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ETHERIC STUDIES (A Work in Progress by Tom Butler Co-Director AAEVP)
Characteristic Test for EVP---Draft - Technical, Procedural - Tom Butler, AA-EVP Co-director Abstract: There are a number of characteristics commonly associated with Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). If a possible EVP does not exhibit at least some of these characteristics, it may be prudent to set it aside until more evidence is available. This is not to say that a previously unknown characteristic may not be found in a "genuine" EVP, but the majority of examples clearly do show a number of these characteristics., especially items 6, 7 and 9, below. As such, it is recommended that experimenters and researchers become familiar with this list, and seriously consider using it as a means of avoiding false positives. Justification/Introduction: By definition, EVP are unexpected voices that are collected on digital and analog recording media and that are not explained by currently known physical principles. They appear to be ubiquitous, in that experimenters around the world are able to collect them with just about anything that will record human voice frequencies and under just about any recording circumstance. Their nature tends to vary relative to the experimenter, recording environment, and technique. The majority of EVP examples are what is considered Class C, meaning that they are difficult to hear and understand, and it is likely that not all of the words will be correctly deciphered. Nevertheless, Class C examples can sometimes be shown to be phenomenal utterances and often provide useful information. Even experienced experimenters are liable to mistake some environmental sounds, technology artifacts and editing errors as EVP. For instance, the unconscious intake of breath before speaking might sound like the word "Help." During field recording, an unnoticed person might be speaking in another part of the building and the resulting recorded words might be mistaken as a phenomenal utterance. There is a Best Practice which suggests the use of two audio records during experiments in order to reduce false positives. Some experimenters also protect the primary recorder whith a portable radio frequency shield, such as two or more insolated and nested metal containers. However, such precautions can be clumsy, and may be difficult for the average person who is just trying to record a few EVP. Given that it has been experimentally established that EVP can be recorded in conditions isolated from ambient sounds, light and radio frequency contamination, it is reasonable to argue that the average person can expect to record EVP in uncontrolled conditions.(12) If a person is familiar with the more common characteristics of the voices, and is willing to discard examples that do not fall within the "norm," it is reasonable to say that the resulting EVP are likely to be genuine. A characteristic test is not an absolute proof for EVP, but if stringently applied, then it should reduce false positives to a reasonable minimum. Recommended procedure, Considerations and Requirements: The following lists 21 specific considerations when trying to evaluate an EVP and is extracted from the book, There is No Death and There are No Dead [1] by Tom and Lisa Butler
1. EVP are Distinctive: EVP have a distinctive character of cadence, pitch, frequency, volume and use of background sound. The voices have a distinctive sound to them that is difficult to describe. For instance, EVP messages often have an unusual speed of enunciation; the words seem to be spoken more quickly than normal human speech. Regarding this peculiarity, Konstantinos (2) wrote, “The best way I can describe it is that it’s almost as if each word is spoken quickly, yet the pauses between the words are of a natural length. The combination of these two speed factors makes for the peculiar rhythm and perceived speed.” You may also notice that the paranormal voices often have a hollow and/or monotone quality. 2. Frequency Range: EVP are sometimes received at higher or lower time base than normal speech. The enunciation of words is not just faster, but the frequency range of the phrases is sometimes higher than normal human speech. 3. Missing Frequencies: Italian researcher, Paolo Presi, {3} has reported that spectral analysis of EVP samples has shown that the fundamental frequencies of voice associated with the human voice box are sometimes missing in EVP. He describes the typical EVP as a “thickening” of the background noise to form the voice. 4. Precursor Sounds: Sounds are often heard prior to an occurrence of EVP. Although these vary in nature, they tend to be within tenths of a second of a phrase and are a “popping” or “clicking” noise reminiscent of the “squelch” sound caused when the automatic gain control engages as the “push to talk” button is depressed on a Citizen’s Band radio. (4) 5. EVP Show Evidence of Being Limited by Available Energy: Alexander MacRae (5) has noted that the utterances tend to have about the same amount of audio power in their associated sound wave from one EVP sample to another. That is, a short EVP will tend to be louder than a long EVP. A very long phrase might be composed of two or more average length phrases separated by minor pauses. Also, an utterance may trail off at the end, as if the energy is being depleted before the message is delivered. Again, this is as if the communicator is attempting to manage available power as “packets” of energy. The evidence is very strong that EVP are energy-limited phenomena. 