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EVP - Electronic Voice Phenomena
Since mid 2004 there has been a lot of chatter about EVP, however Electronic Voice Phenomena is not new. Scientists and Paranormal Investigators have been studying this strange recording of sound for over half a century
In the late 1940's, Reverend Drayton Thomas investigated a medium named Gladys Osborne Leonard. He and other witnesses believed she enabled the disembodied voices heard during experiments into her purported ability. Thomas captured these voices on tape and identified one of them as his own father. Similarly, psychologist Raymond Bayless recorded voices heard around psychic Atilla Von Szalay in the 1950's. Bayless had little success with his first device which attempted to capture the sounds directly onto a 78 rpm record. Eventually his equipment evolved into a microphone inside a box whose cord was connected to an external tape recorder. The microphone was placed near a speaking trumpet to magnify the sound for recording. Bayless and Von Szalay submitted their report to the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research where it was published in 1956.
One of the foremost EVP researchers was retired opera singer Freidrich Jurgenson. An avid bird watcher, Jurgenson was recording birdsong and upon playback discovered what seemed to be human voices, especially that of his dead mother. One interesting item in Jurgensons research was that these voices seemed to respond to his interaction, albeit often in languages other than Jurgensons native Swedish. Jurgenson released his findings at a press conference in 1963 and followed with a book the next year.
During the 196-'s most paranormal research centered on ESP and telekinesis, but a small group of researchers was busy cataloging and collecting. Dr. Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian born psychologist, had been one of Jurgenson's protegees. Raudive and his team made thousands of recordings, many of which would appear to speak in a polyglot of languages-which would often contain several different languages in the same sentence. This confusing speech caused Raudive to weather constant criticism largely because even if the words could be translated (Raudive himself spoke nearly a dozen different languages) they often communicated seemingly worthless information. Even current researchers have noted this "verbal junk" on their recordings.
A more serious critique of Raudive's work, however, involved his collection method. He used a diode (a crystal radio detector) with a short antenna which was also wired to the recorder's microphone input. This created what has become known as "white noise" or that fuzzy, statically sound one hears when a radio or TV is off a station signal. Unfortunately, this device begs the question of voice source. Since radio waves were widespread at that time, it is conceivable that the production of white noise also enabled the reception of far away AM radio broadcast. Evidence that the voices used Raudive's name, however, could not be explained away by random radio frequency skip.
Collection of EVP is hit and miss. Regardless of the method of collection, the sounds usually do not manifest on demand. Any researcher who claims the ability to produce these sounds at will should be regarded as a questionable source and the findings thoroughly researched. That's not to suggest that the researcher is creating a hoax, but rather to suggest there is some source of these reliable sounds which has its basis in earthly origins. Likewise it is important to consider the motivation of those who invent and use special equipment for the collection of samples. Any specially designed receiver built to "pick up" better probably will be "picking up" something other than the voices of the deceased.
In 1928 when Thomas Edison created his first EVP collection device, the scientific world was just beginning its exploration of recording, production, and broadcast. From 1936-1947 Von Szalay had great success with capturing something onto a permanent file, but the source of the sound was still completely unproveable-and completely unable to be disproved. Through the mid 1900's several researchers had some notable successes at recording, and serious scientific research bloomed in the 1970's and 80's. International researchers built better technology and shared not only their findings but also the details of their invented equipment. This allowed researchers to better ascertain what was being recorded-for instance, if the invented collection device was primarily AC powered, issues of electromagnetic frequencies are called into question. This has given today's research good foundations for using-and maybe building-technical data collection methods that are less prone to anecdotal sounds.
