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Why does the Beetham Tower hum?


Why the Beetham Tower howls in high winds

Simon Jackson (@stjackson), of the acoustic-consulting firm Arup, tweeted, “Quick sound level measurement at Beetham Tower – 78dBLaeq,1s main freq in 250Hz 3rd/oct band”. Although given the way the hum starts and stops as the wind picks up and slows down, producing a single note which varies slowly in loudness, people more often liken the sound to an alien space ship coming into land. For the Beetham Tower, I suspect it is the resonance of the air between the deep glass panes which allows the hum to achieve such loud decibel values.

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Photo of Beetham Tower

Beetham Tower