Hi netizens,
Over the past few years, I9ve been developing a mild but steady
high-pitched tinnitus that I feel is related to the constant but low-level
hum of office noise - computer fans, light ballasts, and the like.
Office noise levels are actually much higher than one might think - Ever
been in a "quiet" office when the power goes out? The sudden silence
caused by the absence of the fans and light ballasts is almost deafening.
I do not listen to loud music or have other major sources of loud noise in
my life (except sometimes I sing loudly, but not enough to explain this
problem and not loud enough to cause temporary ringing).
This problem has been increasingly aggravating as I am just getting to the
point in life where I make time to sit quietly and meditate or just relax
in a state of non-doing. The problem is, I end up listening to the
ringing in my ears the whole time! This makes it a bit less fun to sit
quietly, since the quiet never really comes.
I have experimented with earplugs and ear-covering headphones with no
quick results; maybe these would help if used long-term?
Is there anyone else who feels their tinnitus may be due to constant
exposure to low noise levels? Does anyone have more information about
this problem? The excellent Tinnitus FAQ posting didn't seem to have too
much to say about low-level noises.
Chris Thorman
Computer power supplies put out a fair amount of ultrasonics, some a
huge amount. And they are vented to the outside so all of the
ultrasonics produced inside comes out.
Some hard drives, especially the ones that operate at 7200 RPM produce
ultrasonics. I don't know why they produce ultrasonics, but they do.
Years ago I had a Quantum HDD that was really really bad.
Ultrasonics can cause tinnitus, and if you already have it, it makes it
worse.
In the old CRT TVs and monitors. The high voltage power supply operated
at an ultrasonic frequency and many produced an ultrasonic sound from
the high voltage transformer. (TVs operated at 15.734 KHz which is the
horizontal sync frequency.)
Ultrasonic motion detectors are bad, too.
Uninterruptible power supplies can be bad if they are not sealed.
The solution is to either wear a good hearing protector when you are at
the computer or use a laptop.
Laptops use a sealed power supply that is external to the laptop. They
also generally use 5400 RPM HDDs.
If you have your teeth cleaned and you dental hygienist uses an
ultrasonic cleaner it is really really really bad.
Good luck.