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Characteristic Test for EVP
Abstract
There are a number of characteristics commonly associated with
Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). If a possible EVP does not exhibit at
least some of these characteristics, it may be prudent to set it aside
until more evidence is available. This is not to say that a previously
unknown characteristic may not be found in a "genuine" EVP, but the
majority of examples clearly show a number of these characteristics,
especially items 6, 7 and 9, below. As such, it is recommended that
experimenters and researchers become familiar with this list, and
seriously consider using it as a means of avoiding false positives.
Introduction
By definition, EVP are unexpected voices that are collected on digital
and analog recording media, that are not explained by currently known
physical principles. They appear to be ubiquitous, in that experimenters
around the world are able to collect them with just about anything that
will record human voice frequencies and under just about any recording
circumstance. Their nature tends to vary, relative to the experimenter,
recording environment, and technique.
The majority of EVP examples are considered Class C, meaning
that they are difficult to hear and understand, and it is likely that
not all of the words will be correctly deciphered. Nevertheless, Class C
examples can sometimes be shown to be phenomenal utterances and often
provide useful information.
Even experienced experimenters are liable to mistake some environmental
sounds, technological artifacts and editing errors as EVP. For instance,
the unconscious intake of breath before speaking might sound like the
word "help." During field recording, an unnoticed person might be
speaking in another part of the building and the resulting recorded
words might be mistaken as a phenomenal utterance.
There is a Best Practice titled Using a Second
Audio Recorder as a
Control, suggests using two audio records during experiments
in order to reduce false positives. Some experimenters also protect the
primary recorder with a portable radio frequency shield, such as two or
more insolated and nested metal containers; however, such precautions
can be clumsy, and may be difficult for the average person who is just
trying to record a few EVP. Given that it has been experimentally
established that EVP can be recorded in conditions isolated from ambient
sounds, light or radio frequency contamination, it is reasonable to
expect the average person to be able to record EVP in uncontrolled
conditions.12 If a person is familiar with the more common
characteristics of the voices, and is willing to discard examples that
do not fall within the "norm," it is reasonable to conclude that the
resulting EVP are likely to be genuine.
A characteristic test is not an absolute proof of EVP, but if
stringently applied, it should reduce false positives to a
reasonable minimum.
Typical
Characteristics of Transform EVP
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EVP Are
Distinctive:
EVP have a distinctive character of cadence, pitch, frequency,
volume and use of background sound. The voices have a distinctive
sound to them that is difficult to describe. For instance, EVP
messages often have an unusual speed of enunciation; the words seem
to be spoken more quickly than normal human speech. Regarding this
peculiarity, Konstantinos 2 wrote, “The best way I can
describe it is that it’s almost as if each word is spoken quickly,
yet the pauses between the words are of a natural length. The
combination of these two speed factors makes for the peculiar rhythm
and perceived speed.” You may also notice that the paranormal voices
often have a hollow and/or monotone quality.
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Frequency Range:
EVP are sometimes received at higher or lower time base than normal
speech. The enunciation of words is not just faster, but the
frequency range of the phrases are sometimes higher than normal human
speech.
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Missing
Frequencies: Italian researcher, Paolo Presi, 3 has
reported that spectral analysis of EVP samples has shown that the
fundamental frequencies of voice associated with the human voice box
are sometimes missing in EVP. He describes the typical EVP as a
“thickening” of the background noise to form the voice.
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Precursor Sounds:
Sounds are often heard prior to an occurrence of EVP. Although these
vary in nature, they tend to be within tenths of a second of a
phrase and are a “popping” or “clicking” noise reminiscent of the
“squelch” sound caused when the automatic gain control engages as
the “push to talk” button is depressed on a Citizen’s Band radio.
4
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EVP Show Evidence
of Being Limited by Available Energy: Alexander MacRae (5) has noted that the utterances
tend to have about the same amount of audio power in their
associated sound wave from one EVP sample to another. That is, a
short EVP will tend to be louder than a long EVP. A very long phrase
might be composed of two or more average length phrases separated by
minor pauses. Also, an utterance may trail off at the end, as if the
energy is being depleted before the message is delivered. Again,
this is as if the communicator is attempting to manage available
power as “packets” of energy. The evidence is very strong that EVP
are energy-limited phenomena.
