Not likely bad wiring. As a test you could try turning off your main breaker and see if goes away. If it does then try turning off circuits one at a time until you hit the one that make the noise stop. Then investigate things connected to that circuit. It could something like a doorbell transformer but not the actual wiring in your house..

If it was some type of electrical problem you would hear it all the time just not at night I would think. Please don't take this the wrong way, but you might want to have your ears checked. A friend of mine had a terrible time with ringing ears but it was all the time not just at night. Another option is to go to the electrial panel when you hear the buzzing to see if the noise is more intense there.

Do you have a dusk to dawn yard light?

Did you ever solve this problem. I have the exact problem. My ears are fine. I can even hear it through my pillow, and ear plugs don't get rid of it. I think it might be a power transformer on the pole in front of my house.

It sure it frustrating!

Is there a bees nest in the walls or attic ?

We have the same problem - did you ever solve it or have your got any further with it kennedycosker?

Flourescent light on somewhere?

I had the same problem. I turned off all my breakers and the noise stopped. I turned them on one by one, and when I turned on the one that went to my doorbell, The buzzing started again.
I just leave that one off and haven't had the problem since. Hope this helps.

"when I turned on the one that went to my doorbell, The buzzing started again.
I just leave that one off and haven't had the problem since"

your doorbell transformer is on a dedicated circuit?

Thank Goodness someone else has experienced what I am now experiencing.

All door bell transformers buzz, my question is if you hook the system to a larger voltage than required will the buzz be louder? The transformer I just replaced had a 10, 16 and 24 volt connection. With two chimes and you use the 24V will it cause excess buzz. I connected to the 24V thinking it would give me a stronger sound. Am I correct?

Sources of buzzing in electrical gear:

The root cause of many buzzing sounds is ac magnetized iron. This includes transformers, relays, and flouresent lamp ballasts. A service entrance transformer can be very noisy.

An improperly shaded relay can be very annoying. (shading coil broken or armature not sealing tight on its pole piece. In fact, I had a washing machine whose buzzer was nothing more than a relay without its shadind coil.)

Electric clocks, the ones with timer motors and clock hands, may become noisy. (Most electric clocks have digital displays these days.) Over time, the timer motor may become noisy. The same goes for other devices that use timer motors such as a water softner.

Do you have an anti-radon installation? This is comprised of duct work and fan to ventilate the basement. It runs all the time. The fan motor is a noise source.

A pole mounted transformer/power supply and meter for steet lighting can be noisy. The control box for a traffic light may hum.

In rare cases, an UPS (uninterruptable power supply) or equipment powered from an UPS may be noisy. Several UPS do not supply a smooth sinusodial wave but produces some sort of modified square wave or additions of square waves. This wave form can excite higher harmonics in equipment.

Folks, for all of your spectulation, remember the OP only hears this buzzing at night! Jemdandy, everything you mention would make noise all the time, not just at night. Presume the doorbell buzzing was all the time. Also, have heard nothing more from the OP.

texasredhead:

Street lights run only at night.

I think looking at each of the incoming legs
with an ocsilloscope to see if you have a clean
sine wave might give you some insight.

My street light is 100 ft. from my front door. That would have to be one loud street light. Again, nothing from the OP. Maybe she went to an audiologist.

... and after MORE THAN TWO YEARS, we're probably NOT GOING TO hear anything from the OP!

OOPS! Poor OP could be where there is no buzzing.

The OP may have disappeared, but I am having a very similar problem. My doorbell is making a buzzing sound that is constant day and night. Is it the wiring in the wall/house or the doorbell transformer as someone else suggested? If it is the doorbell transformer do I just need to purchase a new door bell and install it with the existing wiring? Any help would be appreciated. I certainly don't want an electrical fire because of a doorbell! Thanks! Alicia

Hi I found your problem googling buzzing at night. None of the things in your home are the problem if it were in your home it would be all the time. I had/have the exact thing happen to me. Its not as bad as it was. For three years I was tormented! Last night buzzing happened. first time in 8 months? This is what I think, I think it has something to do with law enforcement. maybe a neighbor or someone is being watched? In some third world countries they use frequency to harass their target. In some cases it causes vomiting, headaches and not to mention insomnia. Its a tactic, loss of sleep can cause paranoia even the soundest minds can get pretty nuts without sleep. So that is why its used. I'm not saying thats whats happening but oddly enough now that I live in a gated community I get sleep! Last night a shooting happened in our quiet community outside of our gates of cource. Funny enough the buzzing was so loud last night I thought my room was about to lift off! About 5:30 Am I fell back asleep and woke up well rested at 11AM. If I were you I would find out who your neighbors are listen for cars with ghetto blasters et

Why does my dawn-to-dust outside light make a buzzing noise when it turns on? The buzzing noise goes away when it turns off.

"Why does my dawn-to-dust outside light make a buzzing noise when it turns on? The buzzing noise goes away when it turns off."

It may have a mechanical relay and not a Triac to turn on the 120 V.

Relay pulls in, light comes on, buzzing starts.

Another possiblity: if the light is a mercury vapor or high presssure sodium type, it will have a magnetic ballast. These often emit an audible hum. Often this is most noticeable when the fixture is starting. If not properly attached to the fixture, the ballast can buzz loudly.

