posted
... hear that high-pitched noise when going through those detector things at the entrances and exits to stores and libraries? It hurts!
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I hear it, and I know others that hear it. That does seem less common than not being able to hear it.
I can also hear when a television set is turned on even if completely muted or receiving no signal and when most fluorescent [lights or] laptops are turned on.
Someone had linked to a pitch-based online hearing test recently, back during a discussion of loss of hearing range with age. Anyone still have the link?
--
Edited to add: I do, however, seem to be tone deaf. My humming of Stairway to Heaven for Cranium was almost exactly wrong in note, although correct in beat, or somesuch. Most crushing to the ear ego. *grin
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I hear the high pitched squeal from my Television, Stereo, Computer Monitor, and whatnot that alot of other people cannot hear. But doors at supermarkets is a new one.
At the same time, my hearing is sorta shot and I often cannot hear frequencies that most people hear with no problem (too many concerts in college combined with ear infections as a child.)
And COULD YOU TALK LOUDER SONNY? TALK INTO THE CONE!"
Posts: 1572 | Registered: Jan 2004
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My ears are incredibly sensitive to altitude. I can tell if we are going higher or lower even when there is no apparent grade to the road I'm travelling on.
I have no real use for this super power, but it exists. Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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The sound is probably when the capacitors are charging and discharging. Like CT, I can hear a TV on across the house, even on mute, by its high pitched whine.
Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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There was a student I taught once who could hear those sonic cockroach deterrents that you plug into the wall. He was being driven mad in science class and no one could tell why, until he walked around the room to find where the sound was coming from, and pulled the gadget from the wall.
You can imagine, in middle school, there was no end to the jokes.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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My mom, who wears hearing aids, can hear it when she is wearing them. She also called me the day she got them, and asked if the lights in our living room buzz (they do). It's been an interesting year.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Those are all really high-frequency tones, which many people can't hear, and the older you get, the more likely you are to not be able to hear them, as we become less and less sensitive to high-frequencey sounds as we age.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:"The New York Times is reporting on a device called the Mosquito invented by Howard Stapleton designed to drive teens away by emitting a high frequency noise at 75db. Apparently most older people can not hear the sounds, but teens can not stand it. Reports are that it works quite well, but some older people can hear it too. He found the prefect irritating sound by experimenting on his children."
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One year my Grandmother bought some Christmas socks with high pitched jingle bells on them. It drove the rest of us crazy, so we finnally asked how she could stand it. She looked at us and said "they make noise?"
My Grandmother & my Dad can't hear any high pitch noise, like watch alarms, jingle bells,ect.
Posts: 555 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Heh, Italian opera would do the same thing as a mosquito noise.
I have a ringing in my head almost all the time, plus I am able to hear high pitched noises. It's the low pitches I can't hear...husband, father, boss LOL
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I can hear when tvs are turned on. i go insane from those ruddy Salvation Army bells. They make my teeth feel like someone is scraping them with little needles. I want to tell themn to stop doing that!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I can hear tvs, computers, stuff like that. There's an outlet next to my head on the top bunk, and I can hear it making a loud, high pitched noise every night. It makes it hard to get to sleep, but my roommates can't hear it.
Posts: 1591 | Registered: Jul 2005
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My father used to have hearing like that. When he was in the Marines (45 years ago), he used to work as a mechanic on aircraft carriers. He grounded an aircraft once because he heard a squealing in an engine no one else could hear.
When they took the engine apart, it seemed as though the turbine was just barely making contact as it spun. There was a good chance it could have caused a serious problem if the pilot was allowed to takeoff.
The pilot bought him more than a few beers once they got leave.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Mother: Second floor, northwest two. Whistler: That's a bathroom. Mother: Second floor, northwest three. Whistler: That's an emergency exit. Mother: How do you know that? Whistler: I can hear the emergency floodlight batteries recharging.
You know, it's weird. I'm 40% deaf in my left ear, yet the remaining 60% is extremely sensitive to high pitched noises and things outside of what normal humans hear.
At a previous employer, I had the "gift" of knowing when eight to ten year old VT-100 terminals were about to die by the high pitched squeal they make. On several occasions I'd point to a monitor and say something like "I'll have to replace that in three days," and sure enough I would have to.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I think that's why I often react just before the phone rings. It must make some sort of sound immediately prior to ringing, and that's what I'm hearing.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I think that's why I often react just before the phone rings. It must make some sort of sound immediately prior to ringing, and that's what I'm hearing.
Or maybe your are some sort of spooky clairvoyant witch, huh?
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Theres a cell phone ring tone that makes a really high pitched noise that only kids can hear. It really works, and if someone calls you while you're in class the teacher wouldn't be able to hear the ring tone but all the students would. It is REALLY high pitched, idk your post reminded me of it.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I think that's why I often react just before the phone rings. It must make some sort of sound immediately prior to ringing, and that's what I'm hearing.