6. EVP are Complete Words or Phrases: Researcher Alexander MacRae has also conducted considerable analysis of EVP messages, determining that a message is typically one to two seconds in duration and is not truncated at the beginning or end. If EVP were crosstalk, they would often begin in the middle of a word. EVP messages are usually complete thoughts, as well. 7. EVP are in the Language of the Experimenter: Alexander MacRae has conducted experiments in a place that has no English language radio or television stations, yet resulting EVP were in English, which is his primary language. It is typical for the EVP, no matter where they are recorded, to be in a language that the experimenter understands. There have been exceptions to this which were apparently intended as a demonstration, but as a rule, EVP will be spoken in a language understood by the experimenter or an interested observer. This brings up an interesting point of speculation about psi-based communication. Mental mediums often report that they receive communication from nonphysical entities as images which they must interpret. These images are not just mental pictures. They are packets of information that are sufficiently complete for the receiver to fully understand their meaning. Robert Monroe (6) referred to this form of information as “Thought Balls.” 8. EVP are not Ambient Sound or Broadcast Programming: Again, Alexander MacRae has made a contribution to the field of EVP by submitting the newest model of his Alpha Device for testing at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The device produced EVP in a chamber that was shielded from environmental Radio Frequency (RF) sound energy and light. (7) This demonstration proving that EVP are not stray sound or RF has been made before.10 One of the problems researchers have faced in the past is that “old proof” is often discounted because of the considerable improvement in instrumentation, experimental protocol and understanding of physical principles. In light of this, it is important that our modern generation of scientists is able to witness demonstrations that adhere to modern standards for research, such as that just provided by Alexander MacRae. As of the writing of this book, we await a response from the scientists. 9. EVP are Appropriate to the Circumstances: There are numerous examples of EVP that are clearly direct responses to questions recorded just prior to the EVP phrase or to the circumstances. An example of an EVP being appropriate to a circumstance is an instance in which experimenters were trying to figure out how to set up a new tape recorder for an EVP experiment. The tape recorder was finally set up correctly but not before causing a very loud feedback squeal that was recorded. On that recording, a male voice said in a Class A EVP, “Leave it alone” right after the loud squeal. 10. Precognitive Responses: Answers to questions may be recorded prior to a question being asked, so that the answer as a phenomenal message is on the sound track followed by the experimenter asking the question. More research is required before informed speculation about this observed characteristic, but the indication is that, while time may be meaningful to us, our time may well be irrelevant to a nonphysical entity. Alternatively, the entity may be sensing what the experimenter is about to ask. 11. EVP are Found by Playing the Soundtrack Backwards: One of the more bizarre characteristics of EVP is that it is possible to discover an EVP that seems to be garbled, but that makes perfect sense when the soundtrack is played in reverse. By this, we mean to say that the sound track is played so that the voice of the experimenter can be heard speaking backwards, but the EVP can be heard speaking forwards. (8) As with the ability of communicating entities to anticipate questions by placing answers into recording media before the question is asked, the phenomenon of reverse track EVP provides important hints as to the nature of time. 12. Vocalized Questions Elicit more EVP: There is evidence that the communicating entities are able to read our thoughts, as in placing an answer on a recording prior to the asking of a question. However, experiments conducted by Alexander MacRae (5) have shown that EVP responses increase when questions are asked out loud. MacRae conducted a simple experiment during which he ran numerous sessions and did not verbalize questions, and then the same number of sessions speaking the questions. He then counted the number of EVP responses. On the non-verbalized sessions he collected 3.2 utterances per session, whereas on the verbalized sessions he collected 5.3 utterances per session. (MacRae uses a baseline recording session duration of five minutes for such controlled sampling.) 13. The Voices in EVP are often Recognizable: It is common for an EVP to contain the recognizable voice of the discarnate person thought to be speaking. It is also common for that entity to say something that was typical of what he or she would have said while in the physical. Their personality clearly remains intact even though the person no longer has a physical body. (9) 14. Mundane Voices are Sometimes Transfigured: A communicating entity will sometimes remodulate or transfigure the experimenter’s words into EVP. In one striking example, the words of a French-speaking radio announcer were changed, mid sentence, into an English spoken EVP. The EVP was clearly inappropriate for what the announcer had been saying. 15. Party Line: Some EVP sound as if they are comments intended for someone other than the experimenter. This is much like momentarily listening in on a party line telephone call. It is not uncommon in both field and controlled recording situations to record comments that seem as if unseen people are discussing the experimenter’s actions in much the same way that you might discuss the activity of someone that you were watching. 