Silent LCD Monitor

[julian8888888]

Hi everyone,

I've built a quiet PC and now the loudest thing is my LCD monitor that
sits in front of me. The noise it emits is an extremely high pitch
whine. It produces a decent picture but I think it is still not as
clear as I would like. The model is an NEC Multisync LCD 1860NX.

I thought I could live with it, but now I find it is actually damaging
my hearing having this incessant whine in the background all the time.
I think it must have been designed when everyone had computers that
sounded like vacuum cleaners and this whine would go unnoticed. I've
had enough of it though. Over a year now of this.

So I'm looking for an LCD monitor that makes no sound whatsoever, or
close to this, if one exists. Could anyone please recommend one from
their experience? The stores are so noisy that you can't really tell
if the monitor is silent.

Cheers,
Julian

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

I've built a quiet PC and now the loudest thing is my LCD monitor
that sits in front of me. The noise it emits is an extremely high
pitch whine. It produces a decent picture but I think it is still not as
clear as I would like. The model is an NEC Multisync LCD 1860NX.

I thought I could live with it, but now I find it is actually damaging
my hearing having this incessant whine in the background all the time.

No it isnt.

 

[Fidelis K]

Hi everyone,

I've built a quiet PC and now the loudest thing is my LCD monitor that
sits in front of me. The noise it emits is an extremely high pitch
whine. It produces a decent picture but I think it is still not as
clear as I would like. The model is an NEC Multisync LCD 1860NX.

The transformer of your monitor is going bad. NEC LCDs are killers.

I'm a monitor freak and I find NEC & SONY monitors ultra quiet (I've owned 3
NEC LCDs & 3 SONY LCDs). I've also built a virtually silent Core 2 Duo
system thanks to a Seasonic PSU, Zalman fans, an Antec P180 and HD
silencers.

My current two LCDs, an NEC FXi 1980 19" & a SONY P234 23" LCD are virtually
silent. I don't hear anything unless I place my ear right on their backside.

 

[julian8888888]

What isn't, I don't understand?

Not only loud sound can damage hearing. Subtle, unnatural, incessant
sounds are bad too.

 

[julian8888888]

Thanks, I will look into the Sony LCDs.

The transformer of your monitor is going bad. NEC LCDs are killers.

I'm a monitor freak and I find NEC & SONY monitors ultra quiet (I've owned 3
NEC LCDs & 3 SONY LCDs). I've also built a virtually silent Core 2 Duo
system thanks to a Seasonic PSU, Zalman fans, an Antec P180 and HD
silencers.

My current two LCDs, an NEC FXi 1980 19" & a SONY P234 23" LCD are virtually
silent. I don't hear anything unless I place my ear right on their backside.

 

[SteveH]

Hi everyone,

I've built a quiet PC and now the loudest thing is my LCD monitor that
sits in front of me. The noise it emits is an extremely high pitch
whine. It produces a decent picture but I think it is still not as
clear as I would like. The model is an NEC Multisync LCD 1860NX.

I thought I could live with it, but now I find it is actually damaging
my hearing having this incessant whine in the background all the time.
I think it must have been designed when everyone had computers that
sounded like vacuum cleaners and this whine would go unnoticed. I've
had enough of it though. Over a year now of this.

So I'm looking for an LCD monitor that makes no sound whatsoever, or
close to this, if one exists. Could anyone please recommend one from
their experience? The stores are so noisy that you can't really tell
if the monitor is silent.

Cheers,
Julian

I would say that something in its power supply is faulty.
We have a 19" Samsung 930BF here, and you have to almost glue your ear to it
and turn off everything in the room to hear any sound.

SteveH

 

[JAD]

I would say that something in its power supply is faulty.
We have a 19" Samsung 930BF here, and you have to almost glue your ear to it
and turn off everything in the room to hear any sound.

Thats twice somebody has mentioned putting thier ear to the back of a LCD, I
find that behaviour strange.

 

[Rod Speed]

What isn't, I don't understand?

It isnt damaging your hearing.

