CRT TV 15.625kHz noise drives me insane. Solutions?

Anyone has heard about a method to diminish this noise?

I really like gaming on a CRT, it would all be perfect but for this sound. Some people apparently can't hear it however I am sensitive to that dreadful noise. I always have been.

If you are also plagued by the 15.625kHz noise, feel free to share your experience.
Any thoughts/discussion about possible solutions is welcome.

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Im 30 now and i can still tell whenever a CRT TV is on in a 30 feet radius, if not more. Even if it emits no other sound.
Some TVs are worse than others but i can hear them all. Also, depending on my position from the TV the noise intensity changes.

Im about 9 feet away from my 32" Trinitron and can usually find a spot on my couch where the noise is not too bad. But then i rotate my head 15 degree and i can hear it in all its whining glory. Putting the volume higher to drown it out is not an option.

Sometimes im better at ignoring it for some reason but some other times It just drives me nuts. When im feeling a bit tired and want some relaxing gaming only to have the experience spoiled by this blasted 15.625kHz noise...

I know im not alone to feel like this about this noise. I really wish there was a reliable way to contain it a little. I dont feel like waiting till im 50 till my hearing has degraded to the point i dont hear it anymore.

Im not an expert in electronics, CRT and stuff and from what ive read the consensus about this normal CRT noise seems to be that you have to live with it...
Obviously I DONT like this answer and started to think that maybe it could be possible to make a sound cancellation device.
The kind of thing that outputs the negative sound wave and cancels the offending noise. This technology exists on airplanes for instance to reduce noise in the Cabin.

Since CRT whine is at a precise frequency I wonder if simply playing the same frequency to a small speaker and tweaking its position, volume and phase inversion could not actually be a simple way of negating this horrible noise.
In any case it sounds like a nice Geeky experiment to do.

 

Noise canceling headphones?

 

Get a good pair of headphones. I use headphones whenever I play games and I can't hear anything else. Not my PC's fan, not my 360's disc drive, nothing. Only the noise of the game. The sound quality should also be far better than the CRT's speakers, but I suppose that technically depends on what headphones you use.

Plus if you use headphones, noise from the games won't bother anyone else that may live with you. Very useful when playing corny melodramatic JRPGs. No, really.

I personally would recommend a pair of these: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MDR-V6-Monitor-Series-Headphones/dp/B00001WRSJ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

A little pricy (though not as ridiculous as the headphones going for +$500), but the sound quality is superb. Best headphones I've ever owned.

 

I have pretty sensitive hearing too, and like you I can always tell when a CRT is on. In fact, even in my rather large apartment, if I leave my monitor on, I always remember to turn it off because I can hear it in the other room. However, it doesn't really bother me. It's a trademark sound of a CRT, kind of like the clicking sound made by film projectors, or the hiss and crackle of a vinyl record. Like those other things, it's pretty much unavoidable. I do think that newer and smaller CRTs are usually a bit quieter. That's the only suggestion I can make.

 

Degausing can help for some reason the highpitches noises mine makes are eased when I Degaus.

 

Yeah i think my newer Trinitron 32" CRTs have more severe whine than the smaller Tvs i used before, however the image quality is stellar. :/
I can see what you mean by "trademark" sound that cant be avoided. My Pc is not very noisy but still audible and i dont mind it. Same thing with my LCD projector. Has a strong fan and makes some constant noise. However its a smooth windy sound that does not bother me too much.

The CRT makes me feel like my ears are ringing, its very different. My tolerance to this type of noise is much lower.

I tried headphones as you guys recommended. I have some decent closed back heaphones and i admit it does a good job of isolating you from the CRT noise. I was never a headphone guy though. I prefer the Hifi sound system my stuff is connected to. Sound alot better than headphones.
Ahh, I guess you cant have everything all the time...

 

It's really annoying. Sometimes it's so bad that I just turn off the television... But usually if the game is very interesting one can focus on the game and ignore the sound.
Not 100% of the time, though.

 

I recall being able to hear when CRT's were on. I think the particular CRT matters a lot. I had one PC monitor that emitted a ear piercing high pitch/frequency noise that apparently didn't bother anyone else but me. Eventually I think that CRT died and I wasn't exactly sad about it. However I should point out that this CRT didn't always do that. I used it personally for years without any problems. It was older when it was older that it seemed to develop that problem.

 

Since its a constant noise that probably doesn't change frequency much noise cancelling headphones will be perfect. They don't do a great job with say a baby crying but something repeating itself like a sine wave works pretty good.

With most CRTs I don't usually hear the whine unless the refresh rate was set to something below 80hz on computer monitors. With most TVs I tend not to hear it for any length of time.

 

I can't stand cry noise, really kills the moment between black or quite screens. Didn't realize it was an issue with tv instead of systems hooked up. Guess its small price to pay for seeing retro games the way they're meant to be.

 

Is the noise you here from a CRT like a very high pitched beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, type sound? Sometimes I get that out of the blue yet there are no CRTs in my home at all. I also have a wide hearing range (and above average hearing according to the specialist I saw) so it can get annoying however I've learnt to ignore it. I've suffered from this for as long as I can remember.

