Does anybody else ever hear a very high-pitch tone while watching TV? It happens more often during commercials than during programming (sometimes during the news). And, strangely, it comes and goes as the camera shots change. And I hear it equally from both ears.
Does this mean my hearing is starting to go, or am i receiving a message from an ET?
Those damn aliens; I told them this was a bad way of delivering subliminal messages! (Sublmlimlinal if you’re G.W. Bush!)
Actually, I can hear high pitched “noise” when the set fires up or if there is a lot of white on the screen. I’m thinking you have very good hearing or your T.V antenna isn’t finely tunned.
Or, it really could be aliens. I’ll call Mulder, you call the Prez! 
Yeah, the sound is really there. A lot of people, including myself can hear it.
I can even tell when the camera shots change, without looking, (especially in commercials) by the sudden difference in sound when going from mostly white to mostly dark, or vice versa.
What’s the range on yours? This sound seems to carry much further than other sounds of similar volume. I can tell which rooms have TVs on from down the hall. And many times I’ve walked by a dorm and heard that characteristic sound only to look straight towards the open 3rd floor window that it’s coming from.
I hear it sometimes too. So it’s either real, or we all have the same kind of brain disease.
I thought this link might help you guys out.
Just today, in a motel, I noticed that, with the tv sound muted, the high-pitched noise changed as I changed channels with the remote. I conducted an experiment with my wife: I closed my eyes, she used the remote, and I could tell every time that the channel changed.
Well, she was tired, so that was the only experiment that she’d let me perform. 
At least now I know I’m not the only person who can hear that.
Sometimes I put the TV on mute when I’m working on the computer. I don’t know why, but for some reason that high-pitched noise helps me concentrate.
You might be hearing the flyback transformer, which sometimes (especially in older/cheaper sets) resonates at 15750 Hz, near the upper end of the normally audible frequency range.
Back when I was younger, I could hear it quite distinctly, even through walls and doors. Now that I’m rapidly approaching middle age, I no longer hear it – not that I miss it.
Also, some sets will produce a high-pitched, staticy sort of noise when playing scenes with lots of white. In my experience, it seems to occur mostly in commercials, and is confined to certain stations (i.e., an ad will cause the noise when broadcast on one station, but not another). This suggests some irregularity in the station’s transmitting or playback equipment.
I used to be able to hear it all the time… I could tell when a TV was on in another room.
But then continuous loud music destroyed my hearing. Now I hear it all the time… only now its called tinitus.
Most women can hear it, like myself. I can hear it quite well, and by playing with an occillator hooked up to a speaker in Physics class in school, I found I can hear to about 18 kHz, give or take.
Most men do not seem to be able to hear it, or can only do so under the best conditions of low ambient sound. I can clearly hear the whine of security cameras, monitors, and TV’s in the most crowded mall. For some reason it never bothers me.
I have above average hearing. I can hear halogen lights, TVs, monitors, etc. My computer used to have a hearing test on it, and I could hear it almost higher than the speaker would sound.
–Tim
I can hear every television or computer monitor (provided that I’m in the same room) make a faint high-pitched sound when it’s on. I thought almost everyone could.
I’ve found that the flyback transformers tend to make a louder noise as they get older and the solder that holds them on starts to crack (presumably due to the vibration) If you know what you’re doing and are not the sort of person why would consider drying a dog in a microwave, you can resolder the connections.
This sometimes helps.
Yes, but if the speaker makes no sound, and you still hear it, it’s time to lay off the shrooms.
But, if the speaker tells you to go down to KCI airport and take off all your clothes in front of the Delta ticket counter, then I say “Go For It!”
On the line transformers it’s not solder cracking but rather it’s the varnish agent between the laminations that ages and cracks apart.This allows for tiny movements between the layers which is a common cuase of this noise, a drop of nail varnish cures it.
Tv’s have a line oscillator free-running inside them to provide line drive until a referance from the recieved tv signal has been obtained(since tvs mostly have switch mode supplies this same signal operates the power unit).
Sometimes this self generated signal is a long way out in frequency to the recieved referance so that there is a constant self-correction process going on and this can generate that high pitched sound.