Not only loud sound can damage hearing.
Subtle, unnatural, incessant sounds are bad too.

Wrong with hearing DAMAGE. Its just irritating.

 

[Rod Speed]

Thats twice somebody has mentioned putting thier ear to the back of a LCD,

Backside in one case.

I find that behaviour strange.

Yeah, should be illegal. How utterly depraved can you get ?

 

[SteveH]

Thats twice somebody has mentioned putting thier ear to the back of a LCD,
I
find that behaviour strange.

Read again then

SteveH

 

[julian8888888]

You can think what you like, but in my view from my experience, it is
the most definite reason for the ringing. I've also had enough time to
analyze it. How would you know anyway, unless you have the same exact
setup, room, and my ears? lol

How else would you explain it? Nothing else is making a noise. I have
my computer in the hall with wires hooking up to the monitor, keyboard,
mouse, in this room. So the only thing making noise is the monitor.
After prolonged hours I hear a ringing in my ears and it if I overdue
it, it hurts. As soon as I turn off the monitor my ears feel this
sense of relief. It's gotten to the point where I hear a certain part
of the ring only when it's on. As soon as it's off it starts to get
better.

This only happens when I sit it front of the computer and never in
other circumstances such as listening to music with headphones in
another room. It might not be severe or permanent, I'm not a hearing
expert, but it's annoying nonetheless and can't be healthy for your
ears, especially if it continues. Your ears don't start ringing
without a reason.

 

[JAD]

medical problem not a noise problem

You can think what you like, but in my view from my experience, it is
the most definite reason for the ringing. I've also had enough time to
analyze it. How would you know anyway, unless you have the same exact
setup, room, and my ears? lol

How else would you explain it? Nothing else is making a noise. I have
my computer in the hall with wires hooking up to the monitor, keyboard,
mouse, in this room. So the only thing making noise is the monitor.
After prolonged hours I hear a ringing in my ears and it if I overdue
it, it hurts. As soon as I turn off the monitor my ears feel this
sense of relief. It's gotten to the point where I hear a certain part
of the ring only when it's on. As soon as it's off it starts to get
better.

This only happens when I sit it front of the computer and never in
other circumstances such as listening to music with headphones in
another room. It might not be severe or permanent, I'm not a hearing
expert, but it's annoying nonetheless and can't be healthy for your
ears, especially if it continues. Your ears don't start ringing
without a reason.

 

[julian8888888]

Thanks, I might need to just replace the power supply or bulb perhaps.

 

[Rod Speed]

You can think what you like,

I can know what I like too.

but in my view from my experience, it is
the most definite reason for the ringing.

Pity you dont actually have a shred of evidence rigorous scientific
evidence that supports your stupid claim that subtle, unnatural,
incessant sounds' can damage your hearing, or even produce ringing.

I've also had enough time to analyze it.

Useless if you aint even got the remotest concept
of what rigorous science is actually about.

How would you know anyway, unless you have
the same exact setup, room, and my ears? lol

What actually produces hearing damage has been tested for centurys now.

How else would you explain it?

You aint even established that you actually HAVE any hearing
damage, let along that that is what has produced the ringing
you now have. Tinnitus happens without any external source at all.

Nothing else is making a noise.

Nothing in that room may be, but its just a tad
unlikely that you are never outside that room, ever.

I have my computer in the hall with wires hooking up to
the monitor, keyboard, mouse, in this room. So the only
thing making noise is the monitor. After prolonged hours
I hear a ringing in my ears and it if I overdue it, it hurts.

Mindlessly silly.

As soon as I turn off the monitor my ears feel this sense of relief.

Easy to claim.

It's gotten to the point where I hear a certain part of the ring
only when it's on. As soon as it's off it starts to get better.

You dont get that effect with tinnitus thats induced by very loud noises.

This only happens when I sit it front of the computer
and never in other circumstances such as listening
to music with headphones in another room.

Bet thats what has produced the tinnitus, too high a sound
level in those headphones. And it clearly aint just the monitor
thats producing a noticeable sound level in your ears.