 

Tinnitus? I have it too, for as long as I can remember. Before anyone mentions it, it's not because of the headphones. I've had it since I was a kid, long before I ever even owned a pair of headphones.

 

Its kinda like a Beeeeeeeeeeee.. yes. The noise is 15.625 khz. Feels like sine wave.
One of My computers also makes a similar high pitched noise, even if its off. Comes from either the Mobo or the PSU. I have to turn off the switch at the back of the PSU ( completely removing power) to make it stop. Its not as loud as a CRT though.

I made some experiments today.

I put a thick blanket over the CRT TV and it did not seem to reduce the noise all that much, or at all. This kind of surprised me. I was expecting it would muffle the sound more.

Then I used an old computer and connected a remote PC speaker to the motherboard. Its just like the regular PC speaker but has 10 feet of cable and a volume control.

I went into Qbasic, the DOS programming software and used this command:

Sound 15625,5000

It generates TEH NOISE!!!
Its the same horrible high pitched whine as a CRT Except it can be much louder.
At full volume with the speaker pointing toward me it was just horrible.
Well, its actually a standard PC beep noise but played at a high frequency. Likely not the same waveform as the one emmited by a CRT. Its hard to say at this high frequency.

I tried to place my remote speaker in various positions to see if i could use interferences to diminish the noise.
Not conclusive.
I could definitely hear the sound shifting in a wave pattern as i moved the speaker around but could not say that it really was significant. Also, it quickly drove me nuts being this close to both the CRT and the speaker emitting the same frequency. I quickly stopped the experiment and i felt like my ears kept ringing for a while. Not cool ...

 

Man, I feel sorry for you. I can hear a very faint high pitch beeeeeee right now. And like Prometheus said, it's not beacuse of high volume music with headphones. It just comes and goes. Always has done. How about you, maxWar? Is it only from CRTs and electrical equipment you can hear this sound?

 

I do have some random Tinnitus episodes at occasion and yes it makes a similar sound. It usually starts abruptly for no apparent reason and does not last too long, also affect only one ear at a time. I dont think it is linked to anything I do because i take good care of my ears. Just like you I had those for as long as i remember. By completely blocking your ears you can tell when a sound comes from the exterior or your own head. I do that by folding the little flap of skin that is in front of the ear canal. It nearly completely block all the sound in my case.

I never consulted an ear specialist but it seems clear to me i have mild Hyperacusis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperacusis.
Loud sounds are just painful to me, some more so than others. When i was a kid i remember the sound of the bus going past me would seem terribly loud and painful. The fire engine truck is also quite terrible. If im on the street and it passes with the Siren, i have to stop whatever im doing and plug my ears. Because the sound is unbearable and painful. If I see a live band i need earplugs, otherwise i cant watch the show.
Or the sounds of coins falling on each others when counting a cash machine. For some reason i find this very piercing and disagreeable.

Maybe this is why I do not like CRT whine, maybe my ear or brain sort of amplifies it.

My older Trinitron CRT ( currently on my Tate setup) also has the sound however the new one i bought last week feels a bit more piercing. This makes the difference between being able to kind of forget it and being annoyed. The kind of game played also is important. If im alone playing a RPG its much worse than if im playing a frantic shmup or Rock&Roll racing with buddies.

My Fm-towns and C64 monitors are quite bad also. The C64 monitor however is funny as the sound is terrible if im on the side or looking down on it but when im square in front of it, the sound nearly disappear.

 

I believe that everyone can hear. Some people just ignore it.Of course with age and some natural dirt (sorry I don't know the word in english) you hear less high frequency sounds.
One thing that I saw happening: People with more "natural stuff"/(secretion?) inside the ear will hear less, and they actually can see a doctor to "clean" the inside of the ear.
But some people just can't live without this kind of cleanliness so go to the said doctor a lot of times. Later in this person's life, his auditive system is permanently damaged, because the "some kind of hair cells that make you hear" brake with the age and powerful impacts. And a "more clean" inner ear is more prone to get damaged.

It's clearly a kind of tradeoff between the ability to hear more frequencies and durability. Just like the tradeoff a Formula 1 engine have for being that powerful. And A CRT gamer and his patience with the annoying sound of the CRT. An optical drive that wears off with time. And so many things that have a limited life time...

It's how life is. You have a lot of tradeoffs of these kind. You can have good things, but not for the whole time. Moderation is important and needed.

Here's the annoying noise (don't play it with high volume!!!): View attachment 20060610_RINGTONE.zip

 

I have a slight ringing in my ears all the time. Most of the time I don't notice it because I've gotten used to it, but if I focus on it I can tell that it's there. I do listen to a lot of loud music, but I had this even as a child. In spite of this, I think I still have above average hearing - I sometimes notice small sounds that no one else seems to hear. And yeah, it does kinda sound like a CRT.

 

I've solved it by aquiring a moderate amount of tinnitus in my early 20s, it effectivle blocks a couple frequency ranges!
Oh and not much above 15000Khz comes through, aside from a few TV sets. =(

But seriously some comfortable, well-isolating headphones is an easy and effective solution.