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EVP Are Complete
Words or Phrases:
Researcher Alexander MacRae has also conducted considerable analysis
of EVP messages, determining that a message is typically one to two
seconds in duration and is not truncated at the beginning or end. If
EVP were crosstalk, they would often begin in the middle of a word.
EVP messages are usually complete thoughts, as well.
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EVP Are in the
Language of the Experimenter: Alexander MacRae has conducted experiments in a place that has no
English language radio or television stations, yet resulting EVP
were in English, which is his primary language. It is typical for
the EVP, no matter where they are recorded, to be in a language that
the experimenter understands. There have been exceptions to this
which were apparently intended as a demonstration, but as a rule,
EVP will be spoken in a language understood by the experimenter or
an interested observer.
This brings up an interesting point of speculation about psi-based
communication. Mental mediums often report that they receive
communication from nonphysical entities as images which they must
interpret. These images are not just mental pictures. They are
packets of information that are sufficiently complete for the
receiver to fully understand their meaning. Robert Monroe 6
referred to this form of information as “Thought Balls.”
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EVP Are Not
Ambient Sound or Broadcast Programming: Again, Alexander MacRae has made a contribution to the field of
EVP by submitting the newest model of his Alpha Device for testing
at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The device produced EVP
in a chamber that was shielded from environmental Radio Frequency (RF)
sound energy and light. 7 This demonstration proving that
EVP are not stray sound or RF has been made before.10 One
of the problems researchers have faced in the past is that “old
proof” is often discounted because of the considerable improvement
in instrumentation, experimental protocol and understanding of
physical principles. In light of this, it is important that our
modern generation of scientists is able to witness demonstrations
that adhere to modern standards for research, such as that just
provided by Alexander MacRae. As of the writing of this book, we
await a response from the scientists.
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EVP Are
Appropriate to the Circumstances:
There are numerous examples of EVP that are clearly direct responses
to questions recorded just prior to the EVP phrase or to the
circumstances. An example of an EVP being appropriate to a
circumstance is an instance in which experimenters were trying to
figure out how to set up a new tape recorder for an EVP experiment.
The tape recorder was finally set up correctly, but not before
causing a very loud feedback squeal that was recorded. On that
recording, a male voice said in a Class A EVP, “Leave it alone”
right after the loud squeal.
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Precognitive
Responses:
Answers to questions may be recorded prior to a question being
asked, so that the answer, as a phenomenal message, is on the sound
track followed by the experimenter asking the question. More
research is required before making informed speculation about this observed
characteristic, but the indication is that, while time may be
meaningful to us, our time may well be irrelevant to a nonphysical
entity. Alternatively, the entity may be sensing what the
experimenter is about to ask.
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EVP
Found on the Reverse Direction of a Sound Track
Please use the
technique of looking for EVP on the reverse with care.
EVP seems to be formed in noise wherever in the spectrum
the experimenter might look for the voice. That is
probably why some researchers have theorized that EVP
are always ultrasonic or infrasonic. However, in
reversed sound track EVP, the presence of the voice
seems to be more of a demonstration that the
communicators are able to do something that is simply
not explainable with known physical principles. Also,
EVP is considered communication and leaving a message in
a place that most people would not consider looking, or
do not have the tools to look, is not realistically
considered an attempt to communicate.
Many offered
examples of EVP found on the reverse turn out to be
nonsensical, and one of the Best Practices in EVP is
that, if the message is not meaningful in some way, it
should be set aside until supporting material is
available. There is also a problem with the value of
utterances found on the reverse as evidence.
