Do you often hear the ringing of switching power supplies and devices when you are in a quiet space?

I have tinnitus and it sounds just like power supplies, except it comes from nowhere. So, when I hear the squeal, I turn my head. If the squeal noise follows the movement of my head, tinnitus. If it stays put, power supply!

It's like skunk and pot! (I'm in Canada, it's legal and everywhere.) If I smell it, I look around. If I see a burrow, skunk! If I see a dozy looking dude with red eyes...

It's especially common among people with Autism/ASD and ADHD to hear noises other people often don't hear. Like those LED light bars, or coffee pot crackling, or electricity from appliances. For ADHD I've seen a few people claim that those sounds are just as audible for everyone else, but everybody just subconsciously filters it out and doesn't notice it, while people with ADHD are easily caught by it. I assume for ASD it would be somewhat similar – plus Autistic people are a lot more susceptible to sensory issues, although people with ADHD also often have fucked up senses, which can make noises like that a LOT more noticeable (and even problematic/headache-inducing/stressful/painful).

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My father used to make fun of me for saying that I could hear the TV on even if it was muted, or that I could hear the furnace 'scream' before it came on.

One year, I got as a gift for Christmas, a handheld recorder and a fancy microphone from my stepfather a university music professor And that recorder could actually record the sound which he was able to show me on the computer.

That was like 25 years ago, I've been working with computers ever since, and now I am familiar with many many many devices that make high pitch whines.

Coil whine ? Yup. They told me it would go away as I got older and lost range of hearing. Still waiting for that.

Edit: typo

Tinnitus crew checking in

I did as a kid, but my tinnitus covers it up now.

Yes. I can hear to about 18kHz, so cheap USB chargers are no longer allowed in my house....

Worse, the EV chargers I used to work with had PEMs switching at 10kHz for the US UL variants. EVERYONE could hear those!!

Test your hearing range with this if you want...

https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

I used the 10kHz tone to annoy the eng dept in the office till they changed the PEM switching freq to 20kHz....

Not anymore.Age.

When I was a kid I hated going to the city art museum because all the humidity and temperature control devices emitted this awful high frequency noise that made me nauseated.

I can't hear the "mosquito" pitch noise emitters used to deter teenage loitering in some cities anymore. I kept that longer than I thought I would.

Yes. They drive me nuts. My family had a PC that would buzz whenever you moved the mouse. We have a bunch of cheap LED lamps in my apartment and every one has an especially loud transformer.

Yes, often. It doesn't really bother me that much, plus tinnitus generally overwhelms those sounds.

Yes and it drives me bonkers. I've had to leave rooms because the noise was just too loud

Despite me having tinnitus, I hear those sounds very clearly in quiet environments. They annoy the crap out of me...

I play electric guitar a foot from my computer. I hear all kind of noises through my amplifier. Scolling with my wired mouse makes a noise through it. I also know my phone is goimg to ring before it does because the cell,signal makes a noise through mu computer speakers.

Used to, until the tinnitus kicked in.

Not since I developed tinnitus...

Yes, and CRTs as well.

I used to hear this...back when I was in my 20s 😭

Yes. On a side note: do not buy hp printers they are really bad for their power supplies.

I can hear coil whine from my PC's graphics card, but that's it.

Edit: Also our home stereo system (not the speakers) when it's turned on.

I used the have a PC that ran Windows XP, and when I moved the mouse, sound was heard from the speakers. It probably had a cheap sound controller on the motherboard.

please don't make me aware of more sounds I wasn't aware of before, I have enough of them already

Yes some of my smart bulbs make that sound when they’re off or on low power. I’m 38. I do have a mild tinnitus as well but it’s on a different frequency so I hear the difference.

Yep. I was told I’d stop hearing it as I got older but I turn 40 next month and I still hear it.

Got the fans in my pc turned up higher than needed just so i dont heat the coil whine.

I just remembered that the Dell docking station I’m using makes a sound when it processes data. I can literally hear my mouse move.

Don’t buy Dell.

Two of the best investments I've ever made were good quality PC fans and SSDs instead of HDDs. Now, the loudest noises I hear come from my tinnitus.

I don't think I own anything that makes noise like that anymore, but we used to have a big TV a few years ago that I could tell was on or off from the other side of the wall.

E: I just remembered that my speakers sometimes make noise if I listen at a certain angle and last week I heard someone's iPhone charger make a ringing noise while sitting on the socket so I disconnected it.

Yes, I can hear them. Usually it’s not a problem but I have had 1-2 power adapters that annoyed me.

