“This phenomenon is not isolated to Kokomo, Indiana, USA,” Cowans told the Kokomo Tribune. “I have been contacted by people across the country, as well as from other countries around the world, who are having similar experiences to those in your community. To adequately solve this problem, any further study into this phenomenon should therefore be on a national, if not international, level.”

“Hums” have been reported in Taos, N.M., Auckland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A Web site pertaining to the “Taos Hum” has been created and lengthy entry about “The Hum” is available through Wikipedia.

I visited the Porcaros to hear “The Sound” for myself. Paul hears the sound throughout the entire house, but Joseph said it is strongest in the bedroom near a west-facing window. I stood, strained my ears and distinctly heard it.

The sound I heard was very distant; if it were a car running, it would have to be blocks away. In fact, I didn’t so much hear it as feel it. It had a hollow quality, like air passing through a length of pipe. Once I knew what to listen for, I heard the sound all over the house, too.

“It doesn’t bother you after a while,” said Sadie, 86.

Joseph pointed out that “The Sound” is constant, but it changes at irregular intervals.

“It modulates a little bit,” Joseph said. “It’s not constant. It changes frequency.”

There is little commercial activity near the Porcaro home and no industrial operations. But power lines have been known to emit a humming sound, and there is a substation behind East Side Middle School, just a few hundred yards away. Power lines run behind the Porcaro home, between Lansdown and Roby. There appears to be a utility easement just 50 yards or so north of the Porcaro home.

But the Porcaros have not considered moving.

“We love the area; we love the house,” Paul said. “But this is terrible. It’s like we have a haunted house.”

But Joseph has wondered whether, when the day comes, he must inform the buyer or real estate agent about “The Sound.”

“Maybe it’s part of those disclosure agreements, I don’t know,” he said. “Whoever buys it will be buying a mystery. They should pay more for that.”

---