Marbles dropping sound on the ceiling.
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I know this is a very popular theme in Singapore HDBs, no one can explain this "phenomenon" too.
I live in a condo, and also experience this sound.I have no real explanation for what is causing the sound. It doesn't only happen at night, sometimes during the day. Sometimes, it happens many times a day, sometimes for weeks or months I would not come across the sound.
The most popular scientific explanation is the expansion and contraction of pipes in the house. I don't think it is a satisfactory answer though, it doesn't sound anything like what a pipe would sound like, it really DOES sound like real marbles. A paranormal explanation would be ghosts playing with marbles, or a mundane explanation is real kids playing with real marbles (though the people living above me are an old couple with no kids).
Have you guys had experience with the "marble sound"? What do you think of it? -
Everyday I hear this sound at home.
I cant explain the sound.
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API did their own investigation, and found that the sounds most identical to marbles dropping and is the most highly plausible came from water flowing down PVC pipes.
http://www.api.sg/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=1
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ditzy-somehow i don't think that is true. Water flowing in pipes doesn't sound anything like marbles dropping.
The sound is exactly what it would sound like if you drop a marble from a height, it goes like thud....thud..thud...thudthudthuddd..So you can see it does have a rhythmn like how you drop a marble from a height, where the initial sound is loud and then it goes softer abit but increases in frequency.
you saying water flowing in PVC pipes does this?
Also, I know contraction and expansion of houses would cause a "creaking" sound, but the one I hear is different from a creaking sound. -
Originally posted by ditzy:
API did their own investigation, and found that the sounds most identical to marbles dropping and is the most highly plausible came from water flowing down PVC pipes.
http://www.api.sg/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=95&Itemid=1
More specifically, the water hammer effect.
One of my professors is a pro on the effects of unsteady water flow. He explained to my class that the acoustic frequency of the oscillations during the phenomenon (which occurs when valves are suddenly closed) have been known to coincide with that of marbles dropping on the floor.
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Originally posted by iciboi:
ditzy-somehow i don't think that is true. Water flowing in pipes doesn't sound anything like marbles dropping.
The sound is exactly what it would sound like if you drop a marble from a height, it goes like thud....thud..thud...thudthudthuddd..So you can see it does have a rhythmn like how you drop a marble from a height, where the initial sound is loud and then it goes softer abit but increases in frequency.
you saying water flowing in PVC pipes does this?
Also, I know contraction and expansion of houses would cause a "creaking" sound, but the one I hear is different from a creaking sound.I'm just quoting what API determined from their investigation, hence I provided the link, if you bothered to read till the end of it.
It doesn't sound like much, but if its acoustic signature is transferred from one medium to another, it will sound alot different from what is expected.
I understand the waterhammer effect from studies, usually the sound of waterhammer effect is thumping, and is more evident in the kitchen and bathroom areas.
Waterhammer effect can be eliminated just by using the turn taps as opposed to the quick on/off types.
As for me, I live on the high floor, so I can hear the booster pump working on demand at night, when the motor revs up everytime there is demand below.
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i read up some things about this problem last time. If i'm not wrong, it is related to physics.
HDB flats have pipes and metal rods running between the ceiling and upstairs floor
the material actually does contract and expand due to the temperature so sometimes at night when it cools down, the marble-dropping sound is actually from the metal contracting.I can't remember where i read from but there is a prove on it. Just lazy to find it out.
Just my 2cents worth of thoughts.
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Ask detective galileo to check the mystery?
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Am I the only one who has NEVER heard of such sounds before?
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Old folks playing marbles.
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Ask a MIT scientist to check it out using state of the art equipment.
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Originally posted by Mistigris:
Am I the only one who has NEVER heard of such sounds before?
u dun stay in HDB flat is it? haha -
its very hard to ascertain when sounds travel all directions....it could also come from a floor indirectly to yours....
even if u get professional engineers to attest it...their report would be a contradictory load of rubbish....it may be this, may be that....his job is to cover all perspectives but not to any conclusion.....or most probably....
pipe sounds are only one of the many perspectives....
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frequency of such incidents are helpful....regular patterns and periods indicate a constant source ...
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Weird tapping and "marble dropping" noises in my apartment? What is it?
I've been moved in to my new apartment for just a few weeks. Last night I heard some strange noises before going to bed around 10:30 and then were woken up by them again in the early morning (3:00am). There are two different sounds. The most common is a tapping/cracking sort of sound in the wall. For awhile it happened about every 5 seconds, but it happened randomly too. The other sound I only heard about four times. It is a weird "marble dropping" sound, so it basically sounded like someone dropped a ball or marble and it bounces a little and rolls. It seems to come from the same wall. I'm on the top floor (3rd) and the wall where the noises is just leads to a stairwell. I live in a northern state with cold climate. I also had the heater on a bit higher than usual last night. Could that be it? The building is only about 25 years old. Please don't say it is ghosts! That freaks me out. I'd prefer a logical explanation if there is one to have.Maybe the same old folks are playing marbles at her stairwell.It's the game for old folks these days.3 am is the happy hour.In European folklore, the witching hour is the time when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful, and black magic at its most effective. This hour is typically midnight, and the term may now be used to refer to 3am -6am, or any late hour, even without having the associated superstitious beliefs. The term "witching hour" can also refer to the period from midnight to 3am, while "devil's hour" refers to the time around 3am.
It is believed by some in England that the witching hour begins at 11 pm and runs through to midnight. This hour before midnight is also used for the practice of witchcraft.
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Yah lor this sound everyday at least hear once one.
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saw it on TV they did an investigation and found out is the vibration of the water pipe that is making the noise
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If it's because of the pipes, then I guess it should happen to all flat during the same time at night.
Now where did I left those marbles last night.
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And why is it always the floor above the victims creating the noise?
You should also be able to hear the noise on the floor if you are the apartment above the affected apartment.
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had same problem for years....one day i went up and yelled at neighbour and almost had a fight n threatened middle aged neighbour in front of his mother n wife.the noise level increased with drums banging and a mini workshop with machining n foundry works in progress.
i immigrated soon after.praise the lord.
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Originally posted by Terminator Hitman:
had same problem for years....one day i went up and yelled at neighbour and almost had a fight n threatened middle aged neighbour in front of his mother n wife.the noise level increased with drums banging and a mini workshop with machining n foundry works in progress.
i immigrated soon after.praise the lord.
I've heard furniture shifting at 3am, footsteps, and marbles. common stuff... but i remembered once, shouting at 3am after being awaken by the sound of footsteps from the floor above... it stopped and started again 5 minutes later at a much much faster pace. i just went back to sleep and ignored it.
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Originally posted by Terminator Hitman:
had same problem for years....one day i went up and yelled at neighbour and almost had a fight n threatened middle aged neighbour in front of his mother n wife.the noise level increased with drums banging and a mini workshop with machining n foundry works in progress.
i immigrated soon after.praise the lord.
Drums banging, mini workshop and foundry works?
If you had remembered to take your medication, it would have prevented all these nasty things from happening.
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I am hoping to hear people playing gasing i above my condo in Jakarta but I hear only ocassional moving of furniture and marble sound but I have an explanation for that.It is the sound made by bubbles in the sewerage pipes.There you go case solved!
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check if the neighbour upstairs and their adjacent unit for pets.. dogs, cats, rabbits.. i think dats ur "marble dropping" sounds.. =)
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same. I am hearing it now also. Fuck the neighbour. Like to sheng with kor li so much,