Barbara,

Sometimes they do occur in both ears at the same time. The most noteable of these was relayed to me after an earthquake in the Bennett Valley area of Santa Rosa. This woman's house sat exactly on top of a fault and she said the night before both of her ears were ringing for hours. She said she felt like she was laying down in the middle of an electric field. The next day after she left for work the 4.2 earthquake occurred. Her house was trashed to the extent that she used her earthquake insurance and yet, her neighbors had no more than their pictures moved on the walls. I saw boulders that were massive in the wall of the creek behind her house that had moved out and downward during the quake.

But the key is to count the seconds exactly or as close to exactly as possible and when the tone cuts down, which is called a trailing sound, we don't count it. It took a year or more to figure out it didn't have anything to do with where the earthquake was going to happen and it made accuracy far better.

It is a learning experience and for most people, the more they document what they hear, they report more accurately and the results are far better. It's like basic training. Eventually you memorize sounds you've heard before and then you know "where that is." For some the Pinnacles sound like a person running their wet finger around a wine glass. I heard the Golden Gate Bridge like a fog horn and the list goes on and on.

But what about that fluttering sound, like a bird near your ear? Try earthquake swarms and close clusters. Its a vibratory event and it's heard that way. But the where is harder to discern. I've heard a sound where I live which is like a hum. Its a long ear tone and I call it The Santa Rosa Hum. I think it comes from the RCF, but what it means, I don't know yet. But I document it.

See, it gets very complicated and yet no so that it is intimidating. It is a very curious experience. I like to solve puzzles so this is something that goes well with that interest.

Petra