Let's get sort of technical to a degree (if you want some of your beliefs shattered).
Are your EVP from spirits? The truthful answer to that question is, "we don't know." For those who believe that spirits simply impress their "voice" onto an audio recorder, consider the answer to the question, "how is it possible for spirits to communicate via a voice recording?"
To devote any serious consideration as to how EVP formation is done or even possible, it is necessary to have a workable, testable theory from any hypothesis. It is also necessary to disregard other reckless hypotheses such as one I recently read from a popular TV ghost show member who stated, "The receiver is lulled into a sort of trance." Moving on...
First, let's exclude ghost boxes and talkers from both the EVP & AVP category. They are not an alleged spirit's actual voice. Ghost box speech contains snippets of already modulated human or artificial speech patterns. Talkers/phonetic devices, i.e. Ovilus, use a random selection from a canned library of words/phrases within the device whose stored algorithm is activated by environmental conditions around the user. Once again, it is not an alleged spirit's actual voice.
Going outside of the normal TV ghost show claims of the ability of spirits to impress their voices onto an audio recording, I found this from an Association TransCommunication study (https://atransc.org/transform-evp-study/). It is fascinating and implies a telekinetic psi influence with the foundation of their research on EVP as follows: "EVP are conceptual influences which produce objective effects. Any theory explaining their formation must necessarily address both the conceptual (etheric space) of the communication and the objective (physical space)."
This obviously is a good example of out-of-the-box hypothesis testing concerning EVP formation and they provided the data of their own testing results. It still implies an unknown energy ingredient (information) is involved and does not include phonemic restoration effect in output analysis. It does, however, point to a more generalized concept of where and how the spirit is able to "inject" its intent into the EVP. I have capsulized it with a few of their points:
- Evidence indicates that the voice in EVP is formed from available audio-frequency sound (available background noise - referred to as Transform EVP). This includes both low frequency and high frequency sounds layered together.
- EVP formation probably occurs somewhere between the input and the A/D conversion
- suggests that the information is “injected” into the circuit at a specific place … possibly in one of the potentially dozens of transistors in the typical input stage of a recorder.
- stray radio waves cannot be detected in the digital stage. It is possible for AM radio to be detected by the input amplifier and included in the conversion to digital.
In the interest of fairness for including opposing points of view, I made contact with and solicited the "expert" opinions of an electrical engineer. He graciously answered my questions concerning the accumulated hypothesis testing data stated above, while also adding that "more details are needed before being able to make any definitive statements." From his own website concerning EVP, he makes a valid jumping off point to consider ... "Is the spirit operating within the limitations of your recording equipment?" (here goes... hold onto your hats).
Q. Do you find in your research, that EVP is usually found in one channel and possibly one component?
A. I find EVP generally occurs in both channels of a stereo system. If only one channel is involved it raises the possibility of a system anomaly since the redundancy factor is negated. As far as one component, that is sort of a vague point. One must consider that a single component is unable to perform the function of amplification; it is rather a group of components arranged in a manner that a certain function may be accomplished. Thus any area of the system may be open to disturbance
that could result in EVP. That is why it is imperative the system be shielded and only a single point open to input of the signal. The only component open to EVP in that condition would be the sensor itself; an inductance, capacitance, or audio depending on the type of sensor employed.
Q. If one was to hypothesize an ethereal injection of information into a circuit at a specific place, where would you place it? Would it be hypothetically at the input stage of the recorder in one of many transistors?
A. EVP would best be received at the input of a series of amplifiers, not near the output stages. While it might be theoretically possible for an EVP to be detected later in the amplification process, the strength of the signal would have to be much higher since less gain would be available. The same signal applied near the input might even overdrive the amplifier and create distortion or cause the signal to actually be lost if the amplifier was driven into saturation.
Q. Could one assume that EVP formation in general probably occurs somewhere between the input and the A/D conversion?
A. EVP would be induced ahead of A to D conversion in a digital system. If one considers the means necessary to actually create voice by simply encoding digital values directly into a digital system it becomes problematic that any spirit or anything, aside from a computer, could arrange the digital data in the proper value and at the correct timing for a digital system to respond. Such timing would have to be coordinated with the processor's internal clock and placed on a data bus at instant the processor was ready to accept it. The digital data would also have to be removed at the end of that clock cycle, otherwise the program being run would crash. This is the method used by phoneme based speech synthesizers, and they can perform this function they directly handshake with the processor. A spirit as an external entity would not have this ability.
