The noise started at the beginning of November
January 23, 2022 9:01 AM Subscribe
I'm surprised there aren't devices for locating high-pitched sounds that people have trouble locating.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 9:20 AM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 9:20 AM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
That was both riveting and hilarious, but I'm sure it was absolutely horrible for those affected. Oy!
posted by merriment at 9:25 AM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by merriment at 9:25 AM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
The enraging, life-draining, hair-graying frustration of being a grown woman who can hear high-pitched noises most people, and crucially ALL MEN, cannot is by miles the worst part of living in a city. Every super, every facilities manager, every cursed dude who has ever given me the condescending look of dismissal and pity, saying “I don’t hear anything” will be first against the wall if anyone is ever rash enough to make me Queen.
posted by minervous at 9:27 AM on January 23, 2022 [73 favorites]
posted by minervous at 9:27 AM on January 23, 2022 [73 favorites]
“Oy” would become a theme for him in the coming days.
This is the Only Murders In The Building spinoff I didn't realize I needed, and the writing is truly delightful throughout.
posted by eponym at 9:28 AM on January 23, 2022 [14 favorites]
This is the Only Murders In The Building spinoff I didn't realize I needed, and the writing is truly delightful throughout.
posted by eponym at 9:28 AM on January 23, 2022 [14 favorites]
I love this weird story.
posted by jessamyn at 9:28 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn at 9:28 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm surprised there aren't devices for locating high-pitched sounds that people have trouble locating.
My guess is that the sound was reflecting like crazy off all of the large flat building surfaces, leading to the sense of omnipresence and strange behavior when moving around to find the source. It sounded like people were actually mostly right about the general source - up a few floors on Cadman Towers - except for the building management. :P
posted by kaibutsu at 9:52 AM on January 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
My guess is that the sound was reflecting like crazy off all of the large flat building surfaces, leading to the sense of omnipresence and strange behavior when moving around to find the source. It sounded like people were actually mostly right about the general source - up a few floors on Cadman Towers - except for the building management. :P
posted by kaibutsu at 9:52 AM on January 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
You could use a bat detector, but my guess is that these things are only barely ultrasonic. When I was in my twenties, we rented a place in Cape Cod for a relative's wedding and it was full of 'insect repellers.' I could hear them cheep every few minutes, although it wasn't loud enough to be really annoying. Thirty years later, I don't think I hear much above 14 or 15 kHz, so I wouldn't hear them now.
posted by sfred at 9:52 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by sfred at 9:52 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I once read a science fiction story which started from this same premise: continuous annoying noise that no one can locate the source of. It was worldwide, though, and the resolution was not as happy, though.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:53 AM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:53 AM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
this is a double or a previously story shared in a comment. i've read this, the link is already even pre-clicked for me. the only place i would have seen it is MeFi, but I can't find the previously.
posted by glonous keming at 9:55 AM on January 23, 2022
posted by glonous keming at 9:55 AM on January 23, 2022
I think if I was the audio engineer in the story, I would have a) figured out the dominant frequency of the signal, and b) made a map of the intensity at that frequency during a couple-few 3am walks. With some random fluctuation from reflections, etc, no one measurement will tell you much, but a hundred should give a very good idea of where to look...
posted by kaibutsu at 9:55 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by kaibutsu at 9:55 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Christ, what an asshole. I guess anonymity is the only thing keeping X from being torn to bits by an angry mob.
posted by snofoam at 10:10 AM on January 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 10:10 AM on January 23, 2022 [7 favorites]
Maybe this is what is causing the mysterious noises in Cuba too? Oy!
posted by tafetta, darling! at 10:12 AM on January 23, 2022
posted by tafetta, darling! at 10:12 AM on January 23, 2022
Well, at least the story had a resolution, unlike stories about the Taos Hum, the mysterious sonic phenomenon out here in SW USA.
