Can Sounds Agitate Tinnitus?

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Mr. X - 25 Oct 2005 14:37 GMT

I read somewhere else that someone said he bought an electric razor that
agitated his tinnitus. Considering how little one uses a razor during a
day, that gets me thinking. Everytime I walk into my living room, my
tinnitus flares up. I can hear a high pitched sound from our TV. I am
convinced this is not just psycologocial. Monitors at airports also cause
this. When I walk away, it gets better. My computer has a flat panel
display, and does not seem to cause this issue. Aside from the temporary
annoyance, is it possible that these monitors could cause my tinnitus to get
worse over time or have some pernament impact?

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Skycloud - 25 Oct 2005 15:30 GMT

> I read somewhere else that someone said he bought an electric razor that
> agitated his tinnitus. Considering how little one uses a razor during a
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> annoyance, is it possible that these monitors could cause my tinnitus to get
> worse over time or have some pernament impact?

The high pitched sound from your TV is real. If you live in the Americas or
Japan it is of frequency 15750 Hz; if in the UK/Europe 15625 Hz. It is
caused by the line timebase of your television. If you can hear this it
shows your hearing can't be too bad, because this tone is well to the upper
end of what most people can hear.

Flat panel displays scan using a different principle to cathode ray tubes
and do not produce this whistle. Nor the 'flicker' either.

We engineers at the BBC used to be exposed to this whistle all day and many
of us developed a 'notch' in our response that became insensitive to this
frequency. Since such a notch signifies 'damage' and damage can cause
tinnitus, then yes I suppose there's a risk. Though I expect it's very
slight.

Steve

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Mr. X - 26 Oct 2005 03:23 GMT

OK, so I'm not imagining things. However, this can set off my tinnitus, and
I can walk outside and it will persist. Anyways, it's sort of hard to avoid
all TV sets, but it makes me think about getting one of those flat panel TV
screens.
It sounds like what you are describing is the refresh rate, but I see
monitors produce 31.25 kHz usually. Is this thing you talk of related to
the refresh rate of a monitor? On some monitors, I think it is adjustable.
As for TV, that's harder to avoid. So maybe this tinnitus will whip me into
shape. Let me go over things that are supposed to be good things to do:
not too much sodium, lower my cholesterol, exercise, don't worry needlessly
(easier said than done), and now avoid watching TV.

>> I read somewhere else that someone said he bought an electric razor that
>> agitated his tinnitus. Considering how little one uses a razor during a
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> Steve

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Skycloud - 26 Oct 2005 09:30 GMT

> OK, so I'm not imagining things. However, this can set off my tinnitus, and
> I can walk outside and it will persist. Anyways, it's sort of hard to avoid
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> monitors produce 31.25 kHz usually. Is this thing you talk of related to
> the refresh rate of a monitor? On some monitors, I think it is adjustable.

Yep, the line scan period of a computer (tube style) monitor is much faster
than that of a TV and it's adjustable. This is basically because the picture
is much more detailed. 31250 Hz lies well above the response of human
hearing so shouldn't be a problem, though internal parts can still 'rattle'
at sub-harmonics of this frequency. To simplify slightly, the 'refresh
rate' is the speed that complete pictures (ie. *not* the single lines
building up the picture) repeat themselves. In television, this is 50Hz
(Europe) 60Hz (US) which can give an annoying flicker. Computer screens
should be set to 75-90Hz because you can be staring close up at them all
day.

> As for TV, that's harder to avoid. So maybe this tinnitus will whip me into
> shape. Let me go over things that are supposed to be good things to do:
> not too much sodium, lower my cholesterol, exercise, don't worry needlessly
> (easier said than done), and now avoid watching TV.

Get a flat panel TV and you should be all right. Mind you, why bother with
TV anyway? I can't stand the endless 'makeover' and 'reality' programmes.
Too many channels, too little talent.... getting on my hobby horse and going
OT now...

Steve

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Murray Grossan - 27 Oct 2005 02:27 GMT

On 10/25/05 7:30 AM, in article 3s6tslFljlhmU1@individual.net, "Skycloud"
<me@privacy.com> wrote:

> Flat panel displays scan using a different principle to cathode ray tubes
> and do not produce this whistle. Nor the 'flicker' either.

Thanks for the info. Now maybe I can convince the wife to blow 10,000 for
this toy.

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