It might not be severe or permanent, I'm not a hearing expert,

You aint an expert at anything else, either.

but it's annoying nonetheless and can't be
healthy for your ears, especially if it continues.

Mindless pig ignorant quackery.

Your ears don't start ringing without a reason.

Bet its the headphone level.

And you CAN get tinnitus without that being
due to the sound level at your ears anyway.

And it certainly is NOT produced by 'subtle, unnatural,
incessant sounds', otherwise everyone would have it.

 

[Paul]

You can think what you like, but in my view from my experience, it is
the most definite reason for the ringing. I've also had enough time to
analyze it. How would you know anyway, unless you have the same exact
setup, room, and my ears? lol

How else would you explain it? Nothing else is making a noise. I have
my computer in the hall with wires hooking up to the monitor, keyboard,
mouse, in this room. So the only thing making noise is the monitor.
After prolonged hours I hear a ringing in my ears and it if I overdue
it, it hurts. As soon as I turn off the monitor my ears feel this
sense of relief. It's gotten to the point where I hear a certain part
of the ring only when it's on. As soon as it's off it starts to get
better.

This only happens when I sit it front of the computer and never in
other circumstances such as listening to music with headphones in
another room. It might not be severe or permanent, I'm not a hearing
expert, but it's annoying nonetheless and can't be healthy for your
ears, especially if it continues. Your ears don't start ringing
without a reason.

There are a couple possible noise sources.

1) Whatever the monitor uses for internal power conversion.
My monitor gets 12VDC from a wall wart, and the 12VDC has to
be converted in the monitor, to voltages suitable for the
chips that control the LCD.

2) The inverter that drives the backlight.

The inverter uses a piezoelectric transformer. This article
gives some tech info on how it works.

http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slyt107/slyt107.pdf

There are two ways to build inverters. This article shows
the magnetic alternative, as well as the piezoelectric method.

http://www.eetasia.com/ARTICLES/2005JUN/A/2005JUN13_ACC_POW_AN01.PDF

They both operate above human hearing frequency. This piezoelectric
device has a self resonant frequency of 82KHz.

http://www.steminc.com/piezo/single_layer_transf.asp

The question would be, whether a device emitting sound, above
the human hearing range, can still have a physiological effect.
Aliasing (beat note) between two oscillator noise sources
in the back of the monitor, could create a tone just above
human hearing, so there are some other possibilities when
it comes to the noise spectrum.

This article does mention that it is possible for humans
to "perceive" noise up to 120KHz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_hearing

"Ultrasonic hearing is a recognised auditory effect which allows
humans to perceive sounds of a much higher frequency than would
ordinarily be audible using the physical inner ear, usually by
stimulation of the base of the cochlea through bone induction.
Human hearing is recognised as having an upper bound around 17-20 kHz,
depending on the person, but ultrasonic sinusoids as high as
120 kHz have been reported as successfully perceived."

And what that means is, it is possible for the inverter in the
monitor, to be perceptable in some way. Even if the perception
is a feeling of pain.

To distinguish between bone induction, and direct hearing, you
could try wearing hearing protection. The hearing protection
should be ineffective against this kind of noise, so if the
perception continues, then the effect could be via
conduction, rather than through the auditory canal.

If hearing protection eliminates the problem, then at least
you could suspect whatever the problem is, it is via
the auditory canal.

Paul

 

[spodosaurus]

It isnt damaging your hearing.


Wrong with hearing DAMAGE. Its just irritating.

Rod, you're out of your depth discussing the cochlear hair cells. You
also have insufficient information to make any statements about this as
the OP did not post frequency or intensity measurements.


--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply
Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor and literally save someone's life:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

Rod, you're out of your depth discussing the cochlear hair cells.

We'll see...

And you dont even know that cochlear hair cells are even involved.

You also have insufficient information to make any statements about this as the OP did not post
frequency or intensity measurements.