I'm guessing I wouldn't have been bothered by the sound even if I lived in Brooklyn, because I am an Older who has spent a lot of time on stage playing amplified music. I've had young people play that Secret Sound that grown-ups can't hear because of its high frequency, and it's the Sound of Silence to me.
posted by kozad at 10:18 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm guessing I wouldn't have been bothered by the sound even if I lived in Brooklyn, because I am an Older who has spent a lot of time on stage playing amplified music. I've had young people play that Secret Sound that grown-ups can't hear because of its high frequency, and it's the Sound of Silence to me.
posted by kozad at 10:18 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
My grandparents retired to a mountain cabin and when I flew out for a week’s vacation one summer, I immediately heard a pulsing squeaking noise when going inside.
About five days later, I finally asked, “Doesn’t that constant squeaking sound drive you nuts?”. They looked at me with the most puzzled looks. “What sound?”
They also had the rodent repellent things and the noise stopped after they were unplugged. They had a good laugh because only one person had ever complained before, and they were convinced that person was actually delusionally hearing things.
posted by hwyengr at 10:22 AM on January 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
About five days later, I finally asked, “Doesn’t that constant squeaking sound drive you nuts?”. They looked at me with the most puzzled looks. “What sound?”
They also had the rodent repellent things and the noise stopped after they were unplugged. They had a good laugh because only one person had ever complained before, and they were convinced that person was actually delusionally hearing things.
posted by hwyengr at 10:22 AM on January 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
glonous keming: "this is a double or a previously story shared in a comment. i've read this, the link is already even pre-clicked for me. the only place i would have seen it is MeFi, but I can't find the previously."
this feeling, that you know you've seen something before and can't find it, is almost as annoying as a high-pitched whistle you can't find.
posted by chavenet at 10:48 AM on January 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
this feeling, that you know you've seen something before and can't find it, is almost as annoying as a high-pitched whistle you can't find.
posted by chavenet at 10:48 AM on January 23, 2022 [5 favorites]
At last, an answer to what causes "Havana Syndrome".
Still, could have been worse.
posted by fallingbadgers at 10:48 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Still, could have been worse.
posted by fallingbadgers at 10:48 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
So, I missed the part of the story where this horrible device was taken off the market, or movement was made to make sure people can't use these things? Also missed the part where the guy apologized for accidentally making people miserable for many, many days?
posted by Glinn at 10:56 AM on January 23, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by Glinn at 10:56 AM on January 23, 2022 [14 favorites]
I am delighted these folks found the source of their maddening Mystery Noise and were able to stop it. A while before I moved out of Seattle, a Mystery Noise appeared in my neighborhood - including my bedroom - and it drove me very crazy for a while. My SO couldn't hear it when they visited but it was omnipresent for me, even through earplugs.
My new place is not quiet by any means, it's a few blocks away from a freeway, there's a catering company right behind it who has something that makes a low hum late at night, but there's nothing with the omnipresent, bone-penetrating presence of whatever the hell that noise was.
posted by egypturnash at 11:11 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
My new place is not quiet by any means, it's a few blocks away from a freeway, there's a catering company right behind it who has something that makes a low hum late at night, but there's nothing with the omnipresent, bone-penetrating presence of whatever the hell that noise was.
posted by egypturnash at 11:11 AM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
MetaFilter: where I saw huge leeches in the town fountain across the railroad tracks from the Dairy Queen.
Thanks to kozad for his interesting about. :)
posted by Splunge at 11:12 AM on January 23, 2022
Thanks to kozad for his interesting about. :)
posted by Splunge at 11:12 AM on January 23, 2022
These kind of noises do something nasty to my mind. They turn me into an irrational animal that has to hunt the noise and kill it or die trying. I am not joking, when I was younger it got to the point of violence and self harm, therapy and medication.
I’ve learned to channel it into more productive things. In one apartment I bought a dozen cheap microphones and spent many nights learning the physics, maths and electronics needed to triangulate a sound using crap unmatched microphones. It was airflow in the trash chute, 16 stories make for a decent pressure differential. I could not come up with some way to deal the chute doors, so I vandalized them all by bending a corner of the chute door to allow air to pass without whistling.
In another house there was an almost subliminal constant buzz followed by a momento of silence and a loud CLICK that was driving me crazy. This time I used two good quality matched microphones in a DIY directional foam casing that I wore as a hat. Did not work very well so I put them at the ends of a broomstick and walked around the neighborhood like a clown. Narrowed it down to a light fixture mounted high on the wall of a business. It was a Saturday and the business was closed. I am not very proud, but I got on the roof and shout it out with my air rifle. I slept like a ferret that weekend.
