A MYSTERIOUS overnight humming noise is making some Deeside residents' lives a misery.

The noise - a low humming sound which makes people's ears feel as if their ears need to pop - can be heard across the Connah's Quay area and is said to be affecting at least 50 people.

Connah's Quay resident Richard Field explained: "The sound when it comes on is like the humming of an electrical transformer but deeper.

"I can hear it in all the rooms of my home, but not really outside apart from either sat in the car or stood under the car port.

"It's from approximately 1.30am till around 9.30am during the week and midnight until 11am on the weekend.

"Me and my and neighbour say it's like your ears need popping and you can feel a constant pressure on your ears.

"I am at the end of my emotional tether, and now don't know what to do if they can't find the source.

Mr Field says he first noticed the noise in April, but some Connah's Quay residents say they've been hearing it for years, while others say they can't hear anything at all.

But Mr Field says it's had a "huge impact" on his health.

Mr Field said: "I have ended up on antidepressants for the first time in my life, had to have temporary sleeping tablets and the lack of sleep has also affected my asthma.

"Like a lot of bad asthmatics if you're hugely stressed and not slept well the symptoms go much much worse.

"All the stress over this since April had also gave me high blood pressure as it's relentless every night."

Deeside man Geoff Hughes, an electrician said: “I have heard it for months, always at night. For a long time, I thought it was the power station.

“It regularly wakes me up, and can leave your ears feeling funny but it isn’t a loud sound, more like a low-frequency electrical hum.

“I can never pinpoint it but its the type of noise which could be travelling for miles”.

Mr Field says he has been able to rule out some potential causes of the noise.

He said: "We have eliminated a fair few things, I have spoken to one of the site engineers at Uniper gas power station, and it's not them.

"I've had Scottish Power out to my home, and they've been to five nearby stations and Open Reach has checked their telegraph pole equipment, and all okay there too.

The lead suspect was the National Grid converter station located in Connah's Quay as the humming is at around 50htz - like an electronic hum, but even that has now been ruled out.

Mr Field said: "National Grid has had their recording equipment in my house for the last seven days, assessed it and have sent the report back to myself - which I have forwarded to the council and Mark Tami MP.

"National Grid has been brilliant, and the report shows they are not the cause of the humming. Apart from the frequency being around 40hz we have no idea of where its coming from."

A possible explanation is the global phenomenon known as 'the Hum' - which is said to affect about four per cent of the world's population and is heard solely in urban areas.

An investigation by science teacher Glen MacPherson - who created the World Hum Map and Database – an interactive map that has accumulated thousands of hearers’ descriptions of their experience and their locations across the globe - found approximately four per cent of people across the world can hear the mysterious low frequency sound.

Flintshire Council says the source of the noise is "difficult to identify" and that it will be carrying out "further investigation" into trying find its source and is in discussion with National Grid to ascertain any useful outcomes from its investigations.