He didnt need to with that pig ignorant claim about 'subtle,
unnatural, incessant sounds' that I commented on there.

And no LCD monitor thats only noticeable when used with
a very quiet PC will be damaging anyone's hearing anyway.

 

[OSbandito]

julian--I wouldn't give up on your monitor yet. I think this monitor has
inputs for both analog and DVI digital sources. My guess is that you are
connected to an analog source. This will not offer the best image for
you compared to DVI and, by running analog, even on a flat-panel screen,
you may be hearing source noises for the horizontal scan rate. This is
normally only a problem in CRT-type monitors but the components which
generate the usual (over 30khz) Horiz rates sometimes use a source rate
of around 15 khz like picture-tube sets to generate the higher scan. If
your graphics card has a DVI output, use that ratherthan analog
connection. Try different Vertical scan rates for the monitor--these are
found in your graphics control-panel and range from 60 cycles up to
maybe 120~. These, I believe, will interact with H-scan automatically.
Here's a related but mainly CRT-oriented article on high-pitched noises
from monitors.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/monfaq.htm#monhpwsfm

Good Luck!

 

[julian8888888]

Interesting, thanks Paul.

There are a couple possible noise sources.

1) Whatever the monitor uses for internal power conversion.
My monitor gets 12VDC from a wall wart, and the 12VDC has to
be converted in the monitor, to voltages suitable for the
chips that control the LCD.

2) The inverter that drives the backlight.

The inverter uses a piezoelectric transformer. This article
gives some tech info on how it works.

http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slyt107/slyt107.pdf

There are two ways to build inverters. This article shows
the magnetic alternative, as well as the piezoelectric method.

http://www.eetasia.com/ARTICLES/2005JUN/A/2005JUN13_ACC_POW_AN01.PDF

They both operate above human hearing frequency. This piezoelectric
device has a self resonant frequency of 82KHz.

http://www.steminc.com/piezo/single_layer_transf.asp

The question would be, whether a device emitting sound, above
the human hearing range, can still have a physiological effect.
Aliasing (beat note) between two oscillator noise sources
in the back of the monitor, could create a tone just above
human hearing, so there are some other possibilities when
it comes to the noise spectrum.

This article does mention that it is possible for humans
to "perceive" noise up to 120KHz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_hearing

"Ultrasonic hearing is a recognised auditory effect which allows
humans to perceive sounds of a much higher frequency than would
ordinarily be audible using the physical inner ear, usually by
stimulation of the base of the cochlea through bone induction.
Human hearing is recognised as having an upper bound around 17-20 kHz,
depending on the person, but ultrasonic sinusoids as high as
120 kHz have been reported as successfully perceived."

And what that means is, it is possible for the inverter in the
monitor, to be perceptable in some way. Even if the perception
is a feeling of pain.

To distinguish between bone induction, and direct hearing, you
could try wearing hearing protection. The hearing protection
should be ineffective against this kind of noise, so if the
perception continues, then the effect could be via
conduction, rather than through the auditory canal.

If hearing protection eliminates the problem, then at least
you could suspect whatever the problem is, it is via
the auditory canal.

Paul

 

[Rod Speed]

julian--I wouldn't give up on your monitor yet. I think this monitor
has inputs for both analog and DVI digital sources. My guess is that
you are connected to an analog source. This will not offer the best
image for you compared to DVI and, by running analog, even on a
flat-panel screen, you may be hearing source noises for the
horizontal scan rate. This is normally only a problem in CRT-type
monitors but the components which generate the usual (over 30khz)
Horiz rates sometimes use a source rate of around 15 khz like
picture-tube sets to generate the higher scan. If your graphics card
has a DVI output, use that ratherthan analog connection. Try
different Vertical scan rates for the monitor--these are found in
your graphics control-panel and range from 60 cycles up to maybe
120~. These, I believe, will interact with H-scan automatically.
Here's a related but mainly CRT-oriented article on high-pitched
noises from monitors.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/monfaq.htm#monhpwsfm

Thats not relevant to the noises from LCD monitors.