The latest one was an annoying knocking noise in the mornings and afternoons. It took me WEEKS to find it. It was a woodpecker pecking on an old asbestos and cement water tank on the neighbor’s roof. I took out the rifle again and just kidding, I talked to the neighbor and they painted the water tank with some special paint and the woodpecker moved to a jacaranda tree across the street. Somehow woodpecker on wood is fine for me, woodpecker on asbestos drives me crazy.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:15 PM on January 23, 2022 [84 favorites]
I’ve learned to channel it into more productive things. In one apartment I bought a dozen cheap microphones and spent many nights learning the physics, maths and electronics needed to triangulate a sound using crap unmatched microphones. It was airflow in the trash chute, 16 stories make for a decent pressure differential. I could not come up with some way to deal the chute doors, so I vandalized them all by bending a corner of the chute door to allow air to pass without whistling.
In another house there was an almost subliminal constant buzz followed by a momento of silence and a loud CLICK that was driving me crazy. This time I used two good quality matched microphones in a DIY directional foam casing that I wore as a hat. Did not work very well so I put them at the ends of a broomstick and walked around the neighborhood like a clown. Narrowed it down to a light fixture mounted high on the wall of a business. It was a Saturday and the business was closed. I am not very proud, but I got on the roof and shout it out with my air rifle. I slept like a ferret that weekend.
The latest one was an annoying knocking noise in the mornings and afternoons. It took me WEEKS to find it. It was a woodpecker pecking on an old asbestos and cement water tank on the neighbor’s roof. I took out the rifle again and just kidding, I talked to the neighbor and they painted the water tank with some special paint and the woodpecker moved to a jacaranda tree across the street. Somehow woodpecker on wood is fine for me, woodpecker on asbestos drives me crazy.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:15 PM on January 23, 2022 [84 favorites]
The worst of it is that those ultrasonic pest repellents don't work anyway. Or at least they don't work on rodents, but they do seem to have some sort of repellent effect on humans.
posted by Fuchsoid at 12:40 PM on January 23, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by Fuchsoid at 12:40 PM on January 23, 2022 [9 favorites]
metafilter: I slept like a ferret that weekend.
posted by joeyh at 12:41 PM on January 23, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by joeyh at 12:41 PM on January 23, 2022 [16 favorites]
Such a frustrating (I'd also be trying to find the sound) and mostly charming story. I do feel a bit sorry for the poor property manager though, stuck getting most of the flack while the search was on.
hair-graying frustration of being a grown woman who can hear high-pitched noises most people, and crucially ALL MEN, cannot
We've just moved into a house build in the 1950s. There are NOISES. My husband has one good ear, which means he can hear them (which is nice validation) but has no hope of locating them. I'm occasionally summoned to localize a new and perhaps concerning sound, so we can try to identify if it's a problem or just a regular old house noise.
posted by ghost phoneme at 1:09 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
hair-graying frustration of being a grown woman who can hear high-pitched noises most people, and crucially ALL MEN, cannot
We've just moved into a house build in the 1950s. There are NOISES. My husband has one good ear, which means he can hear them (which is nice validation) but has no hope of locating them. I'm occasionally summoned to localize a new and perhaps concerning sound, so we can try to identify if it's a problem or just a regular old house noise.
posted by ghost phoneme at 1:09 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
The enraging, life-draining, hair-graying frustration of being a grown woman who can hear high-pitched noises most people, and crucially ALL MEN, cannot is by miles the worst part of living in a city. Every super, every facilities manager, every cursed dude who has ever given me the condescending look of dismissal and pity, saying “I don’t hear anything” will be first against the wall if anyone is ever rash enough to make me Queen.
Do you also have asthma, minervous?
That asthmatics often have better hearing in higher frequencies continues to amaze and intrigue me. It’s strange, but in my experience they also seem to be more intelligent in general.
posted by jamjam at 1:12 PM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
Do you also have asthma, minervous?
