sketches wrote:
if you're around any electronic then that may be it as well. My TV, my radio, my computer, any electric kitchen appliances, and lots of other things buzz (at different pitches/frequencies, of course) even when they're just plugged in.
I experience this as well, and it's definitely not tinnitus. The DSM specifically mentions one of the symptoms of Autism as "may see lights or hear sounds that others do not". This is not a reference to hallucinatory experiences, but hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli.
When I was growing up, televisions were still powered by vacuum tubes, and the exciter that fired electrons into the back of the cathode-ray tube made a very high-pitched squeal - a noise so high, it was almost more of a physical sensation than a sound - and it could be heard throughout the house anytime the set was on, even if the volume was turned all the way down. This was such a common household experience for me, I never even mentioned it aloud until I was in my mid twenties, only to discover that only
one person out of 6 in the room at the time had a clue what I was talking about. If he hadn't happened to be an electronics buff, the rest of the people present would have been convinced I was insane. Apparently only dogs (and mosquitoes) are supposed to be able to hear that noise, and my entire life I had just assumed everybody was hearing it.