this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 98 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Idk if it's just me but I have pretty good hearing, so I can hear the high pitch tone CRTs make and it drives me crazy.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros 41 points 5 months ago (2 children)

This only happens with TVs or very low quality monitors. The flyback transformer vibrates at a frequency of ~15.7k Hz which is audible to the human ear. However, most PC CRT monitors have a flyback transformer that vibrates at ~32k Hz, which is beyond the human hearing range. So if you are hearing the high frequency noise some CRTs make, it is most likely not coming from a PC monitor.

Its a sound thats a part of the experience, and your brain tunes it out pretty quickly after repeated exposure to it. If the TV is playing sound such as game audio or music it becomes almost undetectable. Unless there is a problem with the flyback transformer circuit, which causes the volume to be higher than its supposed to be.

[–] systemglitch 36 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

There is not one crt I ever encountered that I couldn't hear. So I'm having trouble believing you information.

I could time it out most of the time, but it was always there.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_transformer

Under "Operation and Usage":

In television sets, this high frequency is about 15 kilohertz (15.625 kHz for PAL, 15.734 kHz for NTSC), and vibrations from the transformer core caused by magnetostriction can often be heard as a high-pitched whine. In CRT-based computer displays, the frequency can vary over a wide range, from about 30 kHz to 150 kHz.

If you are hearing the sound, its either a TV or a very low quality monitor. Human hearing in perfect lab conditions can only go up to about 28kHz, and anything higher is not able to be heard by the human ear.

Either that or you're a mutant with super ears and the US military will definitely be looking for you to experiment on.

[–] errer 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I’ll defend this guy: there can easily be a harmonic at half the flyback frequency that is audible. It’s lower amplitude so less loud, but I could believe someone being able to hear that.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros -3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, as I previously stated, if there is a problem with the flyback transformer circuit, it is possible that the frequency or volume of the noise it generates can become increased or different.

Though again, PC monitors never made an audible noise unless they were low quality and used the cheaper 15.7kHz transformer in their construction.

Other noises associated with CRTs are the degaussing noise, which only happens once usually after turning on the CRT or after pressing the degauss button, or the sound of old IDE hard disks spinning, which also make a constant high frequency noise.

[–] errer 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Not sure you follow: even if the primary frequency is out of range, a harmonic (half the frequency, quarter the frequency, etc) can simultaneously exist with the primary.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros -4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I suppose its possible with a low quality CRT that has poor construction, leaving loose parts or thin plastic fins that can vibrate at harmonics of a lower frequency, but high quality CRTs don't have this issue.

Extra or louder noise does not occur in normal operation of a correctly functioning flyback transformer circuit. Any frequency or harmonic (vibration) that occurs that is not the specified frequency of operation of the flyback transformer is caused by a problem in the circuit. A brand new CRT with known good parts will not have any kind of extra harmonic.

I had to replace a flyback transformer because it was too loud, and it was a pretty simple job. Hardest part was finding a new flyback transformer. After replacement, the noise volume was reduced to normal levels.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's crazy you keep ignoring what he's saying to double down and triple down on your incorrect claim.

[–] systemglitch 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Please don't tell them about me.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros 1 points 5 months ago

Your secret is safe with me.

[–] systemglitch 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

On a side note, I can also hear when a capacitor is going bad on an lcd when other people around me cant hear it.

It could be something else in the crts I'm hearing, but I can definitely tell one is on without seeing it. It's been like this since the 70s for me.

I can also smell and taste things other people can't, so something is a little different in my brain somehow.

My partner and daughter tell me I have super powers lol. Guess who gets to smell meat for rot? Not them! Bleh.

[–] Cypher 1 points 5 months ago

You’re not alone, I can hear CRTs, bad capacitors and an array of other electrical appliances.

I can still hear the high frequencies that only teenagers and your kids are meant to be able to hear.

[–] deltapi 1 points 4 months ago

I could hear them too, when I was younger. I lost that frequency range of my hearing in my mid-to-late 20's, which I've read is normal.

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

Oh neat, thanks for the explanation! That makes sense as most of my crt exposure for the past 10 years has been classroom TVs and museum exhibits.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

the solution is to be in your mid-30s

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Unless you have tinnitus.

Then you're possibly going to hear it very frequently.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

you could say in a...

high frequency

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[–] systemglitch 9 points 5 months ago

Ditto, lcd's were a godsend.

[–] nadiaraven 9 points 5 months ago

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

(me too)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

For me it was the refresh. If a CRT was at 60Hz, I could see it flashing when I wasn't looking directly at it. I had to have it set to at least 75 Hz (>80 Hz preferably) or it would give me a headache.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

This and the scanlines actually make it feel so weird to look at for me, I hate crts with a passion