That asthmatics often have better hearing in higher frequencies continues to amaze and intrigue me. It’s strange, but in my experience they also seem to be more intelligent in general.
posted by jamjam at 1:12 PM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
Oy!
posted by Going To Maine at 2:05 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 2:05 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
How do ferrets sleep
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:37 PM on January 23, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:37 PM on January 23, 2022 [6 favorites]
The last time I suffered one of these, it was a piercing ultrasonic whine that echoed for six city blocks in all directions near my home. I eventually used a decibel meter app on my phone with a frequency spectrum to confirm that it was some sort of spike, and then wandered around with my phone out watching the zoomed-in-on-the-spike levels and seeing where it was louder and quieter. It turned out that it was a sewing shop that had a sheltered ledge outside their window and were unhappy with homeless people sleeping on it, so they’d installed speakers that played OSHA-unsafe loudness ultrasonic at night to drive them away. I emailed a photo of the high-decibel frequency capture on my phone and of the two speakers broadcasting it to the city police with the question “Who handles noise complaints and enforcement and how do I report this to them correctly?”, and they sent me some sort of thing in reply that I never did because pandemic — but the sound went away, too, so I guess it was worth it.
posted by Callisto Prime at 3:40 PM on January 23, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Callisto Prime at 3:40 PM on January 23, 2022 [6 favorites]
Ultrasonic noise detector, we hams use it to detect sound from electrical discharges from malfunctioning power line equipment.
posted by Grumpy old geek at 4:49 PM on January 23, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Grumpy old geek at 4:49 PM on January 23, 2022 [8 favorites]
being a grown woman who can hear high-pitched noises most people, and crucially ALL MEN, cannot
Not all all men :-)
One of the best things about flat screens having now almost completely displaced CRTs, for me, has been that I'm no longer feeling driven to flee people's houses as soon as I walk in the front door because of the unbearable 15.625kHz line-scanning whine coming from somewhere inside the building.
These days the only things that regularly provoke the same reaction are poorly built switching power supplies whose regulators hunt at subharmonics of their switching frequency under load, and make the results audible as coil whine.
At 59 years old I'm not as sensitive to 15+kHz noise as I once was, but still a definite outlier. I notice when there are bats about, for example: I can hear them going tssp tssp tssp tssp tssp and when I ask other people if they can hear them too, they almost always say no. And I have on a couple of occasions been sorely tempted to go full Dr. Curare on a convenience store operating a Mosquito.
posted by flabdablet at 4:52 PM on January 23, 2022 [11 favorites]
Not all all men :-)
One of the best things about flat screens having now almost completely displaced CRTs, for me, has been that I'm no longer feeling driven to flee people's houses as soon as I walk in the front door because of the unbearable 15.625kHz line-scanning whine coming from somewhere inside the building.
These days the only things that regularly provoke the same reaction are poorly built switching power supplies whose regulators hunt at subharmonics of their switching frequency under load, and make the results audible as coil whine.
At 59 years old I'm not as sensitive to 15+kHz noise as I once was, but still a definite outlier. I notice when there are bats about, for example: I can hear them going tssp tssp tssp tssp tssp and when I ask other people if they can hear them too, they almost always say no. And I have on a couple of occasions been sorely tempted to go full Dr. Curare on a convenience store operating a Mosquito.
posted by flabdablet at 4:52 PM on January 23, 2022 [11 favorites]
I do love a happy ending.
posted by Coaticass at 4:53 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Coaticass at 4:53 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
My town has a hum, pretty widely heard at night and a mystery for a while. It turned out to be diesel generators on ships in the harbour, which were carrying in specific weather conditions.
posted by biffa at 4:54 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 4:54 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I am the only person in my workplace with a desk perfectly located to hear a sound that resembles a train's signal that goes off at random intervals at least 100 times a day. Like, sometimes there's 10 seconds between blasts, sometimes three minutes.
Convincing anyone that it was happening was hard, but I got a bunch of coworkers to vouch for it ("hey c'mere, sit at my desk for, like, a minute") and we all submitted work tickets to facilities management. They answered all of us back with, you're hearing the construction on the building next door, which was total bullshit. Eventually I traced it myself to a pressure valve attached to the building's ice- and water-dispensing machine in the employee lounge. The valve was located in a little-used utility room on a different floor from the machine itself.
So, nothing could be done. I still hear it, over and over, every goddam day.