16. A Need for Background Sound Sources: Research has shown that the voice in EVP is formed as “a thickening” of ambient sound energy. This is an opportunistic use of sound energy that often results in no or largely missing voice box frequencies and an unnatural arrangement of other frequencies usually formed by the passage of the fundamental frequencies through the mouth. (10) Also, EVP has been recoded by audio recorded devices or processes which have been isolated from ambient sound by such techniques as removing the microphone, and in some instances, acoustically isolating the recording device.” Because of these characteristics, it is standard practice to assure in some way the availability of ambient sound for voice formation, even while isolating the recording device or process from uncontrolled ambient sounds, such as crowd noise. 17. Layered EVP: Experimenters often complain about having several layers of EVP in the same location of the recording media. This is especially common when more than one background sound source is used during the experiment. For instance, if a fan and radio static is used for background sound, a message might be found in the fan noise and a second message might be found in the radio static—both in the same segment of sound track. 18. The “Newness” Effect: The experimenter’s excitement in trying a new detection device or recording technique may be the source of improved EVP collection. As the new approach becomes “normal operating procedure,” the improvements generally fade back to a more “normal” Quality and Quantity (QQ) of EVP collection. This suggests that it is important for the experimenter to maintain peaked interest during experiments. This is also one of the reasons it is speculated that the experimenter is an integral part of the recording circuit. The experimenter is apparently supplying the necessary psi energy to enable a nonphysical to physical transfer of energy. 19. Effective Devices Unique to the Experimenter: Exceptionally effective EVP and ITC collecting systems have been developed; however, these typically work well for the developer, but do not work as well for other experimenters. This paradox supports the belief that the experimenter is part of the recording circuit. It has also reinforced the concept that the communicating entity may be specific to the experimenter. Because various devices and equipment setups have worked exceptionally well for one experimenter and not for another, it has been argued that it is a waste of time to try to develop the hoped for equipment that will become the proverbial “spirit telephone” that anyone would be able to use to call up his or her loved one on the other side. (11) This may prove to be the wrong assumption. There is growing evidence that people who have not done well with a cassette recorder are now recording increased EVP using digital voice recorders. 20. EVP can be Thoughts of Living People: There have been a number of well designed experiments that appear to have resulted in EVP initiated by living people who were sleeping at the time. As an ethical consideration, such experiments are always prearranged with the person who volunteers to be the sleeping “sender.” In these experiments, questions are clearly answered by a communicating entity, and the answers are appropriate for the sleeping person. This fact of EVP suggests the possibility that EVP can become an important tool for consciousness research. For instance, is it possible that a patient in a coma might initiate an EVP when requested? 21. EVP is Found Wherever the Experimenter Listens: This suggests that the source of audio noise is not a factor for EVP, so long as the audio energy is suitable for voice formation. In practice, the majority of techniques for recording EVP involve sound conditioning, rather than unique forms of psi detection. For instance, up-scaling infrasound so that it can be heard by human ears or down-scaling ultrasound, really constitute techniques of sound conditioning, and the resulting EVP is not evidence that the utterance was formed beyond human hearing, but that it was formed when the audio energy was made available to the recording Example Application:
***EVP Found on the Reverse Direction of a Sound Track*** Please use the technique of looking for EVP on the reverse with care. EVP seems to be formed in noise wherever in the spectrum the experimenter might look for the voice. That is probably why some researchers have theorized that EVP are always ultrasonic or infrasonic. However, in reversed sound track EVP, the presence of the voice seems to be more of a demonstration that the communicators are able to do something that is simply not explainable with known physical principles. Also, EVP is considered communication and leaving a message in a place that most people would not consider looking, or do not have the tools to look, is not realistically considered an attempt to communicate. *** Many offered examples of EVP found on the reverse turn out to be nonsensical, and one of the Best Practices in EVP is that, if the message is not meaningful in some way, it should be set aside until supporting material is available. There is also a problem with the value of utterances found on the reverse as evidence. Knowledgeable researchers understand that there are many words that, when heard in the reverse, naturally form other normal words. It is also disconcerting for a researcher to recognize the staccato cadence of reversed voice speech in someone’s offered EVP example and reverse it only to discover the person speaking in the forward direction. Considering these issues, it is often recommended that researchers use the technique of reversing a sound track in search of EVP sparingly, and avoid offering examples that are clearly a forward speaking voice played in the reverse.
***Transfigured*** *** The term, “transfigured,” is used in much the same way here that it is used in mediumship to describe how an entity transfigures or changes the medium’s features into the entity’s likeness. Many successful experimenters use a foreign language radio station or recording for background noise and have great success in receiving loud message in their own language, even though the sound source is from a speech spoken in a different language.