I used to hear tv tubes, power supplies and all sorts of high frequency noise. These days I mostly just hear tinnitus. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I tend to flip off powerstrips at night because of that exact sounds. And also because I think my devices could be listening.

My air fryer has a blinking light whet it's on standby. Well, when the light's OFF, I can hear a high pitched noise. My partner is 4 years older than me and she can't hear it ლ(ಠ_ಠლ)

The transformer of my electric shaver makes a similar noise too.

I'm 56, wear earplugs at night, and still hear an intermittent electrical noise. It's not a high-pitched whine, more like a low hum. I live in an apartment complex so it's likely the wiring. I have hyperacusis.

I used to hear all these sounds, but I'm 40 now so I don't hear them anymore.

Use a spectroscopic app on your phone

It'll help you identify the source of high pitch sounds

I once noticed an external HDD was making a high pitch noise intermittently, as the LED turned on and off. It was bizarre

Edit: spalling

We have a VR system set up in our living room. I don't even want to talk about how long it took me to figure out the receivers were making a steady, high pitched noise. There are 4 of them and they are situated near the ceiling.

I hear it from a lot of things when it's quiet enough. Clock radios, tvs, monitors, my pugmill, heaters. There was a noisy power strip with a flashing one-off switch that I'm still convinced was going to kill someone.

I DON'T know anything about electricity - so mostly it makes me anxious that my house is going to burn down. I have bad enough hearing loss that I have to use closed captions on my TV - but it IS mostly because deep voices are extremely muddled. I'm surprised a bit by how many "not really" answers I see.

I can't hear it but I can often tell when it clicks over because it causes a spike in my tinnitus.

My monitor has a power led that blinks when in stand by (and not receiving a signal.
And the coil whine between the onn/off-switching is audible.

It is never quiet enough in my house to hear myself think without difficulty, so it definitely never gets quiet enough for that.

I really only notice them when the rest of the room is silent. Otherwise my brain ignores the sound most of the time.

When my monitor is on stand-by the led slowly blinks and every time it turns on I can hear it. Aside from that, I don't think so.

Ugh. Now you got me thinking about hearing my heart beats.

Everyone with fully functioning ears can hear it if they pay attention. Just a reminder to protect your hearing!

Inside your ear are hair cells that detect sound. You're born with the only hair cells you'll ever have, and damage to them is irreparable. Hair cells naturally sustain damage over time and people's hearing decreases as they age. This process is accelerated if someone constantly listens to things at loud volumes. So, maybe don't turn it up to 11!

Yes all the time

Yes

I can’t of anything that makes an unwanted sound. Old CRT TVs used to, but I haven’t used one in years. My monitor at work makes a sound when it turns on or off (I believe there’s an ass-old fuse in there), but it makes no sound otherwise.

I’m still young and hear very well, as exemplified by my annoyance of half-closed bottles of carbonated drinks, which do make a sound.

Even past 30 and with (mild) tinnitus, yeah my hearing is still great so I'm going to hear it. Light bulbs, chargers, the router etc.

Recently my computer's PSU has started randomly buzzing a not-quite-high frequency. It could be age (it's from 2019) though I'm pretty sure it's some kind of interference because sometimes it won't make any noise at all for days and I'm pretty sure my light bulb (an LED filament bulb which doesn't have much in the way of components) seems to also make different pitches of buzzing that coordinates with how much my computer PSU will buzz.

Anyways it bothers me, so as soon as I post this I'm going to power-down and unplug my computer and switch to a different device for the next day or so.

Not after I stopped buying cheap power supplies.

I can hear my phone charging.

I have like 2 USB chargers that are really loud.

My friends and I used to drive out to an area of the desert, away from people and the general noise of civilization. However, there were large power transmission lines going through the area and we could listen to them crackle in the night as we watched the stars. Just a nice way to relax and get away from it all.

I hear some of them. There's a real cheap one my parents got with a security camera thats real loud to me, but they don't hear it.

• Belkin travel surge protector
• 5-port USB hub
• wireless charger

Thankfully none else!

• Belkin travel power adapter
• 5-port USB hub
• wireless charger

Thankfully none else!

Yes, but a bit less as I've aged probably because the higher frequency hearing we have starts to diminish the older we get.

Yes, but generally only bad quality loud ones.

I did when I was younger but I don't hear it since I hit around 30

Since I got older this got better. One benefit I guess?

I used to think I do, but I convinced myself I have a tinnitus.

Where can I get what you are having?