All of which is to say, to be afflicted by a noise perfectly calibrated to annoy, distract, agitate...it's a special kind of misery.
If you are a bad person, like my younger brother is, you can send the Annoy-a-tron to the child of someone whose peace you have enjoyed disturbing since birth.
posted by Caxton1476 at 5:39 PM on January 23, 2022 [4 favorites]
Convincing anyone that it was happening was hard, but I got a bunch of coworkers to vouch for it ("hey c'mere, sit at my desk for, like, a minute") and we all submitted work tickets to facilities management. They answered all of us back with, you're hearing the construction on the building next door, which was total bullshit. Eventually I traced it myself to a pressure valve attached to the building's ice- and water-dispensing machine in the employee lounge. The valve was located in a little-used utility room on a different floor from the machine itself.
So, nothing could be done. I still hear it, over and over, every goddam day.
All of which is to say, to be afflicted by a noise perfectly calibrated to annoy, distract, agitate...it's a special kind of misery.
If you are a bad person, like my younger brother is, you can send the Annoy-a-tron to the child of someone whose peace you have enjoyed disturbing since birth.
posted by Caxton1476 at 5:39 PM on January 23, 2022 [4 favorites]
My town has a hum, pretty widely heard at night and a mystery for a while.
My town had a more intense version of that which happened for about three nights and was both intense enough that people had trouble sleeping but also vague enough that you couldn't quite hear it but it was more like you felt it (I was not around when this happened, just out of town temporarily). Turned out it was the noise from some idling diesel trains which were far enough outside of town that you couldn't quite see them but everyone heard them. Now I have a friend with a decibel meter. Sometimes the noises I hear are just atmospheric crab exacerbated by anxiety. A lot of times they are real things!
posted by jessamyn at 6:05 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
My town had a more intense version of that which happened for about three nights and was both intense enough that people had trouble sleeping but also vague enough that you couldn't quite hear it but it was more like you felt it (I was not around when this happened, just out of town temporarily). Turned out it was the noise from some idling diesel trains which were far enough outside of town that you couldn't quite see them but everyone heard them. Now I have a friend with a decibel meter. Sometimes the noises I hear are just atmospheric crab exacerbated by anxiety. A lot of times they are real things!
posted by jessamyn at 6:05 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I moved a while ago into a new place that had (pre-LED era) dimmer switches everywhere, and LED bulbs in all the sockets, and all the bulbs BUZZED. Apparently the previous occupants just didn't notice.
The worst though was at the beginning of covid when everyone their city apartments to go elsewhere and then gradually their fire alarm batteries died and started making warning beeps. One of them was far away enough and quiet enough that I wouldn't notice during the day, but every time I went to bed I could hear a tiny peep every 30 seconds. I would lie awake and see how how accurately I could count 30 seconds, or, when I was tired, just whether I could make it all the way up to 30 without getting distracted.
posted by ropeladder at 6:19 PM on January 23, 2022 [4 favorites]
The worst though was at the beginning of covid when everyone their city apartments to go elsewhere and then gradually their fire alarm batteries died and started making warning beeps. One of them was far away enough and quiet enough that I wouldn't notice during the day, but every time I went to bed I could hear a tiny peep every 30 seconds. I would lie awake and see how how accurately I could count 30 seconds, or, when I was tired, just whether I could make it all the way up to 30 without getting distracted.
posted by ropeladder at 6:19 PM on January 23, 2022 [4 favorites]
“It’s a high-pitched ‘zee-zee-zee-zee…’”
Obviously it's Jimmy Olsen's signal watch. He's in trouble again and is calling Superman for help.
posted by bryon at 6:21 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Obviously it's Jimmy Olsen's signal watch. He's in trouble again and is calling Superman for help.
posted by bryon at 6:21 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you are a bad person, like my younger brother is, you can send the Annoy-a-tron to the child of someone whose peace you have enjoyed disturbing since birth.
A friend planted one of these in my cargo van after borrowing it. I knew exactly what it was when I heard it since it was entirely something that he'd have found amusing (*). For those not familiar, these things 'cleverly' emit high frequency sound at random intervals and for random amounts of time. This makes them notoriously difficult to locate and that proved to the case with the one planted in the van. I decided that since I didn't drive the van that often and road noise more or less masked it, the best strategy would be to leave it and wait for the battery to die. I did eventually find it, long after it had ceased functioning, when I was doing some work on the interior. I kept it for a while thinking I'd replace the battery and wait for an occasion plant it in my (now ex) friends house. Just got tossed one day.
