TheGiantHogweed
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2013
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I hope this is appropriate for this thread.
Throughout my life I've always been hypersensitive to sound and my other senses as it happens. I do have Autism which I'm pretty certain will make it worse.
Anyway, my main problem is getting driven mad by interference, or high pitched buzzes from transformers or other things. I sometimes wonder if i should be able to hear many of the things I do. I'll just do a list below of some of the things I notice.
Every time I go into shops or other places that have CRT monitors used for either CCTV or other stuff, I'm usually pretty desperate to get away from them as I find the high pitched sound painful to hear. When I was a kid, We did have a CRT TV but I don't remember it sounding this annoying other than when first turned on and you got all the static. But maybe I was just less aware at the time.
The vast majority of phone chargers (or any other sort) seem to make an annoying high pitched buzz that is probably from the transformer inside. I usually try to buy expensive ones from brands such as Anker as I find they make next to no noise at all and are find at a distance.
I've even noticed a great deal of modern lamps even from proper brands like Philips often make some kind of buzz that I can sometimes hear from quite some distance away.
Is it really normal for people to hear audible noise from almost all electrical things? Although luckily it isn't my monitor, another one in my house makes a constant buzz. it is a fairly old and thick flat screen and I'm guessing it maybe florescent tubes that are doing the backlight and it is just the ballast buzzing or something.
I even once ended up buying a Dyson fan as I wanted an extremely quiet cooling device for my room. The reason I ended up returning that was for the most strange reason... The little screen on it displaying the speed number/timer and other things made a high pitched buzz whenever it was lit and i could hear that over the sound of the fan motor when it was low. Deep and consistent sounds i can cope with so long as they are quiet. But anything high pitched just drives me mad and there seem to be so few electrical devices that are quiet to my ears.
Onto a more audio related topic. I recently purchased a Topping Ampster BT amplifier to go with some old speakers and a subwoofer. Now the audio quality is not a problem and is fine for the price. But the unit itself has a really irritating whine coming from inside. When measuring it against online tone generator, it emits a frequency between 8 and 10kz and it just rings in my ears close up. It certainly isn't loud, but i just find high frequency tones like this really hard to cope with. I find that a little strange as all my headphones (Audio technica ATH-AD700, Beyerdynamic DT880 pro, AKG K550 original & MKIII) are all really bright and I like them all. I'd even say treble is what I like most in my audio.
I ended up building a shelf out of worktop to put around the amplifier just having the back open. Luckily you can do everything on the remote and it has an IR extender which in my case is critical.
You will probably get the idea by now that I'm far more sensitive than average but it would be interesting to know if anyone else on this forum is at all similar. Especially as many of us will have very good ears for sound on headphones!
On another note, I would probably say that touch is the other sense that I notice too much. Will be interesting to know if others think this is normal. Virtually every electronic device with a metal shell seems to give a slight tingle to my skin. Admittedly only really noticeable if you use the back of your hand or brush up against it really gently, but when I was much younger, this made me pretty nervous at times. Even when I did an electrical installation course at collage, my tutor didn't really understand what I meant. Even really low voltage stuff such as my FiiO A3 amplifier, when that is on charge, and i brush my fingers on the top of it, it feel what I've been describing. Interestingly, it is only when connected to devices that somewhere along the line are connected to the mains. (a USB hub to my My PC for example). If I charge the A3 from a power bank, I don't notice this at all. What made me question this here is that it is especially noticeable on my tangent amplifier too. Unless you switch it off at the rear, if i miss the volume dial and brush the metal front, this feeling is pretty obvious. Despite having done a fair bit with electrical stuff, I'm really not sure what this is. But it is obvious that a great deal of devices have it and clearly pass safety tests. I just wonder why I'm alone with noticing stuff again!
Throughout my life I've always been hypersensitive to sound and my other senses as it happens. I do have Autism which I'm pretty certain will make it worse.
Anyway, my main problem is getting driven mad by interference, or high pitched buzzes from transformers or other things. I sometimes wonder if i should be able to hear many of the things I do. I'll just do a list below of some of the things I notice.
Every time I go into shops or other places that have CRT monitors used for either CCTV or other stuff, I'm usually pretty desperate to get away from them as I find the high pitched sound painful to hear. When I was a kid, We did have a CRT TV but I don't remember it sounding this annoying other than when first turned on and you got all the static. But maybe I was just less aware at the time.
The vast majority of phone chargers (or any other sort) seem to make an annoying high pitched buzz that is probably from the transformer inside. I usually try to buy expensive ones from brands such as Anker as I find they make next to no noise at all and are find at a distance.
I've even noticed a great deal of modern lamps even from proper brands like Philips often make some kind of buzz that I can sometimes hear from quite some distance away.
Is it really normal for people to hear audible noise from almost all electrical things? Although luckily it isn't my monitor, another one in my house makes a constant buzz. it is a fairly old and thick flat screen and I'm guessing it maybe florescent tubes that are doing the backlight and it is just the ballast buzzing or something.
I even once ended up buying a Dyson fan as I wanted an extremely quiet cooling device for my room. The reason I ended up returning that was for the most strange reason... The little screen on it displaying the speed number/timer and other things made a high pitched buzz whenever it was lit and i could hear that over the sound of the fan motor when it was low. Deep and consistent sounds i can cope with so long as they are quiet. But anything high pitched just drives me mad and there seem to be so few electrical devices that are quiet to my ears.
Onto a more audio related topic. I recently purchased a Topping Ampster BT amplifier to go with some old speakers and a subwoofer. Now the audio quality is not a problem and is fine for the price. But the unit itself has a really irritating whine coming from inside. When measuring it against online tone generator, it emits a frequency between 8 and 10kz and it just rings in my ears close up. It certainly isn't loud, but i just find high frequency tones like this really hard to cope with. I find that a little strange as all my headphones (Audio technica ATH-AD700, Beyerdynamic DT880 pro, AKG K550 original & MKIII) are all really bright and I like them all. I'd even say treble is what I like most in my audio.
I ended up building a shelf out of worktop to put around the amplifier just having the back open. Luckily you can do everything on the remote and it has an IR extender which in my case is critical.
You will probably get the idea by now that I'm far more sensitive than average but it would be interesting to know if anyone else on this forum is at all similar. Especially as many of us will have very good ears for sound on headphones!
On another note, I would probably say that touch is the other sense that I notice too much. Will be interesting to know if others think this is normal. Virtually every electronic device with a metal shell seems to give a slight tingle to my skin. Admittedly only really noticeable if you use the back of your hand or brush up against it really gently, but when I was much younger, this made me pretty nervous at times. Even when I did an electrical installation course at collage, my tutor didn't really understand what I meant. Even really low voltage stuff such as my FiiO A3 amplifier, when that is on charge, and i brush my fingers on the top of it, it feel what I've been describing. Interestingly, it is only when connected to devices that somewhere along the line are connected to the mains. (a USB hub to my My PC for example). If I charge the A3 from a power bank, I don't notice this at all. What made me question this here is that it is especially noticeable on my tangent amplifier too. Unless you switch it off at the rear, if i miss the volume dial and brush the metal front, this feeling is pretty obvious. Despite having done a fair bit with electrical stuff, I'm really not sure what this is. But it is obvious that a great deal of devices have it and clearly pass safety tests. I just wonder why I'm alone with noticing stuff again!
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