Humming is a ubiquitous and mundane act many of us perform. The fact that we often hum to
ourselves to family members or to close friends suggests that humming is a personal intimate
act. It can also be a powerful way in which people open up to others and share collective
memories. In religious settings such as Tibetan chanting humming offers a mesmerising sonic
experience. Then there are hums that resound regardless of human activity such as the hums of
impersonal objects and man-made or natural phenomena. The first sound studies book to explores
the topic of humming Humming offers a unique examination of the polarising categories of hums
from hums that are performed only to oneself that are exercised in religious practice that
claim healing and that resonate with our bodies to hums that can drive people to madness
that emanate from cities and towns and that resound in the universe. By acknowledging the
quirkiness of hums within the established discourse in sound studies Humming takes a truly
interdisciplinary view on this familiar yet less-trodden sonic concept in sound studies.
