this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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I'm curious, how many people are aware of these sounds. I have designed, etched, and built my own switching power supplies along with winding my own transformers. I am aware of the source of the noise. So, does anyone else hear these high frequency sounds regularly?

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[–] [email protected] 109 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

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...

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's funny that you mentioned pot. Because people described the reaction of pot sometimes in the way of OPs question: When you smoke weed, you get sensitive for things your brain normally is able to filter out as irrelevant information because your head can only process so much before it gets overwhelmed. Some people described that when they smoke weed, that they can sit in their living room or kitchen and start noticing the humming of the fridge or the buzzing of an electrical object as your synapses are wired "differently" when blocked by THC and you start to notice things, your brain normally suppresses.

Sorry for your tinnitus bro. I hope you find ways to make it bearable at times.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's funny, I had a horrible toxic job for way longer than any sane person should ever have to deal with, and one aspect of it was dangerous noise levels. We complained, and the company always sent "independent" inspectors who always found that the noise levels were juuuust inside the legal safe limit. Even when they added enough equipment to double the volume! Funny that... Anyways, I am now over six months gone from that job, and I just realized that my tinnitus is way better than it was! Ditto my mental health... Now I just need a winning lottery ticket or a not-soul-sucking job...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Just checking that you know the tinnitus trick: palm flat on ear blocking sound, fingers drumming lightly on the back of your head.

Makes it go away fairly quickly for most people. Obviously isn't a permanent fix but helps when it gets annoying.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Yup! It fades it out really quick, but it comes back within minutes. My tinnitus has gotten a lot better lately.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Reading people like you describe their tinnitus makes me think I have mild tinnitus myself... It’s not “loud” enough that I realize it’s there over the background noise of a house. But if things get really quiet, like in a power outage, or in a very nicely isolated room like a sound booth, I do hear a slight ringing that sounds extremely similar to CRT noise. I guess the years of blasting music in my headphones and metal/hardcore shows without earplugs didn’t help my case lol

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Sometimes I wonder if my tinnitus is real or if we're just so heavily surrounded by whines nowadays that it seems like tinnitus. I've been in an anechoic chamber and the first thing I noticed was that my ears weren't ringing, but outside of that I have a near constant tinnitus-like whine in several frequencies that doesn't go away even when I wear some kind of hearing protection. It's weird.