Mysterious Noise Causes Hangover-Like Headaches In Bed-Stuy

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A mysterious, headache-inducing tone has been tormenting a Bed-Stuy block for more than six weeks and locals can't find the source or escape the sound.

Drew Robbi, 42, first heard the sound last weekend when his wife pointed it out to him inside their home near Madison Street and Franklin Avenue.

"My wife said to me, that noise is really bad," Robbi said. "I said, 'What noise?'"

"And then I heard it."

The mysterious tone has been sounding intermittently on Madison Street since mid-May and neighbors have reported headaches, painful sinus pressure and increased stress, Robbi said.

City data shows there have been about a half dozen 311 street noise complaints on the block since the tone first began.

Robbi's own frustration mounted when he realized it was inside his home.

"I couldn't run away from it," Robbi said. "I went inside it was still piercing."

The source of the sound has proven difficult to track down because it never changes its pitch, Robbi said.

"If it's emanating from a house it would get higher, but that's not been the experience," he said. "It's even throughout the whole block."

Robbi reported the sound to Con Edison and local police, but a Con-Ed representative told him it wasn't coming from their equipment. An NYPD operator, who told Robbi she could hear the tone on her side of line, promise to send investigators, he said.

And another neighbor posted a notice on a Madison Street post reporting the city's Department of Environmental Protection suspected the sound was caused by an air conditioning system rooftop compressor.

"Is that tone driving you bonkers?" The notice reads. "It could be coming from nearly any roof on this block.

A DEP press officer said via email he would look into the situation and provide more information Thursday.

The anonymous neighbor pleaded with residents to check their systems by turning their own air conditioners off and on again the next time they hear the tone. If the tone vanishes, that might be a good sign your unit is the culprit.

"Don't panic," the neighbor advised. "It may be a very simple repair."

The tone hasn't been heard on Madison Street since Robbi posted his video to Twitter on Monday.

Robbi, a real estate property manager who has lived on the block for about 15 years, said he's never heard anything like it before.

"It's just piercing," he said.