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The brown note, according to an urban legend, is an infrasonic frequency that causes humans to lose control of their bowels due to resonance. The name is actually a metaphor for a common color of feces. Effective frequencies are reportedly between 5 and 9 Hz, below the audible range for humans (humans cannot hear below around 20 Hz). However, as the supposed effects are difficult to explain through known medical science and have yet to be verifiably reproduced in a controlled environment, most medical professionals are of the opinion that the brown note, at least as described in the legend, does not exist.

The brown note is unrelated to brown noise.

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Testing
The note was tested on the television show MythBusters using Meyer Sound subwoofers on par in quantity and quality with those used at major rock concerts. The experimenters on the show tried a series of frequencies between 5 and 10 Hz at 120–160 dBSPL, but they were unsuccessful in producing the rumored effects. They all reported some physical anxiety and shortness of breath, even a small amount of nausea, but this was dismissed by the participants, noting that sound at that frequency and intensity moves air rapidly in and out of one's lungs.

Other researchers have noted flaws in the methodology of the experiment. Rather than test the entire spectrum below 20 Hz, the MythBusters tested only three specific frequencies: 5, 7, and 9 Hz. In addition, the strategy of surrounding the subject with speakers without accounting for phase effects could have resulted in a loss of effective power being transmitted. Another show, Brainiac: Science Abuse (A British Show that can be seen on G4TV)performed a similar experiment using 22.275 Hz at -30 dB (according to the show's producers used by Japan's Police and tested by the French Military). During the program, they broadcast the note over the air (and into the living rooms of viewers) in an attempt to cause bowel movements among those who had chosen to stay in the room despite repeated warnings and opportunities to leave. It should be noted, however, that no television speakers and very few subwoofers are able to accurately generate sound at this frequency at a significant volume. They also alleged to have confirmed the myth with a subject, but this subject was out of camera shot for all of the piece except at the very beginning. Additionally, the sound source used was an ordinary CD boombox, which would have been incapable of producing the required tone. In 2003, a team of researchers held a mass experiment where they exposed around 700 people to music laced with 17.5Hz sine waves, produced by an extra-long stroke subwoofer mounted - very appropriately - in the end of a sewer pipe. The experiment took place in the Purcell Room, London. The team was warned against the experiment by physicists (and a person in the local hi-fi store) who were concerned the audience would have to evacuate their bowels in the concert - but in this double-blind test of the effects of airborne infrasound, the team reported none of the legendary effects. There were many reports of anxiety in the audience - and of feelings of pressure on the chest. The team was interested in these extreme bass notes as they have been implicated as a possible explanation for ostensible hauntings. See Spacedog UK.

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Trivia
The brown note was featured in an episode of South Park (3x17: "World Wide Recorder Concert") as a sound that caused the entire earth to empty their bowels uncontrollably. In the show, this was referred to as "the Brown Noise", though the sound was actually the F# musical note (46.25 Hz). Interestingly the wavelength of this note is 746 cm (24.5 ft), which is roughly equivalent to the length of the small intestine.

The rock band Ween is famous for its attempts to produce, in their words, "a brown sound". Eddie Van Halen also accomplished what he called "the brown sound" tone from his guitar setup, consisting of a late-60s Marshall amplifier powered from a Variac, which reduced the operating voltage, increasing the distortion and even-order harmonics.

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