That's fascinating. If I set my cellphone by the CRT computer monitor, about 2 seconds before it rings, what is displayed starts to wiggle. I wonder if you're someone sensitive to magnetic fields or something Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by SoaPiNuReYe: Theres a cell phone ring tone that makes a really high pitched noise that only kids can hear. It really works, and if someone calls you while you're in class the teacher wouldn't be able to hear the ring tone but all the students would. It is REALLY high pitched, idk your post reminded me of it.
Psssst ... see above ... *really high-pitched whisper
quote:Dags, several high school and middle school classes have discovered that their teachers are also able to hear the sounds. (I can, for example.)
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I think that's why I often react just before the phone rings. It must make some sort of sound immediately prior to ringing, and that's what I'm hearing.
There are a few phones that take a fraction of the ring sound and play it before actually ringing. I had phones in Malaysia that did this and in my first house in Hong Kong I always walked to the phone before it actually rang.
I can hear the sound a TV makes while its on, but not typically from across the house, if I am nearby I might not even notice it if there is enough background noise. I always took pride in the fact I could always hear the faintest sounds on a hearing test.
If I stop and focus my hearing there is always a faint "eeeeeeeeeeee" sound, occasionally (Like once a month or so) out of nowhere it can increase in volume until its covering all other sounds and the note changes as well. I've always wondered about it.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: If I stop and focus my hearing there is always a faint "eeeeeeeeeeee" sound, occasionally (Like once a month or so) out of nowhere it can increase in volume until its covering all other sounds and the note changes as well. I've always wondered about it.
I think what you're hearing is the power transformers inside devices. Most devices don't use 120V AC power to operate their innards (yes that's a technical term). For example, your computer takes in 120V AC from the wall and converts it to DC voltages of 12V, 5V, 3.3V, etc. This requires a transformer.
The transformer takes advantage of the fact that changing electrical current in a wire induces a magnetic field, and that changing magnetic fields can induce an electrical current. The material used contracts and expands due to the magnetic field, this causes a humming. Recently (the last couple decades), they've used methods to make this hum at frequency beyond the range of normal human hearing. However, I don't know if they went just beyond an average range and that's why people can hear it, or if there's multiple oscillations going on resulting in an apparent lower pitch (I think this can happen, but it's been awhile since I read up on that).
Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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In the US, the TV horizontal sync frequency is 15,734 Hz. I can hear it. Musically, that's just flat of a B approximately 6 octaves above middle C.
Last year I taught an introductory physics lab in which they played with signal generators. I tested my own hearing and got up to about 16,250 Hz before I couldn't discern between on and off anymore. My students either gave up earlier or have had their high-frequency hearing ravaged due to excessive iPod volume.
I've always had a background ringing in my ears, but I don't think it's tinnitus. I've never noticed if I can hear it or not when I'm out in the woods. I'll have to check next time!
Posts: 105 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: If I stop and focus my hearing there is always a faint "eeeeeeeeeeee" sound, occasionally (Like once a month or so) out of nowhere it can increase in volume until its covering all other sounds and the note changes as well. I've always wondered about it.
I think what you're hearing is the power transformers inside devices. Most devices don't use 120V AC power to operate their innards (yes that's a technical term). For example, your computer takes in 120V AC from the wall and converts it to DC voltages of 12V, 5V, 3.3V, etc. This requires a transformer.
The transformer takes advantage of the fact that changing electrical current in a wire induces a magnetic field, and that changing magnetic fields can induce an electrical current. The material used contracts and expands due to the magnetic field, this causes a humming. Recently (the last couple decades), they've used methods to make this hum at frequency beyond the range of normal human hearing. However, I don't know if they went just beyond an average range and that's why people can hear it, or if there's multiple oscillations going on resulting in an apparent lower pitch (I think this can happen, but it's been awhile since I read up on that).
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I think that's why I often react just before the phone rings. It must make some sort of sound immediately prior to ringing, and that's what I'm hearing.
Or maybe your are some sort of spooky clairvoyant witch, huh?
quote: When I put the TV on mute, I can still hear the voices when I watch the mouths move.
But I guess that's just me losing my mind.
TVs actually do make the noises still. It's not just you thinking you can hear them when you watch their mouths. It just makes it really really quiet.
I have weird hearing too. Sometimes when a song makes a certain pitch it makes one of my ears fell like its vibrating, but not the other. Occasionally I get super sensitive to sound. Not like a can hear miles away, but every noise I hear hurts. Every little sound seems to be screaming.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:That's fascinating. If I set my cellphone by the CRT computer monitor, about 2 seconds before it rings, what is displayed starts to wiggle. I wonder if you're someone sensitive to magnetic fields or something
I've got some kind of weird magnetic field sensitivity thing going on, I swear.
About five years ago, working at a client's office, I was using his computer and wheeled myself away from it. As I moved away, it squiggled all over the screen. I moved closer, it squiggled again. I did this for a few minutes, and every time I rolled to or away from the monitor at a significant pace, the display went severely wonky. I then showed it to the two other people who were in the office at the time. Neither of them could make the monitor do that, but I could. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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