High Sensitivity to sounds

I agree there is no doubt they are definitely louder these days, way louder. I think people without sensitive hearing would attest to that. It's impossible to sleep.

I keep my cat indoors at night, but I think about all the other little animals out there and how terrified they must be.ಠ⁠︵⁠ಠ

It's a harmonic of the switch mode power supplies, it changes when the load changes due to charging finishing. Some are noisier than others.

It's a real thing. You need sensitive hearing in the higher frequencies.

Years ago I used to complain about the frequency response of certain mobile phon headsets and speakers, and I wondered why no-one else I worked with could hear it.

Stuart333 said:

Is it a plug in usb charger, or a wireless charging pad? Or both?

The charging cable for my son's mobile phone has a plug. To be clear, the coil whine thing he experiences isn't a new thing that he's just suddenly become aware of.

In addition to my son's mobile phone, I have items with plug-in USB chargers. He can hear when they have been fully-charged, but I can't. For years I thought he was having auditory hallucinations, or that I was possibly becoming hard of hearing. 

I used to find lots of electronics squealed. TVs annoyed me the most. The tone can change depending on what it's doing.

Cheap power supplies do it.

Is it a plug in usb charger, or a wireless charging pad? Or both?

I thought it had got better but perhaps it's just I am getting older and don't hear as well any more.

Thanks for sharing that link Iain .

I've not read the full article, but after recently using my search engine of choice to conduct some brief research, I noticed almost all of the search results seemed to revolve around computers.

In my son's case, he can tell when his mobile phone is fully charged without having to look at it and check. Although he can find the whining sound irritating, it's thankfully not to the extent that it causes him distress.

I must admit that I find his ability to hear when a gadget has been fully recharged to be rather useful.

Sporadic Sparkly said:

my son was recently telling me about something I had never previously heard of, called Coil Whine.

There is an article here about the issue and a number of ways to resolve it.

https://clevercreations.org/what-is-coil-whine-how-to-fix/ 

I hadn't heard of this before - an interesting issue.

On the topic of high sensitivity to sounds, my son was recently telling me about something I had never previously heard of, called Coil Whine. He had never heard of it either, until he happened to mention to someone that he is aware of a high-pitched whining sound when he is in the vicinity of rechargeable gadgets that have been fully charged.

Fireworks on bonfire night can be attractive to look at, but I agree regarding people who have PTSD and people who have lived in a war zone. The very loud ones sound like bombs going off.

I think there are more on sale to the public that used to be restricted to big events, I've seen packs of 9 rockets taped together with what looks to be one fuse. This is a far cry from the family packs of my childhood.

I feel mixed about them, part of me loves them, another part dosen't, because I think of the environmental impact, all the terrified animals and people, for many ex service people with PTSD it takes them back to being in a war zone.

I think there should be more regulation over size and a maximum decibel level. I think that those who do big public displays should be made to clear up after themselves properly too, one of the big national charitable groups does a big display each year near the beach just outside Holyhead, they assemble big piles of pallets to burn have professionals come in and set up all the fireworks, block off a lot of the beach and the grassy area next to the road and path, then they leave a mess. Theres a big scar where the fire was, the grass and beach are littered with nails, screws and staples from the pallets and all the firework debris. This is a popular place for dog walkers and families all year round, I don't think it right that everyone else should be dealing with the dangerous litter for the rest of the year. 

You have my sympathy Homebird. In the area where I live, it seems to be an open secret that when the local drug dealers are doing their drops, they will use fireworks as a way of alerting their 'customers' that they are going to be in the area. For years I had often wondered why it was that I frequently heard loud fireworks being let off at all hours.

Although I greatly enjoy watching fireworks from the comfort of my own home, the sound of those deafeningly loud rockets always makes me feel on edge. I often get caught out by the ones that make a whistling sound, as some of them conclude with an almighty bang (or multiple bangs), whereas some just fizzle out without any bangs.

When I was a child, the only time I heard fireworks was on 5th November. Although I know the capital cities around the world would have firework displays on New Years Eve, I don't remember them happening anywhere else, or at least not until the Millennium.

I'm amazed that people can afford to buy them. The most basic box of fireworks certainly weren't cheap back in the '70s and '80s when I was a child, so I dread to think how much a basic box of fireworks would cost now.

Homebird said:

It seems like they are louder than they used to be.

I think there is just more access to fireworks from China that break the safety regulations so are sold under the counter in many convenience stores now.

These used to be very common in Hastings when I lived near there - not cheap but they did make a heck of a bang.

I read this post and the fireworks instantly started. I can cope with the gentler ones but those bangs are awful. I also can't stand really high pitched already ones. Last year and so far the ones I can currently hear seem to be of the quieter variety thankfully. Hopefully it stays that way.