Q. Would it still make more sense to have the opinion that even in this ethereal formation hypothesis, the EVP is not formed by a "spirit" using a physical process to affect a physical space, rather influentially formed from available audio-frequency sound, even available noise, amplified by stochastic resonance for example?
A. Stochastic resonance is a concept using white noise to allow weaker signals to be passed through a system. This is fine for a single frequency, however, to expand that to a bandwidth capable of carrying voice would also introduce the possibility of intermodulation distortion. That would open the door to pareidolia. This is why I discourage the use of any white noise or other sources of interference in EVP work. Instead, the goal of better low noise amplifiers is the correct approach to increase gain potential.
Now this, also from his website:
"This article is not intended to discount the possibility of EVP / AVP. Rather it is to outline the physical limitations a spirit would need to overcome in order to generate speech on a recorder. It also demonstrates the factors an investigator must explain if he is to make a claim of successful EVP recording. The investigator will need to explain exactly how the spirit was able to accomplish this in order to validate his EVP."
And these snippets:
- "a voice cannot be recorded directly as a voice"
- "If our spirit were to create an EM Field, properly modulated with a voice, and induce it directly into the preamplifier, that signal might be recorded directly into memory just as a regular voice from the microphone would be captured. In the case of analog, this could be any stage ahead of the record head."
- concerning Acoustic Voice Phenomena (AVP) ... "This would be a voice which is too soft to be heard without amplification. Such a sound might be detected by the microphone just as normal voice would. However, that introduces another problem, how does a spirit set air in motion as a sound wave without a physical body to create such movement?"
- "It leaves us with several questions. If we accept EMF as a source, how might such a field be created? And more importantly, even if the field is assumed, how would a spirit modulate it to contain speech? And in the case of AVP, lacking a larynx and vocal tract, how does a spirit create intelligent sound or speech? With these factors, plus the limitations of the electronics contained in a recorder, is it any wonder EVP is so rare?"
The issue of "when" might also be critical in efforts to obtain legitimate EVP. For all that has been attempted to capture EVP, little if none has involved the moments immediately after pronounced "death." If one believes in an afterlife, wouldn't this be considered the "doorway" to the next step we take in our existence? This might seem an obscene time to record alleged EVP, however, here is a proposed, shocking point of view toward that end. It is from the research article "When You Die, You're Brain Tells You That You're Dead." This idea is more disturbing to me than the thought of any "ghost" encounter by far. The research involves Doctors studying survivors of cardiac arrest, specifically where patients' hearts have stopped beating and their brains were inactive. Patients who recovered claimed to still see the doctors working on them and hearing their conversations. They had conscious awareness for 3 to 5 minutes despite a lack of any brain activity. This of course also implies that our non-tangible consciousness exists outside of our body, continuing in its functions.
SUMMATION: The most important takeaway in my non-expert opinion of this topic is "a voice cannot be recorded directly as a voice." I would say all of the above are pretty strong considerations to bear in mind when evaluating EVP. You are probably familiar with the saying, "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" The answer is "NO" if you consider that the falling object doesn't create an already translated sound wave. Our brain receives, and then translates that sound into something audible for us to understand. Our brain does the work of translation of a sound wave, situationally and experience dependent of course. If the frequency range of the sound is typical of a human voice, the illusion of speech is increased. It is in essence, simply an auditory stimulus. (I never thought about this when I watched "The Matrix").
Why do we even hypothesize the audio recording is of a spirit communication? Most likely, because that is the intent of capturing the recorded audio. The expectation of recording spirit voices already lends a bias to an expected result. Think about it. Would you ever go into a room with an audio recorder with an intent absent of recording spirit voices? If so, what were you hoping to record, and wouldn't that in itself have a bias to it? It is basically impossible to not have a bias based on knowledge we have accumulated forehand, a.k.a. "experiential blindness." To see an example of this, go to this website ('https://nautil.us/that-is-not-how-your-brain-works-9614/') and scroll down the article to the image of a circle with a shape within it. What do you think it is? Read the paragraph that follows the image and go to the referenced link that reveals the description.
Is EVP evidence of spirits communicating with us? At present, there is a growing list of questions with no certain answers. My own rejection of particular, individually sustained hypotheses does not necessarily indicate lack of belief on my part in the general principle of the paranormal. All possibilities should be considered and if possible, tested, as long as they aren't... "The receiver is lulled into a sort of trance."
- MoonJoey