, if anything, a CLASS C EVP is saying.

  Now let's say that when recording EVP, we are actually recording the voices of the dead. How do they get their voices recorded without any physical way of speaking, or without us hearing them when they speak. Are they speaking on a frequency that only Recorders and house pets can perceive. I don't think that's it. I believe animals are sensing the spirits with another, extra sense, and are reacting to that and not something auditory.
 
  As I discussed earlier the human vocal and auditory systems are amazing in the fact that physical actions can be manipulated by pure thought. I think that when we die that ability remains, and the longer we are without a physical body that ability is multiplied. I think what is happening is that in an attempt to communicate, spirits are manipulating natural sound waves enough that by the time it reaches the recorder it has become speech. Think about it, most EVPs come following some kind of background noise. And a lot of researchers will turn on a fan or something to create a steady source of noise when conducting EVP sessions.


 Well I'm almost done. The last part of this will be tomorrow, where I will discuss some practical EVP use. Thanks--Daniel

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3. Useage:

 

 Capturing EVP

 The first way to capture EVP is to set up a static recorder to run during the entire investigation. The thing that cannot be stressed enough when doing this ( or any EVP really, but absolutely necessary when doing a static recording) is there can be no natural, i.e. human, pet, music, etc. contamination anywhere in microphone range. If there is no way to set up a recorder and keep contaminates away, then its NOT worth doing. So much potential evidence is ruined because one cannot prove that the voice on the tape was not that of a passing investgator. That being said, total silence isn't desired either. When you set up, make sure you have a source of low, steady sound waves for the entity to use to speak. Indoors this can be a fan on low, or a t.v. or radio set to white noise. Outdoors the drone of insects and frogs works well on its own.

  The other way is to conduct an EVP question and answer session. Again make sure you have a source of waves to use, and make sure there will be no interruptions from contaminates. Before you begin, respectfully let the spirit know you are there to give them a voice. Most intelligent hauntings occur because something is very important to the spirit and they want it known. Try not to talk about how they died so much. Talk to them about things you would want someone to talk to you about. AND DONT START OUT BY PROVOKING. This is an advanced technique that should only be used by a pro in situations that dictate the use of it. Ask your question slowly, and in a pronounced voice. Make sure you give them time to answer also. Constantly firing questions will get you nothing. Wait about 15 seconds between each question for them to answer.When you finish the session. thank the spirits for their time and let them know you will help them if you can.

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Listening to EVP:

This is an art form, developed by lots of practice. Once you do it for awhile you will develop EVP ears and be able to hear them on the first go around.

 The thing to remember is don't try to hear everything at one time. Divide up your recording into 20 minute sessions take a break then continue.As you get better at it you can increase this time. listen to the whole 20 min session first, jotting down the times of anything out of the ordinary. after doing this with the whole recording, go back to each oddity and listen to it over and over until you can put it into a CLASS. If you have trouble with it you can use computer software to enhance the sound/ voice, but only use what you need to hear it, such as amplify and noise reduction. Too much more tends to create EVPs that does not exist.

  That's the basics of listening, again practice really makes all the difference.

 And that's it. In my opinion EVP is one of ,if not THE, most important part of gathering evidence of the paranormal. I hope this helps you to better hear the voices that really want to talk but have to do it another way.

Thanks everyone for reading.

Daniel L. Barnett
EVP Tech. C.A.P.E.
Paranormal Investigations

[bigyeti12]

Hi D, you should put this discussion on the public part of the forum ,its really useful and thought provoking.

[admin]

V,
 It's on the public section.