Yes, it might be a defective tape, which we'd be happy to replace if it's within the guarantee. This has been addressed on posts before. Basically, Paul and Pete confirmed that there are no background voices on our tapes other than those that are clearly audible. If you are hearing voices, it could be a radio station that your player is picking up, bleed through from the other side of the tape, or your imagination. People have even sent us tapes that they said had background voices, but we were never able to find anything. And, there's nothing subliminal on the Paralminal tapes.