References:
2. Konstantinos—Contact the Other Side, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383, 2001. 3. Presi, Paolo—Italian ITC researcher with Il Laboratorio, Bologna, Italy, [3]Retrieved August 8, 2007. 4. Lisa Butler, Precursor Sounds in Physical Phenomena, 2002, [4] Retrieved August 8, 2007. 5. MacRae, Alexander—The Mystery of the Voices, Self published CD, 2000, Portree Skye, Scotland. See [5] for details about the Alpha Device, Retrieved August 8, 2007. 6. Monroe Institute—62 Roberts Mountain Road, Faber, Virginia 22938. 7. Alexander MacRae, Report of an Anomalous Speech Products Experiment Inside a Double Screened Room, [6], Retrieved August 8, 2007, 2003, as printed in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, http://www.spr.ac.uk/. 8. Sarah Estep recording, “That is your girl,” [7], Retrieved August 8, 2007. 9. Martha Copeland, I’m Still Here, AA-EVP publishing, 2005, [8],Retrieved August 8, 2007. 10. Daniele Gullà, Computer–Based Analysis of Supposed Paranormal Voice: The Question of Anomalies Detected and Speaker Identification” [9], Retrieved August 8, 2007. 11. Paolo Presi, Italian Research in ITC, [10], Retrieved August 8, 2007. 12. Bill Weisensale, Shielding a Recorder from Radio Frequency Interference for EVP, Spirit Voices, Issue 3, 1981 [11], Retrieved August 8, 2007. Republished: American
Some 'work in progress' definitions - please visit http://etheric-studies.aaevp.com/ Entity: A person; a sentient intelligence (sentience refers to utilization of sensory organs and relates to the ability to feel or perceive which is a form of life. People in the flesh are entities. We describe the source of etheric to physical influence as an entity which may be discarnate (having previously been in a physical lifetime) but in some instances, the communicators may have never experienced a physical lifetime. Etheric: All things pertaining to nonphysical aspects of reality. Anything that is not physical. Etheric Energy: all forms of energy that is not physical; thought to be precursor to physical energy. While electromagnetic energy is generally described as scalar, behaving a direction of propagation, etheric energy is thought to be more like plasma, behaving as a field. Etheric energy is described as being a derivative of the fundamental energy of reality that inherits rules of behavior from that first source. Thus etheric energy is said to behave according to Principles of Natural Law. Etheric Studies: The study of all things etheric. This is not an individual science, such as biology or physics. It is a field of study concerned with the nature of the etheric aspects of reality. By comparison, physics and biology are sciences concerned with the physical aspect of reality. Etheric studies is intended to complement physical science, as it is thought that discoveries in etheric studies will often extend the definition of physical principles while occasionally requiring the definition new principles. Research Targets: In etheric studies, the best practices committee supplies general requirement to the research management committee which represent assumptions and/or recommendations included in candidate best practices that are not supported by experimental evidence. These research targets become the core of research grants. Self: The aspect of a person that is nature to the etheric aspect of reality. For a physical person, Self is an etheric aspect in a symbiotic relationship with the physical body, and it able to interact with the physical by virtue of the Self-physical body entanglement. In religion, Self is said to be who a person really is and is thought to be an immortal part of God. In practical application, “entity” and “Self” are synonymous. Spirit: The first form of etheric energy; etheric energy as influenced by intelligence. In conversation, “Spirit” is usually a reference to etheric energy as it is controlled by an intelligence. In religion, this intelligence is usually God or Infinite Intelligence. In metaphysics, it may also be a more fundamental aspect of Self. It is common to hear someone say that they are communicating with spirits, but this would be a misnomer and “entity” would be more correct. Subtle Energy: Usually associated with the energy of life, life force, but also psychic or psi energy. In parapsychology, “psi” is a term used to generally mean the factor which propagates thought transference, perception of objects not normally perceptible with physical senses, psychokinetic or telekinetic influence or the healing influence of therapeutic touch or prayer. In traditional metaphysics, subtle energy is variously described as vitality, human magnetism, spiritual energy or kundalini energy, and other terms depending on the system of belief. In Spiritualism, subtle energy is described as “spiritual energy” and is thought to emanate from a central intelligence known as “Infinite Intelligence,” and to be differentiated by incarnate and discarnate people as information or healing energy. As used in Etheric Studies, subtle energy is called a form of “etheric energy” and is described as the energy of life seen as the aura and which is not physical but also is not fully etheric. As such, subtle energy is a transitional energy that represents the etheric-physical interface. In relationship to etheric studies, subtle energy is part of psi studies while the study of the physical aspect of reality is described as physical studies.
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