Interestingly, most legitimate researchers now adopt a back to basics approach. Standard analog recorders provide better "proof" that what has been captured has not been altered. The newer digital recorders are not only nearly impossible to completely shield, they are by their very nature able to easily manipulate the captured sound, rendering them unusable for virgin playback. Certainly digital capture is for sound what it also is for photography-excellent secondary documentation. Ultimately both forms would be used so that complete documentation is assured. In both cases however the media should be factory sealed prior to use. In analog recording this is no problem as standard cassette tape is available and inexpensive. Conversely, clean catch with digital technology would require at minimum a fresh digital card for each capture session. The expense of that alone makes digital sound prohibitive for this study
So what's the 21st century EVP researcher doing? Unfortunately many are capturing sound without consideration of external factors like Rf interference or even proximity of living persons. But for the more astute researcher much headway in the field is being made. Discoveries in acoustics help discern at what level sound is heard naturally which may someday help discover why voices may be caught on tape but not audible at the time of capture to those present. Research into harmonics and linguistics help discern if the voice has human characteristics and the relative age of the purported speaker. Specialists in groups of harmonics (formants) and phonetics are able to discover what language is being spoken even if just a few sounds are recorded. These formants and their relative ratios are most useful in eliminating animal or electronically generated sounds, even when they appear to form clear words. A classic example is the myna bird. Mynas are famous for imitating human voice, but the difference becomes clear when the acoustic patterns are more closely scrutinized.
Another advance is the ability to compare the suspected EVP recording to a recording done of the speaker when they were living. Computer spectrum analysis allows the researcher to overlay a known tract with the EVP tract to verify or disprove the identity on question. With the common family recordings of special events on video tape there are now many more samples of the living which survive their bodily death. As our population ages and passes on, these sorts of family records become invaluable to the researcher.
No discussion of EVP can be complete without mention of white noise. The 2005 movie of the same name had only limited box office appeal but certainly lit up the paranormal research field. Like Ghostbusters and ectoplasm, White Noise managed to sway many into the belief that the "only" or the "best" way to gather data for EVP research was via staticky background noise and fancy computer interfaces. Many will now tell you that the off channel sound enables the spirit world to communicate more easily with their earthbound counterparts. To date, there has certainly been no evidence of this. White noise continues to be just another sound on the tape that the trained research ear has to try to filter out, although it is easier than trying to ignore other (living) voices or various background noise. Once filtered, white noise becomes "pink noise"-acoustically equalized to more accurately sound like actual live noise. Again, however, manipulation of the recorded EVP in any way renders it unusable for any conclusive use.
Does Electronic Voice Phenomena exist? Clearly it does. Decades of research has been unable to dismiss some EVP captures as either naturally occurring or signal interference. The extensive work reminds researchers to try to prevent these possibilities right from the start. There are several ways to do this. As previously discussed, using analog equipment and using factory sealed media (tapes) will guard against accusation of alteration. If this can be duplicated with an additional, same time capture via digital device which also gets the phenomena, this would be optimal as it is unlikely two completely different resources would record exactly the same event if it didn't actually occur. The additional precaution of using a microphone external to the recorder is also necessary to avoid the capture of machine noise. A wireless microphone is not acceptable, however, as wireless devices create their own broadcast. Electronically, the devices should be completely battery operated with new fully charged batteries, as all electrical cords act as antennae, especially when plugged into the household circuit. Physically, the location of any broadcast towers and antennas on or near the property (including satellite dishes, cellular phones, and portable telephone sets) should be at least noted; avoidance would be preferred but as prevalent as these items are in today's society it is almost impossible to find a spot so free of communication feedback possibility. Finally, the physical nature of the building as well as the natural geology of the land it is built on should be noted and tested for sound conductivity and creation. Metal buildings built on limestone, for example, would be a futile attempt at clean data collection as metal conducts sound and limestone micromovement creates it!
What is a researcher to do? Perhaps quit trying so hard. If EVP happens as part of an onsite investigation or if someone inadvertently captures a promising sample, then by all means it is worth documentation and further investigation. Beyond that, only a well equipped laboratory situation is a feasible option for clean and random capture-and this would require hour upon hour of absolutely nothing with the hope of getting just a little something on the tape. Even then the non-believers will not accept that the sounds could come from something otherworldly. However, it needs to be done. There are researchers willing to do that tedious work in a sterile lab when funding eventually becomes available.
Until then I'll just cart my old Realistic to investigations and keep my fingers crossed.
robin@torontoghosts.org
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