justin.schneider@heraldbulletin.com

To Paul Porcaro, it sounds like the idling engine of a faraway car. His wife, Sadie, hears moving water.

However it is described, “The Sound” can’t be found.

For the past two years, the Porcaros have been troubled by a strange and unexplained noise at their home on Anderson’s east side.

“We keep the radio on during the day just to drown it out,” Paul said. “At night, it’s hard to sleep.”

It is worth noting that Paul and Sadie are not crazy and that the couple have investigated every plausible explanation. “The Sound” is certainly not the hum of a refrigerator, the buzz of fluorescent lighting or the drone of a neighbor’s television set.

In fact, “The Sound” is a relatively new phenomenon. The Porcaros moved into the house on Lansdown Way in December 1988. Everything was fine for 17 years, until “The Sound” appeared and never went away.

“I was concerned that something was wrong,” said Joseph Porcaro, Paul and Sadie’s son, who relocated his parents from New York when he accepted a job at Community Hospital. “I called several professionals.”

The Porcaros called Sweigart’s Plumbing to have the pipes inspected and the sump pump replaced, but it didn’t help. They called an electrician to check the wiring, a building inspector and even Mustin Builders, which erected the home in 1973, but “The Sound” persisted. They had the air conditioning and furnace inspected. They even called Anderson City Utilities, which provides the home with water, sewer and electrical services. “The Sound” would not die.

Paul said everyone who listened heard the sound, but none could find the source or offer an explanation.

Set foot outside the Porcaro’s home, and “The Sound” disappears. But at night, the couple says, it grows louder.

Paul wears hearing aids in both ears, but he’s convinced that has nothing to do with it.

“When I take out the hearing aids, it gets even louder,” Porcaro said. “It’s a vibration.”

“The Sound” bears more than a passing resemblance to the “Kokomo Hum.” First reported in 1999, it was heard by dozens of residents of the town and, many believe, caused them to fall ill with fatigue, nosebleeds, headaches and diarrhea. More than 80 complaints were submitted to the office of Sen. Richard Lugar and the curiosity received media attention from ABC News and others.

Things got so bad the town hired a consultant, Jim Cowan of Massachusetts-based Acentech, to undertake a 10-month study of the sound. He traced the hum to low-frequency and infrasonic tones generated by industrial sources, namely a cooling tower fan on the roof of Kokomo’s DaimlerChrysler Casting Plant and an air compressor fan at Haynes International.