Comments on: What's that noise??

Question: What's that noise??

dead_ — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:24:05 -0800

Why, when a TV is turned on--even in another room--can I detect some kind of buzzing/electronic noise, that many other people around me can't detect?

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:26:44 -0800

Is it a high frequency whine, cause I can hear that from next door?

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:33:16 -0800

Me too. No one else seems bothered by it. There are some computers here at the office, where I can tell if the guy down the hall has his door open or not. It's a curse. I use LCD monitors at home as much as possible.

By: kuperman

kuperman — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:34:21 -0800

I've noticed that too and wondered about that since I was about 10.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:35:42 -0800

You may just have better hearing then them.

By: sohcahtoa

sohcahtoa — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:36:46 -0800

I was in a museum in Madrid a few years ago, and there was some multimedia show that included a small TV that was whining something awful. It gave me an instant headache. My wife couldn't hear it.

I chalk it up to variety in the human species.

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:40:50 -0800

I remember asking my parents this when I was a kid and getting blank looks. It's all normal. A TV's electronics generate 525 lines * 30 frames per second = 15750 Hz, which is at the upper threshold of hearing.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:41:25 -0800

I believe this is related to the earlier question about high-voltage power lines buzzing. Inside CRTs, like computer screens and televisions, there's a transformer coil that ramps up the voltage from the wall. It's wound several hundred times with wire that vibrates at high frequency and thus emits sound. I've heard, but not tried it myself, that one can drip hot glue on the side of the coil to dampen some of the vibration and stop most of the sound.

By: rajbot

rajbot — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:42:46 -0800

It's the flyback transformer.

By: Juliet Banana

Juliet Banana — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:43:30 -0800

There was a thread about this on the Something Awful forums once. Most children can hear it, due to having different hearing than adults, and some adults are more sensitive to it than others. So, it's normal for you to be able to hear it, there are many others who hear it(but not all-I don't, even though I clearly remember it from my childhood), but I have no idea WHY you do.

By: ubersturm

ubersturm — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:44:33 -0800

If you're talking about the kind of awful high-pitched whine that lots of electronic devices make, you probably just have better hearing than most other people. The noise from monitors and TVs is pretty bad, but the worst is the noise of the flash charging up on disposable cameras. I can get used to the noise if I'm in a room with a monitor or TV for a while, but I still hear it [and wince] whenever I come in.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:45:42 -0800

Me too, that and flourescent lights. I can see both them and the TV set flicker. Apparently it's not uncommon.

By: mcsweetie

mcsweetie — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:45:55 -0800

I thought I was the only person who experienced this! for some reason, the sound of the whine changes when someone's near. for example, I remember lying in bed as a kid with the tv on and when one of my parents would walk towards my room, the whine would change from a fairly constant pitch to a somewhat erratic pitch.

By: Merdryn

Merdryn — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:48:34 -0800

rajbot is correct. It's the flyback transformer, and the noise is right around 20,000 hz (so, the older you are, the less likely you are able to hear it). Ever see a dog's ears perk up when you turn on a television?

By: unixrat

unixrat — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:53:18 -0800

Long ago, I used to win money in HS by taking bets that I could pin point computer monitors that were on.

I would go out of the lab, someone would turn off all the screens except for one (blank - nothing shown), I would be blindfolded. Then I would come back in and unerringly lead people to the monitor that was on. I won $100 easy in $5 bets from people. (In 1989 as a freshman? Serious scratch.)

They even 'invented' double-blind tests, tests where *no* monitor was on, tests where *two* would be on, etc.

Suckers.

By: dead_

dead_ — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:54:02 -0800

yeah i figured it was something like that. It's not really a bother to me, just something I always wondered! Thanks!

By: Aknaton

Aknaton — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:02:03 -0800

This has been answered above (it's the 30*525 cycle hum), so I just thought I'd mention that the reason that e.g. unixrat can locate the monitor so easily is that such high-frequency noises don't diffract around your head very well. Hence the amplitude difference in your ears gives you a lot of information about where it is.

I was in a museum in Szentendre, Hungary that had a bunch of boxes making even higher, and much louder, noises. Nobody else could hear them, but eventually they believed me when in every room I could instantly locate an innocent-looking little box and say "That's hurting me!" I suspect it was related to a motion detecting alarm system...?

By: matildaben

matildaben — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:11:56 -0800

Yeah, I can hear the high-pitched TV whine in houses as I go by. I asked my dad about it when I was a little kid and he didn't hear anything (male, at the time 40-something, had spent lots of time sitting in orchestras). I had my hearing tested once in college as part of a science experiment and I had a pretty high range of hearing compared to the average. Come to think of it, though, I've been hearing it less and less as I get older.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:36:12 -0800

I just realized that I can't hear this any more. It used to drive me nuts when I was a kid.

Yay, aging.

By: amro

amro — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:44:03 -0800

Is this the same reason I can hear those pest repellent things that you plug into an outlet that are supposedly silent? My mom has one of those, and it drives me mad.

By: Felicity Rilke

Felicity Rilke — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:55:47 -0800

I hear electronic noises from lamps, televisions, computers, etc. all the time, and until I read this thread, I thought everyone else could hear the noises as well.

By: Derek

Derek — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 17:59:42 -0800

Damn, I was wishing for super powers and all I got was this ability. I've been able to notice the change of a channel from another room with the sound muted. It was pretty scary there for a while, not knowing how I was the only one who could feel this happening.

By: tomble

tomble — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 18:16:16 -0800

Yeah, I get this too. The TV is at such a high frequency that it's almost like another sense. I can't so much hear it as feel it (though of course, I am hearing it). I can instantly tell if the TV is on when I walk in the door, even if it's just silently sitting there with nothing on but the DVD player logo.

My dad has an air ionizer in his car, and it drives me crazy - a high pitch whine that he (with an acknowledged lack of hearing) can't make out at all.

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 18:32:35 -0800

I'm able to hear it as well. I used to work for a public service publishing and broadcasting organization. I asked the boys up in TV-land if they could hear the tone. Out of eight of them, only one could. Apparently, the tone is about 22 Khz. I can tell if a TV is on in the house regardless of what room I'm in or what floor I'm on. When I lived in an partment building, I could tell, after getting off the elevator, which of the other five suites on my floor had a TV on.

And while my frequency range of hearing is (apparently) good, my acuity is poor and I have tinnitus to boot. Go figure.

By: signal

signal — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:56:47 -0800

Yep. Started recently, when my palm tungsten started making said noise. I have since fixed the palm problem, but now I hear the noise everywhere!
Especially in my school's computer lab.

By: priorpark17

priorpark17 — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:09:33 -0800

Kick it. I used to work in a dealing room with 150 monitors. There was one that "tuned" into my ear causing the hi-pitched whine. Every morning I had to kick it and then it would be out of tune for the rest or the day.