electronic voice phenomenon

(EVP)

   Also known as Raudive voices, after the Latvian-Swedish psychologist and parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive (1900-1974). Both terms are used in parapsychology to denote an intelligible and meaningful message that can be discerned in static noise on the radio, or in any other type of white noise. In parapsychology messages such as these can be attributed to a metaphysical source such as a ghost, a spirit, or an extraterrestrial life form. In biomedicine the EVP is considered a "cognitive illusion of the "auditory pareidolia type, caused by a process called "apophenia (i.e. an excess of perceptual or heuristic sensitivity leading to the discernment of patterns or connections in random or otherwise meaningless data). As a phenomenon, the EVP was discovered in 1959 by the Swedish-Russian painter and musician Friedrich Jürgenson (1903-1987) while

   recording the singing of wild birds. Reportedly, Jürgenson discerned the sound of a trumpet in the vibrating noises interrupting his recordings, followed by a male voice speaking in Norwegian. He speculated that the voice might stem from a dead individual, and after having heard his mother's voice on a subsequent tape he developed a research programme in the context of which he conducted thousands of experiments with tape recorders, focusing more and more on static noise from the radio. His favourite radio frequency at 1,485.0 kHz is now known as the Jürgenson Frequency. Raudive, who had visited Jürgenson in 1965, significantly expanded this line of research. The research initiated by the two authors was carried on by numerous EVP enthusiasts.

   References

   Bander, P. (1973). Voices from the tapes: Recordings from the other world. Orlando, FL: Drake Publishers.

   Banks, J. (2001). Rorschach audio: Ghost voices and perceptual creativity. Leonardo Music Journal, 11, 77-83.

   Jürgenson, F. (1964). Rösterna frân Rymden. Stockholm: Saxton & Lindström Förlag.

   Raudive, K. (1971). Breakthrough.New York, NY: Taplinger Publishing Company.