It was in a movie made in about 1952 titled "THEM" starring future marshal Matt Dillon (Jim Arness) when I first heard the noises made by giant, radiation-enhanced killer ants. Pretty scary stuff for a 10-year-old kid.
A number of years later I heard that same noise when deep in the woods one day. It was an amazing flashback. It was then I discovered it wasn't ants making "that" noise. It was the cicadas coming out for their 17-year-cycle.
Maybe the ants make that noise too. The ones around my house are too small to tell.