Knowledgeable researchers understand that there are many
words that, when heard in the reverse, naturally form
other normal words. It is also disconcerting for a
researcher to recognize the staccato cadence of reversed
voice speech in someone’s offered EVP example and
reverse it only to discover the person speaking in the
forward direction. Considering these issues, it is often
recommended that researchers use the technique of
reversing a sound track in search of EVP sparingly, and
avoid offering examples that are clearly a forward
speaking voice played in the reverse. |
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EVP Are Found
by Playing the Soundtrack Backwards:
One of the more bizarre characteristics of EVP is that it is
possible to discover an EVP that seems to be garbled, but that makes
perfect sense when the soundtrack is played in reverse. By this, we
mean to say that the sound track is played so that the voice of the
experimenter can be heard speaking backwards, but the EVP can be
heard speaking forwards. 8
As with the ability of communicating entities to anticipate
questions by placing answers into recording media before the
question is asked, the phenomenon of reverse track EVP provides
important hints as to the nature of time.
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Vocalized
Questions Elicit More EVP:
There is evidence that the communicating entities are able to read
our thoughts, as in placing an answer on a recording prior to the
asking of a question. However, experiments conducted by Alexander
MacRae 5 have shown that EVP responses increase when
questions are asked out loud. MacRae conducted a simple experiment
during which he ran numerous sessions and did not verbalize
questions, and then the same number of sessions speaking the
questions. He then counted the number of EVP responses. On the
non-verbalized sessions he collected 3.2 utterances per session,
whereas on the verbalized sessions he collected 5.3 utterances per
session. (MacRae uses a baseline recording session duration of five
minutes for such controlled sampling.)
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The Voices in EVP
Are Often Recognizable:
It is common for an EVP to contain the recognizable voice of the
discarnate person thought to be speaking. It is also common for that
entity to say something that was typical of what he or she would
have said while in the physical. Their personality clearly remains
intact even though the person no longer has a physical body. 9
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Transfigured
The term,
“transfigured,” is used in much the same way here that
it is used in mediumship to describe how an entity
transfigures or changes the medium’s features into the
entity’s likeness. Many successful experimenters use a
foreign language radio station or recording for
background noise and have great success in receiving
loud message in their own language, even though the
sound source is from a speech spoken in a different
language |
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Mundane Voices
Are Sometimes Transfigured:
A communicating entity will sometimes remodulate or transfigure the
experimenter’s words into EVP. In one striking example, the words of
a French-speaking radio announcer were changed, mid sentence, into
an English spoken EVP. The EVP was clearly inappropriate for what
the announcer had been saying.
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Party Line:
Some EVP sound as if they are comments intended for someone other
than the experimenter. This is much like momentarily listening in on
a party line telephone call. It is not uncommon in both field and
controlled recording situations to record comments that seem as if
unseen people are discussing the experimenter’s actions in much the
same way that you might discuss the activity of someone that you
were watching.
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A Need for
Background Sound Sources:
Research has shown that the voice in EVP is formed as “a thickening”
of ambient sound energy. This is an opportunistic use of sound
energy that often results in no or largely missing voice box
frequencies and an unnatural arrangement of other frequencies
usually formed by the passage of the fundamental frequencies through
the mouth. 10 Also, EVP has been recoded by audio
recorded devices or processes which have been isolated from ambient
sound by such techniques as removing the microphone, and in some
instances, acoustically isolating the recording device.
Because of these characteristics, it is standard practice to assure
the availability of ambient sound for voice formation,
even while isolating the recording device or process from
uncontrolled ambient sounds, such as crowd noise.
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Layered EVP:
Experimenters often comment that having several layers of EVP appear in
the same location of the recording media. This is especially common
when more than one background sound source is used during the
experiment. For instance, if a fan and radio static are used for
background sound, then a message might be found in the fan noise
while a
second message is found in the radio static—both in the same
segment of the sound track.
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The “Newness”
Effect:
The experimenter’s excitement in trying a new detection device or
recording technique may be the source of improved EVP collection. As
the new approach becomes “normal operating procedure,” the
improvements generally fade back to a more “normal” Quality and
Quantity (QQ) of EVP collection. This suggests that it is important
for the experimenter to maintain peaked interest during experiments.
This is also one of the reasons it is speculated that the
experimenter is an integral part of the recording circuit. The
experimenter is apparently supplying the necessary psi energy to
enable a nonphysical to physical transfer of energy.
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Effective Devices
Unique to the Experimenter: Exceptionally effective EVP and ITC collecting systems have been
developed; however, these typically work well for the developer, but
do not work as well for other experimenters. This paradox supports
the belief that the experimenter is part of the recording circuit.
