There is one on now! I am sure of it!

December 19, 2006 5:56 PM

How is it that I can always tell there is a television on in the house, even when there is no sound coming out of it?

This stems out of a little OCD thing I have where I can't stand seeing a television on if nobody is watching it. I can go to someones house, and know there is a television on without necessarily hearing anything.

Most people I tell this too think that I am crazy - but I just know if one is on, even when the volume is muted.

There is a slight ringing in my ears when this happens- do televisions emit an ultra-high pitched sound that is inaudible to most ears? Is it something more sinister - like radiation... or do I really have some sort of 'Shining-esque' skill?

posted by TheOtherGuy to technology (41 comments total)

You are hearing the flyback transformer whining at a frequency high enough that other people may not be able to hear it.
posted by odinsdream at 5:58 PM on December 19, 2006

Some people, which sometimes includes me, can hear the high pitched hum that tvs produce.
posted by caddis at 5:58 PM on December 19, 2006

Old-school CRT TV, yeah? You'll get a high-frequency noise from the electron gun itself, or a flyback transformer or something like that. Some people can hear it, some people can't.
posted by chrismear at 5:59 PM on December 19, 2006

I can also hear CRTs.

If you can hear LCDs and Plasmas too, then I'd think you're just OCD, but CRTs make a distinct noise that is out of a lot of people's hearing range.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 6:08 PM on December 19, 2006

I third the flyback transformer. When you can, put your ear against the very rear of the set. If it's more intense, that's what it is.
posted by ardgedee at 6:08 PM on December 19, 2006

I can hear the transformer. Drives me crazy sometimes. Of course, I've had so many electronics around for so much of my life that it's almost worse to have nothing turned on in the house - the silence is way too eerie.

How old are you? The high-frequency range of your hearing will diminish as you get older (which is how those anti-teenager devices work without annoying the old geezers).
posted by backseatpilot at 6:09 PM on December 19, 2006

I am not a television repairman, nor an audiologist, but with the info you provided that is my first thought. I can hear it at some times better than others. You may be picking it up on an almost subconcious level, so before you are even consiously aware of the sound, you think "TV!"
posted by The Deej at 6:12 PM on December 19, 2006

Oh yeah. I never understand how people can sleep with their computer on in the room. The sqeeeeeeeeeeeeeee is so. irritating.
posted by loiseau at 6:12 PM on December 19, 2006

Put me down as another person that hears the sound. You are not crazy, or possibly you are crazy, but this is not necessarily a symptom.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:15 PM on December 19, 2006

You aren't crazy. I can tell when many electrical devices are turned on from the other room specifically TVs and computers. Only low power devices, e.g. clock radio, seem to not generate an audible sound.
posted by dgeiser13 at 6:16 PM on December 19, 2006

Some T.V.s emit a frequency somewhere around 18000 hertz, which a lot of people can't hear. Most kids under 20 can hear it, but after that age the hearing deteriorates just enough so that those frequencies are inaudible. Some stores used devices that made this sound to keep teenagers from loitering outside their stores. But then apparently some kids fought back.
posted by joshers13 at 6:18 PM on December 19, 2006

I can hear the sound a tv makes. You're not crazy.
posted by elisabeth r at 6:22 PM on December 19, 2006

I used to hear it, and now I can't. I suspect several years of daily exposure to the New York subway system did nicely for the hair cells in that part of my cochlea.

So there's hope for you!
posted by ikkyu2 at 6:23 PM on December 19, 2006

I'm 28. I was able to hear all TVs until I was about 25. Now I can only hear especially old/broken ones.

I can still hear almost all fluorescent lights, and low-budget shopping malls driving me crazy - I can hear the rodent repellent systems (in low budget malls the piezo element is invariably broken and thus vibrating at a lower frequency, around 20KHz).
posted by dmd at 6:23 PM on December 19, 2006

I hear CRT whine as well. From anywhere in the house, I can tell if the TV is on by that infernal noise. Sometimes I hear it inside people's houses when I am walking the dog at night, too.

I find this long range odd. By my understanding, higher-pitched noises are the first to attenuate.
posted by clord at 6:31 PM on December 19, 2006

It's a high-pitched sound from a CRT, like everyone here says. Ikkyu2 is right, your ability to hear it will go away. I haven't heard my TV noise since that Marilyn Manson concert in '04.

Something wacky for ya: in college, I suffered from tinnitus and was able to hear the too-loud audio from my TV even when it was muted. Boy, did that suck.
posted by infinitewindow at 6:34 PM on December 19, 2006

Hey thanks all, I suspected it was something like that.

For the record I am 26, so I guess I better make the most of this skill whilst I still have it :)
posted by TheOtherGuy at 6:39 PM on December 19, 2006

Thanks for asking this. I'm 33 and have this ability. Thought it was a "Spidey-sense" at first.
posted by vagabond at 6:56 PM on December 19, 2006

Until this thread, I thought everyone could hear the CRT hum. I feel special now.
posted by catburger at 7:08 PM on December 19, 2006

I'm 33 and can still hear them, and I hate the noise.
posted by dilettante at 7:19 PM on December 19, 2006

I can't sleep unless I have a monitor or tv on in the house, just because of this sound. I relate it with some sort of unconcious "everything is ok" sort of noise.
posted by jackofsaxons at 7:24 PM on December 19, 2006

I hear the same sound...in Sears. I have ALWAYS perceived a very very high pitched noise in every Sears store I have been in to the point I try not to go there-it gives me a headache after a short time.
posted by konolia at 8:01 PM on December 19, 2006

I need to show this thread to my wife - we both thought I was the only one.

