Can you hear electricity?

[ImAnAspie]

I have a limited ability to hear it, but aging is gradually taking care of it.

Well, there ya go! There IS actually a positive that comes out of old age. I won't be able to hear annoying sounds anymore!

 

[Effy]

I heard my phone charging again today. :s I unplugged it when it was done, and the sound stopped.

I'm getting headphones Monday... yeah, definitely.

 

[S0093679]

This is an awful problem for me. There is one phone charger in particular, makes me want to cry because I cant get away from the sound. At other peoples houses or at the doctors/hospital/dentist etc it drives me to distraction, especially when trying to talk/listen with someone.

 

[pushpin]

Yes. It's annoying.

 

[King_Oni]

I can hear static buzzing way too well. And it's quite annoying at times. Sometimes I pick up the buzzing of lightbulbs as well; oh and lampposts on the street. I've also picked up a really high pitched static from surveillance at times, which makes me look around totally paranoid trying to locate by what I'm being watched, lol.

What's also quite annoying; over here a lot of people have a small device in the hood of their cars emitting a really high tone to keep marten, weasels and similar animals away from chewing through cables and tubes of their cars. It keeps me away as well...

 

[AsheSkyler]

Some of those boogerlights/streetlights are so noisy, how could anybody NOT hear them unless they had a genuine problem with their ears? I remember one old one we used to have to walk by that would make me and my mom jump when it kicked on.

 

[Knit Hat]

Yep, I've always been able to hear electricity; except now that I'm getting older, I don't hear as well.

 

[abby normal]

I aged outta hearing that stuff long ago. use to be back in the day, that tv sets emitted a 15.75kilocycle horizontal scan whistle that felt like a drill in my brain. last time I was able to discern such was in my 30s. I guess that can serve as a de facto hearing acuity check, because not being able to hear that scan whistle means that one's high-frequency aural response has dropped off above 15 kilocycles, an early sign of hearing loss.

 

[StephF]

I don't believe people can hear electricity although many pieces of electronic equipment can generate annoying hi or low frequency sound waves who can be very troublesome. After all, what sound does an electron makes as it passes through a conductor ?

While the discussion of elementary particles gives me a hadron, I will avoid it as the last time I did that I got lepton

 

[zurb]

The most annoying electronic noise I hear is the high pitched scream from the vacuum tubes in old style TVs.

A similar noise is that of the capacitors in a flash unit charging.

High tension power wires buzzing aren't so much annoying to my ears but an audible reminder of the health effects of being under them.

 

[red_dog]

I can also hear the static/buzz from many electrical appliances including fans, computers, lights, transformers etc.

My psychologist, an Aspie specialist, has helped me to understand this sensory issue. I now know that although other people may be able to hear the same sounds as I can, such as a clock ticking, I am often more frustrated by it. I find that sounds like this can be very distracting. Also the more stressed/anxious I am the harder I find it to tune out & ignore the sound - so the more annoying it is for me.

My psychologist makes accommodations for me on days when I am sensitive to sounds like this. She will remove the ticking clock from the room, completely turn off her mobile (it's vibrations during silent mode seem louder to me than the noises of non-silent mode), & switch off or remove other electrical devices if they annoy me. Perhaps it would help to explain your sensory sensitivities to other people, so they can help you to minimise these annoying sounds

 

[Bikutoso]

In first year of uppser secondary school during a sales project i hear a outdoor light that was 20 meters (66 Feet) away.
I had many more sounds i have hear both electrical and other once two.
The most annoying sounds i have heard was a clock when i was in the second year of upper secondary school, where i managed to destroy my shrimp from the ticking of the clock.

 

[Ellylldan]

I hear a lot of buzzing and humming around. Right now I'm home alone and apparently in silence, but I'm surrounded by way too many sounds. High frequency buzzing from the boiler is the loudest one for me and yet my musician husband has to concentrate a lot in order to hear that, he just filters them out, I guess. I hear these high pitched noises all the time and sometimes I feel like I can almost see them in the air, that's how intense they are.

 

[Actual Physicist]

Yes, took me a while to realize a lot of the sounds didn't get quieter when I covered my ears. They are directly caused by the electromagnetic fields in many cases (although some electronics do "sing" at high frequencies, often too high for most people to hear; transformers vibrate due to magnetic stress, capacitors can vibrate slightly due to electric stress). There are many papers written on the "microwave hearing effect" though this is only documented for very strong pulsed signals like ship radar. Unplugging electronics is a good idea. There are headphones by Ultrasone that are magnetically shielded, as people found that the magnetic pulses from the speakers cause fatigue over time. Try unplugging your laptop and using a corded keyboard and mouse. Take the battery out of your phone if you can... There was a paper by O. Johansson showing ants are disturbed by phone or wi-fi laptop unless wi-fi is off or battery removed from phone.
Also, a cheap old AM radio is a good way to detect most fields from electronics except for the microwaves.

 

[Schism]

Yes. Everything electrical fizzes, crackles, whines, hums or plain vibrates. Unplug everything when not in use. No control over external sounds. These can send me into a frustrated rage.

 

[Rasputin]

Yes, I can hear piercing electrical surges at work on the 11th floor when batch computer jobs are being run on the first floor. The sound is distracting enough that I have to leave for awhile while this is going on. I am considering wearing earbuds and listening to music because of this.

 

[Michael Balog]

I can hear the hum of my wife’s electric blanket and other things no one else seems to hear. I did have tinnitus I thought or maybe it really isn’t and I’m hearing electrical noises instead.

 

[Dadamen]

Heard it only once when were riding a bike in nature below the power line, it was like a cracking sound.

 

[Progster]

I can hear some buzzing coming from the light fixture in the living room. My partner can hear it too, but it doesn't bother him. I find it unbearable.