Thomas Edison once wrote: “If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, other faculties and knowledge that we acquired 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.” This was written in the 1920’s. Almost forty years before Friedrich Juergenson* started examining the voices he captured on his recorder in 1959. Since that time skeptics have waved off the idea of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) by explaining it as natural sounds or radio waves. And yet others believe that the voices recorded are paranormal in nature. In the following paragraphs I will try to explain the reasons why I think the skeptics explanations for true EVP’s are mistaken.
Let me start with the main misconception, which is radio interference, and work my way through. To understand this requires only a little extra information. Frequency is measured in cycles per second. This is called Hertz. Radio waves are measured using the Hertz system. To decrease confusion I will be posting all numbers in Hertz (Hz), as opposed to kilohertz and megahertz and all that. Now, as most people know, there is an AM and an FM band to radio. AM was the earliest with the first radio broadcast being made around 1906 or so. Since technology was fairly new though the band for broadcasting was fairly low with a frequency range between 535,000 Hertz and 1,705,000 Hertz. In 1939 the first FM station was built. This had a higher frequency because the main point behind the creation of FM was to have a higher quality and static free signal. The FM frequency range is from 88,000,000 Hertz and 108,000,000 Hertz.
The human voice is the next main misconception of skeptics. By human voice I mean fake EVP’s. Are fake EVP’s out there? Of that I have no doubt. But are true EVP’s actually someone trying to pull the
wool over all our eyes? No. (Bear with me, I’m getting to why not.) Now, the human voice also has ranges for the minimum and maximum it can go, as does everything. The human voice is a little different though. The useful frequency range for the human voice is 300Hertz to 3,500Hertz. Now the word “useful” is important in the human voice arena. A good example to use is a singer. Or better yet, a chorus. Now if you have ever heard a really great chorus you will know that the men in back (generally) are the Basses. These guys can go low. Super low. And in fact, classical opera states that Basses should be able to hit 87 Hertz. How can I explain 87 Hertz? Hum…well, “A kick drum is usually tuned between 80Hz and 100Hz”. Audible? Yes. Can any words be distinguished at 87 hertz from a human? No. Absolutely positively no. If you know anything about choral music you will know that Bass and Baritones are mainly (no, not always) used as support for the upper registers. The reason why is because the upper registers are easier to make words out of. Where as the lower registers can only go so low (300 hertz) and still form words. So what do we take away from choral music? That the human voice can only talk and make words above 300 hertz. Bellow that is pretty much just vibration.
One more piece of information that needs to be considered is the human hearing range. We now know that the useful human voice frequency range is 300Hz – 3,500Hz. But human hearing can go well over and under what we can speak. The generally accepted frequencies for human hearing are 20Hz – 20,000Hz.
Now that you have some of the facts, let’s get into some of the nitty gritty. That being, what are EVP’s, or Electronic Voice Phenomena? They are thought to be many things. No one really knows for certain,
as with so many other things in the paranormal field. One thing is for sure though, and that is that true EVP’s are based on frequency, not on how good they sound. Some EVP’s are recorded at less than 300 Hertz with some going down to 80Hz (lowest that I have recorded). And some EVP’s are recorded above 20,000 Hz up to 22,500Hz (highest that I know of). EVP’s are generally thought to have four classifications or categories, those being A, B, C and R. A Class A recording is the best. It is very audible and clear. Anyone listening to a Class A recording without being told what it says should all come away hearing the same thing. A Class B recording is audible, but not very clear. Class B’s need to be listened to several times in order to understand what is being said or expressed. A Class C recording is not good. It can be a whisper or something software related (meaning it was recorded on the wrong settings). A Class R recording is when an EVP has a reverse meaning. This is special only to EVP’s. It is almost thought to be a mirror effect that happens. You could have a Class A, B or C recording, and then in reverse have a completely different quality and message. Now this is where Classification can get a bit tricky. You could potentially have a Class A recording saying “Find it” (for example only), but when played in reverse you could have a Class B reverse meaning saying “Over There”. Both of these phrases would occupy the same space on the recording, but have completely different messages when played in forward and reverse. Every EVP should be played in reverse to check for this. But I digress. Back to frequencies.
So the main arguments against EVP’s being paranormal in nature are radio waves and humans. But since true EVP’s are proven by their frequency, and not their quality, these arguments really don’t hold much water at all. Here is a list to help you, please note that I threw several other frequencies in:
EVP’s: True EVP’s are classified under 300Hz **
Human Voice: Useful from 300Hz - 3,500Hz
Human Hearing: 20Hz – 20,000Hz
AM radio: 535,000Hz - 1,705,000Hz
FM radio: 88,000,000Hz - 108,000,000Hz
Cordless Phones: 40,000,000Hz – 50,000,000Hz
Baby Monitors: 49,000,000Hz
Cell Phones: 824,000,000Hz – 849,000,000Hz
Garage Doors and Alarm Systems, etc: ~ 40,000,000Hz
When you look at the above frequency ranges you can clearly see that the skeptics are mistaken in their explanations for Electronic Voice Phenomena. Since the human voice can legibly go down to 300Hz and up to 3,500Hz, EVP’s recorded under and over that should have a bit more credit to skeptics. EVP’s recorded within the human speech range I guess could still be up for debate. This of course is all overlooking that digital and cassette recorders aren’t built to receive radio waves, or the fact that hardcore skeptics even discount when an EVP is recorded with the voice responding to your questions at say 214Hz or 10,120Hz (examples). But that’s another article…
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“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.”
Thomas A. Edison
“Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.”
Thomas A. Edison
“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
Thomas A. Edison
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison
*Others are attributed with first discovering EVP’s, but Juergenson is the one who was given the title of “The Father of EVP”. **Obviously in this field not everyone can agree as we work mostly with theories. I am stating this Hz level as a basic level that the majority of paranormal investigators that I have talked with uphold." Jill O'Malley
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