I also tend to hear a crackling sound whenever something white appears on the screen - like a news ticker.
posted by icontemplate at 8:07 PM on December 19, 2006

previously, and related
posted by misterbrandt at 8:27 PM on December 19, 2006

I'm 37, and can hear that particular 15 kHz hum distinctly, even from another floor in the house and sometimes from outside, like clord reports above. Weirdly, I have poor hearing in general, tinnitus from years of loud music, and I usually sleep with a powered-up computer only a few feet from my head.
posted by solid-one-love at 9:08 PM on December 19, 2006

Just wait a few years. I just lost it some time between 35 and 39 (and this despite a lifetime of tinnitus.)
posted by Opposite George at 9:11 PM on December 19, 2006

i can hear the TV whine too, although not as loudly now that i'm no longer a child. i had a childhood friend who could hear that sound while walking down the sidewalk, through closed doors/windows.

you're not nuts, you just have good hearing. i bet you can also hear the mosquito celphone ring, can't you? (that's a fun test. i can barely hear it- it certainly doesn't bug me- but my boyfriend makes squinchy faces for the entire duration of that mp3). here's the NY Times article about that sound.
posted by twistofrhyme at 9:16 PM on December 19, 2006

I hear it, too, across entire large houses with many walls. And, it makes me crazy. And, I never watch TV.
posted by fieldtrip at 9:47 PM on December 19, 2006

i had a childhood friend who could hear that sound while walking down the sidewalk, through closed doors/windows.

Used to be that sensitive; not sure now. I can still hear it in any room in a house I'm in, though.
posted by dreamsign at 12:40 AM on December 20, 2006

I had a childhood friend who could hear that sound while walking down the sidewalk, through closed doors/windows

Back in the early days of cable tv boxes, the days I was in early high school, everyone in my hometown had the same box and remote from the same cable monopoly. As a prank we would walk around the neighborhood until I heard a running tv, then we would sneak into that family's yard and see if we could find a hidden spot where we had a shot at their tv set with our remote. Up went the volume, then the channel changed, then on/off, mute, volume again. On and on we went until the enraged homeowner would call the cable company.

Good times, good times. Sorry cable guys, wherever you are now.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:53 AM on December 20, 2006 [1 favorite]

Add me to the list of people who may possibly be crazy but hear this noise regardless, even from a considerable distance. Thankfully I've never thought this was a symptom of my dubious mental state, a high school electronics course taught me that this came from the high-frequency vibrations emitted by the flyback transformer, which provides the high voltages needed to operate a picture tube (as well as the origins of its name, and some fun things the school never ought know the instructor taught us you could do with them).

loiseau, I personally can't sleep without the soothing sound of my 7-fan system. My primary monitor is an LCD though, and I turn off the gargantuan secondary CRT (which doesn't seem to make as much noise as a similarly-sized TV) when I'm not using it, so the squeal isn't a problem.

twistofrhyme, thank you so much for that ringtone. Now I can make older people think I'm psychic.
posted by Spike at 1:52 AM on December 20, 2006

I can hear this too, and I also get annoyed when a TV is on and no one is watching it, which seems to be more often than not...
posted by Meagan at 4:05 AM on December 20, 2006

I'm 29 and can honestly tell you that you're all nuts. :)

I've never heard a crt whine, but my brother learnt years back that he could drive me nuts with a glass filled with fizzy water to about 20mm of the top. The sound of the bubbles amplified to the point I could hear it across the room.
posted by twine42 at 4:32 AM on December 20, 2006

I'm 37 and still hear all the really high pitch sounds from CRTs, fluorescent lights, broken thermostats... This ability actually saved my life once. An older television in a spare bedroom woke me up as the whining became louder and louder. I went in to unplug it and a tiny blue flame poped out of the back just before I reached the plug.
posted by Classic Diner at 6:05 AM on December 20, 2006

Thanks for this thread! It makes me feel so much better about that time I was sent out of Physics class for claiming I could hear a TV with the volume turned down -- "If there is no sound coming out of the sound circuit, the television is silent, fool".
posted by bonaldi at 7:13 AM on December 20, 2006

.not that it matters, but I can hear them too. Drives me nuts when there's no one watching it.
posted by tdreyer1 at 8:18 AM on December 20, 2006

So I'm not crazy? Well, I always knew I was right, but so many people have told me I'm nuts.

Phew.
posted by sunshinesky at 9:45 AM on December 20, 2006

You think it's bad when you can hear them- try going into a computer lab (or worse, working in one). I had to turn off every unused monitor in the room sometimes in the lab I worked in just so I could hear myself think.
posted by Four Flavors at 9:49 AM on December 20, 2006

My wife can hear when monitors/TVs are going bad, I cannot and never have. She doesn't describe it as a pleasant sound, so I'm not jealous at all.
posted by tommasz at 11:38 AM on December 20, 2006

I'm 31 and I can hear most TVs. So can Mrs. ob, so I figured everyone could. Oh, thanks for that Mp3 twistofrhyme, it makes my head feel like it's going to explode.
posted by ob at 12:49 PM on December 20, 2006

Don't bet on it going away early. I'm 40, spent most of my 20s at very loud concerts, and can still hear CRT whine from across a street.
posted by Hogshead at 3:41 PM on December 20, 2006