Electronic Voice Phenomenon

Electronic voice phenomenon, also known as EVP, is a strange occurrence whereby voices or sounds are captured on audio equipment that is not audible without the equipment, and is generally not heard while the recording is taking place. Often, people attribute EVP to the paranormal, mostly to the voices of spirits, beings from other planes of existence, or beings from other planets. Other people attribute it to chance crossing of frequencies from other devices, like phones, television, or radio stations. There have been a number of studies on the phenomenon.

One theory of believers in the paranormal aspects of EVP is that some being, perhaps a ghost or spirit, is making use of white noise to formulate speech. By gathering up background noise that is normally produced by the recording device itself, the being is able to manipulate the sounds into patterns of speech in order to communicate, which is how the theory deals with the lack of ability to hear the speech at the time of the recording.

It is interesting to note that studies have indicated that a greater number of EVPs are recorded when white noise is reduced. It is also interesting to note that many sound engineers can show that when white noise is manipulated by the same methods many believers use to make their point, it can become sounds that can be mistaken for human speech just by random chance and that white noise can be manipulated to make all sorts of sounds.

Other people theorize that other beings may make use of the energy and electromagnetic fields within the device to formulate the speech. In order to prove their point, paranormal researchers have completed studies showing how digital recording devices work in order to show how EVP is captured in all recording devices. It has to do with the way sound is recorded, and the best description for the lay person is to say that EVP is captured sort of in between the sounds of the recording.

Any recording device captures sound incompletely. In digital equipment, this is more pronounced, because the device captures the sound and then must convert the analogue noise to digital instructions a computer or other electronic device can read. During this process, the final bit of information must leave just a little bit of the sound incomplete. The device interpolates this information in to be completed. The same sort of thing happens as bits of metal atoms are lined on a strip of magnetic tape to record sound on an analogue recorder, but in a manner which is not as pronounced. When the final recording is replayed, the interpolated information may produce EVP. Paranormal believers argue that chance interpolations would produce more random noise than a pattern of speech. Non-believers would argue that these interpolations could be influenced by radio waves traveling through the air at chance frequencies that interfere with the recording, creating voice patterns that create the EVP.

Another possibility is that the human mind will often associate random patterns with something familiar. This has been scientifically proven to be accurate in many circumstances. The term often used in jargon is matrixing. When a person observes random noise, his mind naturally searches for recognizable patterns. The patterns may be only just that – patterns of random origin. It may be only noise to which a person attributes speech but has no relation to speech at all. Studies have indicated that this can occur with most people. However, this does not explain all EVP.

There are many myths relating to EVP coming from Hollywood as well as misinformation. Contrary to what many people believe, some EVP is not always garbled, non-descript sound that can be made into speech patterns within a hopeful person’s ear. This is the case much of the time, but certainly not always. In many cases, speech is very clear. In cases of belief of alien speech, the belief in a speech pattern is more difficult, since the speech would be unintelligible. Often, however, a speech pattern can be easily recognized without any special equipment or manipulation of the recording itself.

Perhaps a better study of EVP can be observed in the context of the EVP itself. How closely does the EVP apply to the happenings within the atmosphere of where the EVP has been recorded? For example, if a researcher asks, “Is there anyone here that would like to communicate with me?” And then he receives a response of, “My name is Bob,” it might be more germane that a receipt of a response that says, “Today is going to be warm and sunny with a high of 68.” Most true paranormal researchers will ask questions with a pause in between each question to analyze the EVPs later on. They will then rank any EVPs according to clarity and contextual significance.

To date, neither skeptics nor believers can prove conclusively either one way or another the nature of EVP. Because one cannot determine all frequencies by which the sound may have recorded, it’s not possible to determine conclusively which frequency might be the likely source. Nor is it possible for a believer to conclusively present that a being that cannot be shown without doubt to exist was responsible for the recording. The nature of both precludes final proof. EVP shall always remain debatable, but that does not keep it from remaining a significant area of study for those interested in the paranormal. Just because something cannot be proven, does not mean that it should not be studied. It is yet one element of interesting anomalies that can be studied within the context of other anomalies, such as cold spots, EMF detections, and other anomalies that might be captured in an investigation. In fact, EVPs are, at least, fun and interesting to hear, regardless of their source.