Humming oh no

So the Prius has 243K on it now and I have been an inattentive owner and currently cash is pretty scarce. I can't afford another car so am hoping that the problems can be fixed with little expense. I hit a pot hole after a big freeze thaw a couple of months ago and car started humming shortly afterwards (sounds like front end, might be passenger side). I have had a bad bearing before and thought it might be another one although it wasn't much louder than road noise. I took it to my local mom and pop shop and they said there was no play in the tires so they wouldn't touch it.

I went to my next resource: YouTube. Apparently there is another way to test for bearing and that is to rotate the tire and feel for vibrations in the strut springs. Don't know if this is universal and don't want to waste the shops time taking it back there. Any feedback?

I read a few things on gen 1 and it sounds like it could be the MG2. How would you know the difference between the MG2 and a bearing?

BTW - When it was new I had written in about issues with car speeding up when hitting a pot hole or a line of tar filler in the road. It also shut down if the wheels spun on gravel or in snow regardless of speed. It's most likely a malfunctioning traction control module. Toyota knew it was a problem and offered to give me $10K toward a 2010 in which they had fixed the computer software problems. That wasn't an option as I owed over double that on the loan. I turned them down and will not sell the car to another person. At least I know what it does. It is going to the crusher eventually. In the meantime I buy very soft tires to keep the wheels in better contact with the road so the TC is less likely to be triggered.