(*) - this was not a very healthy friendship which in fact was finally terminated.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:25 PM on January 23, 2022
A friend planted one of these in my cargo van after borrowing it. I knew exactly what it was when I heard it since it was entirely something that he'd have found amusing (*). For those not familiar, these things 'cleverly' emit high frequency sound at random intervals and for random amounts of time. This makes them notoriously difficult to locate and that proved to the case with the one planted in the van. I decided that since I didn't drive the van that often and road noise more or less masked it, the best strategy would be to leave it and wait for the battery to die. I did eventually find it, long after it had ceased functioning, when I was doing some work on the interior. I kept it for a while thinking I'd replace the battery and wait for an occasion plant it in my (now ex) friends house. Just got tossed one day.
(*) - this was not a very healthy friendship which in fact was finally terminated.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:25 PM on January 23, 2022
Metafilter: atmospheric crab exacerbated by anxiety
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:36 PM on January 23, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 6:36 PM on January 23, 2022 [10 favorites]
Eventually I traced it myself to a pressure valve attached to the building's ice- and water-dispensing machine in the employee lounge. The valve was located in a little-used utility room on a different floor from the machine itself.
So, nothing could be done. I still hear it, over and over, every goddam day.
Is the noise emitted directly by the valve, or is the valve using the pipework for a sounding board and distributing noise efficiently throughout the building that way? Because if it's not the second thing, some kind of heavy, fibre-stuffed cover fitted over the valve should go quite a long way toward making its noise less intrusive.
posted by flabdablet at 7:05 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
So, nothing could be done. I still hear it, over and over, every goddam day.
Is the noise emitted directly by the valve, or is the valve using the pipework for a sounding board and distributing noise efficiently throughout the building that way? Because if it's not the second thing, some kind of heavy, fibre-stuffed cover fitted over the valve should go quite a long way toward making its noise less intrusive.
posted by flabdablet at 7:05 PM on January 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
because of the unbearable 15.625kHz line-scanning whine
Growing up, I could tell whether someone had turned on the living room TV in the morning over both the running shower water AND bathroom exhaust fan.
posted by hwyengr at 8:54 PM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
Growing up, I could tell whether someone had turned on the living room TV in the morning over both the running shower water AND bathroom exhaust fan.
posted by hwyengr at 8:54 PM on January 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
Same same. Didn't stop being able to do that at our house until we finally ditched the huge living room CRT (not itself an unbearable whiner compared to many, but still quite loud) for a bigger but still tiny by modern standards LCD, by which time I was 55 years old.
I have no good explanation for why my top-end hearing has lasted as well as it has. I haven't actually been trying to destroy it with inadequate or missing ear protection for years and years and years, but given how slack I've always been about it I might as well have been.
posted by flabdablet at 11:09 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have no good explanation for why my top-end hearing has lasted as well as it has. I haven't actually been trying to destroy it with inadequate or missing ear protection for years and years and years, but given how slack I've always been about it I might as well have been.
posted by flabdablet at 11:09 PM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
Kramer, what's going on in there?
posted by smelendez at 12:19 AM on January 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by smelendez at 12:19 AM on January 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have a friend who as a positively geriatric 20-something could still hear the high-pitched frequencies that were supposedly only audible to teenagers. This meant that he once had to leave a bus terminal and wait far, far away from it outside while I bought tickets, because apparently this bus terminal thought that a normal, sane response to having teens hanging around outside was to employ a sonic teen repellent. A repellent for human teens. On purpose. At a public transportation building.
This happened about 15 years ago in a European city; a cursory web search suggests that 1) these were ruled to be discriminatory in several jurisdictions about 10 years ago (shocker!) and 2) that some kids started using the sounds as ringtones which they could hear but their teachers couldn't, which is delightful.
posted by confluency at 2:14 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
This happened about 15 years ago in a European city; a cursory web search suggests that 1) these were ruled to be discriminatory in several jurisdictions about 10 years ago (shocker!) and 2) that some kids started using the sounds as ringtones which they could hear but their teachers couldn't, which is delightful.
posted by confluency at 2:14 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm not usually grateful for my mediocre hearing, but I am at the moment.
