is this "the hum" some people complain about in cities?
There is very low-freq hum in cities (because of cars wheels, airconds, all those rotating+vibrating things), which can be (un)heard if one goes above and then beyond/down edge of some hill at end-of-city - and will stop hearing it (absorbed by earth mass). But it is difficult to "hear" inside the city as your body also vibrates with it..