White Noise

[WyoBadger]

My wife bought me one of those little electronic noise machines a year or two ago when I was fighting insomnia. Now that we have Katie, we use it on the "white noise" setting to help her sleep, and it seems to work.

Wierd thing, though: I can hear these little repetative patterns of beeps, swishes, clicks, and growls, all contained within the overall static of the white noise. Moving to a different part of the room, or even turning over in bead, produces a completely different pattern. So I conclude that these wierd little patterns are not a product of the machine itself, but rather the result of the sound's interaction with the various surfaces and spaces within the room. I'm pretty sure I'm not hallucinating, because Mrs. Badger has noticed it too.

Wierd, wierd, wierd.

Some of the resulting rhythms are quite complex and very catchy. I have thought about trying to devise a way to transcribe and recreate them. Maybe make up a set of tunes to go with them and call the resulting CD "Songs from Katie's White Noise Machine." But ugh, I'm way too sleep deprived for something like that.

Anybody know anything about this phenomenon?

Tom

[Byll]

What you are hearing is a pretty standard acoustical phenomenon. I run a two location recording studio. We use pink noise for a number of monitor and sound treatment set-up procedures. Each studio has its own sonic signature - as does any room. You are hearing exactly what you have indicated. The almost full spectrum sound is reacting with surfaces and spaces in your room, and is causing anomalies, one of which is called comb filtering. Different people react differently to the phenomenon, and because of physical differences in ear size, ear canal, et. al., probably hear the effect differently. Some are affected more than others. You may be on the strong end of the gene pool for this thing, Badger... Enjoy.
Best.
Byll

[rhulsey]

"Sonically induced acoustical neurosis"

Actually I made that up. I have the same experience in my office, which is in the basement and very quiet with the exception of the almost silent fans in my iMac. It's a little hard to explain just what I hear, but it is the same phenomenon. Thank Byll for the excellent information. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

A truly unique experience, if you have one around you, is to sit for some time in an anechoic chamber - now that is weird. There is one at the Allen Organ Co. in Macungie that they use for testing purposes. It is the only one I have ever seen.

Reg

[Denny]

White noise,
in a golden cage,
on a winter's day,
in the rain.

[Doug_Tipple]

I have white noise going on in my head all the time, and there isn't an electronic noise generator anywhere nearby. The doctors' call it "tinnitis", which is also called "ringing in the ears". I decided to pass up the online ad: Cure for Tinnitis - $37 offer. If it were only that simple. I have grown so accustomed to the noise that I usually am not even aware of it. However, when I am around loud sounds, it really gets more intense and unpleasant. When I was a college student, I used to explore wild caves. Deep underground there is no ambient sound at all, except that you begin to hear the sounds of the body. We normally are not aware that our heart is making noise when it beats. That experience of total silence, unfortunately, wouldn't work for me anymore.

[s1m0n]

[ Fixed url link. Stupid BBCode doesn't recognize raw diacritics like é. - Mod ]

Thank you.

[Innocent Bystander]

Snap! I have tinnitus too, Dave, and I know Steve Shaw has it a lot worse. As you say, most of the time it is not noticeable. When it gets loud, that means I'm tired or hungry.

[missy]

Tom also has tinnitus. It prevents him from hearing higher pitched sounds - like the stupid beeping alarm on the damn coffee maker he just bought!!!! I keep asking "why is it beeping?" He keeps saying "what is beeping? I don't hear a beep".


I do testing as part of our hearing conservation program at work. Another interesting thing is to sit in a "quiet" room with muffs or ear plugs. As Doug already suggested, you'll begin to notice all types of sounds that your body makes and you normally don't "hear".

[Lambchop]

That's interesting, Inn! I get tinnitus when I take aspirin -- the longer I take it, the worse it becomes -- but did not realize until you mentioned it that I also hear tinnitus when I'm hungry or very tired. Hmm.

It's not something I'd wish on anyone!

[dwest]

In Poland there is bialy glos, white voice, a type of melodic screaming. I only hear it when I am at home.

[brewerpaul]

That's interesting, Inn! I get tinnitus when I take aspirin -- the longer I take it, the worse it becomes -- but did not realize until you mentioned it that I also hear tinnitus when I'm hungry or very tired. Hmm.

It's not something I'd wish on anyone!

Tinnitus is a fairly common side effect of salicylate drugs (aspirin family). Luckily, it usually goes away when you stop taking aspirin.
I have tinnitus too, since 1971. Like the others, I generally ignore it unless something reminds me of it (thanks a lot Doug!)

[gonzo914]

My tinnitus is a D, which is really handy for tuning whistles.

(Just kidding -- I can't tune to it, but it really is a D.)

[devondancer]

Tinnitus here too! Present all the time, but much more noticeable when I am trying to hear something faint, which is then of course totally impossible!

[s1m0n]

The walkman generation hits middle age...

[missy]

The walkman generation hits middle age...

Actually, in Tom's case is was floor to ceiling speakers and Innagadadavida.