It has also reinforced the concept that the communicating entity may
be specific to the experimenter.
Because various devices and equipment setups have worked
exceptionally well for one experimenter and not for another, it has
been argued that it is a waste of time to try to develop the hoped
for equipment that would become the proverbial “spirit telephone,”
allowing anyone to use it to call up a loved one on
the other side. 11 This may prove to be the wrong
assumption. There is growing evidence that people who have not done
well with a cassette recorder are now recording increased QQ EVP
using digital voice recorders.
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EVP Can Be
Thoughts of Living People:
There have been a number of well designed experiments that appear to
have resulted in EVP initiated by living people who were sleeping at
the time. As an ethical consideration, such experiments are always
prearranged with the person who volunteers to be the sleeping
“sender.” In these experiments, questions are clearly answered by a
communicating entity, and the answers are appropriate for the
sleeping person. This fact of EVP suggests the possibility that EVP
can become an important tool for consciousness research. For
instance, is it possible that a patient in a coma might initiate an
EVP when requested?
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EVP Is Found
Wherever the Experimenter Listens: This suggests that the source of audio noise is not a factor for
EVP, so long as the audio energy is suitable for voice formation. In
practice, the majority of techniques for recording EVP involve sound
conditioning, rather than unique forms of psi detection. For
instance, up-scaling infrasound so that it can be heard by human
ears or down-scaling ultrasound, really constitute techniques of
sound conditioning, and the resulting EVP is not evidence that the
utterance was formed beyond human hearing, but that it was formed
when the audio energy was made available to the recording
References
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Tom and Lisa
Butler, There is No Death and There are No Dead, ATransC Publishing
2003 atransc.org/resources/books.htm, Reviewed
January 2010.
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Konstantinos—Contact the Other Side, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383,
2001.
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Presi, Paolo—Italian ITC researcher with Il Laboratorio, Bologna,
Italy,
biopsicocibernetica.org, Reviewed January 2010.
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Lisa Butler, Precursor Sounds in Physical Phenomena, 2002,
atransc.org/articles/precursor_sound.htm
Reviewed January 2010.
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MacRae,
Alexander—The Mystery of the Voices, Self published CD, 2000, Portree
Skye, Scotland. for details
about the Alpha Device, Retrieved August 8, 2007.
llewellyn.com/journal/article/38, Reviewed January 2010.
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Monroe Institute—62 Roberts Mountain Road, Faber, Virginia 22938,
monroeinstitute.org
Reviewed January 2010.
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Alexander MacRae, Report of an Anomalous Speech Products
Experiment Inside a Double Screened Room, 2003, as printed in the Journal of the Society for
Psychical Research, spr.ac.uk.
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Sarah Estep recording, "That is your girl,"
atransc.org/examples/sarah_estep_evp.htm,
Reviewed August 8, 2007.
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Martha Copeland, ''I’m Still Here,'' AA-EVP publishing, 2005,
evpcommunications.com,
Reviewed
August 8, 2007.
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Daniele Gullà, Computer–Based Analysis of Supposed Paranormal Voice:
The Question of Anomalies Detected and Speaker Identification”
atransc.org/articles/gulla-voice_analysis.htm,
Reviewed January 2010.
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Paolo Presi, Italian Research in ITC,
atransc.org/articles/presi-italian_research.htm,
Retrieved August 8, 2007.
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Bill Weisensale, Shielding a Recorder from Radio Frequency
Interference for EVP, Spirit Voices, Issue 3, 1981
archive.atransc.org/spirit_voices/spirit_voices_1_2_3/sv3.htm,
Reviewed January, 2010. Republished: American Association of
Electronic Voice Phenomena web site. Eliminating Radio Frequency
Contamination for EVP,
atransc.org/articles/weisensale-rf.htm,
Reviewed January, 2010.
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This practice applies primarily to
transform EVP;
however, it should be considered for all forms. The approach
recommended here is to consider an example EVP in light of what
is known about EVP in general. If the example does not satisfy
most of these characteristics, then the practitioner should take
a closer look a why it is considered paranormal.
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