It is more than likely to be wifi or wimax signals comming either from you own home or from your neighbours homes. If you have a wireless router, turn it off. Only turn it on when necessary. If possible switch to cabled lines or fibre optics. Check how many signals are coming from you neighbours. The freqencies can affect ones hearing. Please google electrosensitivity

I have the exact same problem, but I do know where the noise is coming from in my case, I just can't get anyone to do anything about it. It's coming from the electrical meter and I'm willing to bet this situation is exactly the same given the meter is right outside the bedroom. The noise has also been driving me nuts to the point where I have turned EVERYTHING off in the house by using the main circuit in the panel box and yet I still heard the noise. When I finally put my ear to where I thought the sound was coming from, I could feel the a vibration in the wall as well (bet if you felt your wall around where you think the noise is coming from, you'll feel the same thing). Since I knew there was nothing inside making the noise and nothing in the wall that could make it, since the power was off, I looked outside...and voila, the electrical meter was right there on the other side of the wall where I heard the noise and felt the vibration. I called the power company who came and removed the meter to inspect it, but they didn't find anything wrong; they did say that the conduit that is attached to the house and that the main electrical wires run through from outside to inside my house was a little loose and may be vibrating. I fixed that and still hear the noise. It's the meter..100% sure! But they say it's not.

I have a buzzing electrical sound but this is different it does not go away when I turn off the main. I am sure it is not plumbing, I even drained the system. It is just below the breaker box where the main comes into the box.

does your husband work in an industry that hires too many people from india? Because I know the indian's have a "CIA" setup that send spies around to break into people's houses when they are not around to steal your work files and to install harassment devices behind the floor boards and on the outside around around the rain gutters (by cutting under the rainspot with a jig saw to plant harassment...) those places are really hard to discover unless you want to tear your house apare... motivations for doing this are not really clear... they just think they can make people dumb and give them vein problems or crack artery plaque using EMF radiation... I have no idea what it is though... i just know its not ionizing and its not really strong enough to be diaelectric heating... theories, its some type of semiconductor laser device that emits invisiable IR light and millimeter microwaves.....

more "craZy" theories....

i forgot to mention... if you have this problem you can't shut your main power line off and get it to stop immediately because these devices have cellphone batteries...in fact they are partly a type of cellphone radio that can send and receive commands remotely... if you shut your power off and the device is currently transmitting in harass mode they will burn down the battery in about 20 mintues to an hour.... however once that battery is burnt by shutting off main house power for a long enough time they get out of sync and stop working... just like a cellphone that runs out of battery....

secondly, i think they can run entirely on batteries for a month in observation mode... which is basically a method to spy on you from behind a wall with a microphone and radar type video similar to millimeter backscatter scanners at the airport... or they can damage the batteries and use the device to harass you until the batteries drain ....about 20 minutes to an hour....

all thoeries mind you... of course...even if you found one...how would you know...its just a tincan planted behind your wall of indiscript electronics...
;-) that's why they can plant them around like candy and not worry about getting caught...

actually...i'll give you a third mode of operating...ghost mode...
this is where they hide a device behind a wall and use the cellphone speaker to tell strange messages from a safe remote location... and then laugh about it because you can't find a device that's hidden behind a wall...

listen to converstation in room...pretend to be a ghost and inject breif comments that are so short that you can't locate the source of the sound...

I have the same problem. I determined that it is coming from my neighbors radon mitigating device. They cannot hear it in their home, but the external part is 6 inches from my exterior brick walls. It is more profound at night, when other outside noises are less, but I can hear it in the day too. I find it hard to get to sleep, and when I awaken, it drives me nuts and I cannot drift back to sleep. I wrapped the device with pillows and it change the frequency a bit...not as annoying, but still - it is driving me insane! I understand. Do you have one of those devices nearby?

I heard a buzzing sound that kept me up all night the other night. I investigated and finally put my ear to the bedroom wall and that's where it was coming from . I turned off the Humidifier, which was the only electrical thing on in the bedroom besides the clock. It stopped. Then I contacted an electrician on line for only $13 On ("Just Answer.com) and he helped me. If you go on you can have a conversation, at the bottom of the page it says "Reply" you can ask as many questions as you want for $13. Anyway, I turned off the circuit breaker for the bedroom and the noise stopped. Then He told me to check the switches by turning the electric on again and listening at the wall near each outlet. Finally, I figured it out. I had a light timer that had gone bad and war "arc-ing" it could have started a fire. I unplugged it. Turned the electric back on and the noise was gone. Be careful with low cost appliances such as this. I have also heard that those emergency chargers that people use should not be left plugged in. They melt and cause fires. Even the more expensive versions.

Interestingly enough I have recently heard a strange buzzing at night too, but it pulses. I will spare you the long details to say I traced it down after shutting off anything that makes noise and went on the hunt at midnight. The buzz was coming from my 110 panel behind the China cabinet in the corner. The pulsing, I found out, was in sync with the HE front load washer. Each time the washer changed direction and powered back up to turn the drum the other way the buzz was heard in the panel. Not being an electrician I wondered if this means the breaker should be changed or if it's normal. At any rate, the puzzle had been solved here. Quite possibly somebody else hearing a buzzing of this nature may be running a newer type washer at night at their house.

I have the buzzing noise as well but I found out what it was. My Camry. Read this, https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t52986_ds584031 There are other cars besides the Camry that I read can do this as well.