Very low frequency (VLF) auroral hiss at Kannuslehto (KAN), Finland, was analyzed with reference to the progress of 98 isolated magnetic substorms measured during the winter months of 2015?2018. Of these, 91 were accompanied by auroral hiss during the substorm growth phase. No auroral hiss was recorded during the expansion and recovery phases. We found that auroral hiss was observed under rising polar cap (PC) index, showing an increased solar wind energy input into the magnetosphere during the substorm growth phase. We also found that in 58 of the 65 events studied, KAN was located in the vicinity of enhanced field-aligned currents (FACs) during auroral hiss occurrence. For the first time, it was established that auroral VLF hiss generation in the equatorial part of the auroral oval is a typical signature of a substorm growth phase.