Should I assume that those teen-repellant devices torture babies? I assume the benign approach would be playing Sinatra's music.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:23 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Should I assume that those teen-repellant devices torture babies? I assume the benign approach would be playing Sinatra's music.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:23 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have very mild tinnitus which I successfully ignore 99% of the time. This article and thread has really moved it to the forefront of my mind and I can still hear it over the music I had to put on. Thanks, brain.
posted by slimepuppy at 6:16 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by slimepuppy at 6:16 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
The worst of it is that those ultrasonic pest repellents don't work anyway. Or at least they don't work on rodents,
I said GOOD DAY, SIR.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:20 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
I said GOOD DAY, SIR.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:20 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
At least one of the hearing aid companies has (or had, it's been a couple of years) a remote control app that emit a high frequency chirp in order to adjust the hearing aid. The first time I set one up for someone I almost jumped out of my chair, I felt it in the back of my neck. Bleh. I eventually got used to it so it was less aggravating, but I always gave them a heads up younger friends and family may notice it if they have good enough hearing and are nearby.
posted by ghost phoneme at 9:06 AM on January 24, 2022
posted by ghost phoneme at 9:06 AM on January 24, 2022
apparently this bus terminal thought that a normal, sane response to having teens hanging around outside was to employ a sonic teen repellent.
I've noticed that several Harris Teeter grocery stores in the DC area have these high-pitched screeching things near their front doors. I'm not sure what their stated purpose is, but as someone with relatively good high-frequency hearing, they're terrible. I actively avoid going to those locations as a result of them.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:44 AM on January 24, 2022
I've noticed that several Harris Teeter grocery stores in the DC area have these high-pitched screeching things near their front doors. I'm not sure what their stated purpose is, but as someone with relatively good high-frequency hearing, they're terrible. I actively avoid going to those locations as a result of them.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:44 AM on January 24, 2022
I'm not sure what their stated purpose is
See Mosquito linked above. They're pretty explicit about it.
posted by flabdablet at 2:51 PM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
See Mosquito linked above. They're pretty explicit about it.
posted by flabdablet at 2:51 PM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
One of the best things about flat screens having now almost completely displaced CRTs, for me, has been that I'm no longer feeling driven to flee people's houses as soon as I walk in the front door because of the unbearable 15.625kHz line-scanning whine coming from somewhere inside the building.
A few years ago my wife and I (born in the sixties) ultimately convinced her parents (born in the thirties) to replace their circa-2000 TV because we (and their granddaughter, born in the nineties) were assailed by that persistent high-pitched whine whenever the TV was on.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:10 PM on January 24, 2022
A few years ago my wife and I (born in the sixties) ultimately convinced her parents (born in the thirties) to replace their circa-2000 TV because we (and their granddaughter, born in the nineties) were assailed by that persistent high-pitched whine whenever the TV was on.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:10 PM on January 24, 2022
Talking about annoying sound machines .... at Burningman one year a friend bought a bunch of those birthday cards that play vapid tinny tunes when you open them, removed the workings, added industrial strength batteries that would run for days, and dropped them into inaccessible crevices in the porta-potties .....
posted by mbo at 4:06 PM on January 24, 2022
posted by mbo at 4:06 PM on January 24, 2022
How do ferrets sleep
When they sleep they turn into a fluid. Imagine that some alien with a technomagical ray gun shot you with a ray that in an instant turns off your higher brain functions and removes all your bones, so you drop to the floor in a puddle of pure bliss and relaxation. For 18+ hours a day.
posted by Dr. Curare at 10:41 AM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
When they sleep they turn into a fluid. Imagine that some alien with a technomagical ray gun shot you with a ray that in an instant turns off your higher brain functions and removes all your bones, so you drop to the floor in a puddle of pure bliss and relaxation. For 18+ hours a day.
posted by Dr. Curare at 10:41 AM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by fantabulous timewaster at 9:19 AM on January 23, 2022 [2 favorites]