Electronic Voice Phenomenon

Within ghost hunting and parapsychology, electronic voice phenomena, commonly abbreviated EVP, are sounds found on electronic recordings that enthusiasts interpret as spirit voices, typically no longer than a word or short phrase. The parapsychologist Konstantins Raudive popularized the idea in the 1970s. Scientists regard EVP not as evidence of the paranormal but as a form of auditory pareidolia, the tendency to interpret random sounds as voices in one's own language, compounded by apophenia, the broader tendency to perceive patterns in random information; equipment artifacts and hoaxes also account for many reported instances. As a documented psychological phenomenon, EVP illustrates how readily the human auditory system imposes meaningful language onto ambiguous or noisy sound, particularly when a listener is primed to expect a voice.