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Help headphone whine with ICS

Thom Little said:
What you learn when you have a hearing loss (and you learn it reluctantly) ...

My hearing aids are digital. Each one has 15 amplifiers that amplify a specific frequency range. So picture the audio spectrum broken into 15 slices.

What happens over time is that people loose the ability to hear specific frequency ranges. The most common loss is the higher frequencies that allow people to easily distinguish words in a conversation.

The solution is to measure each of the 15 ranges and set the volume on each of the 15 to bring the total into a usable end.

Every person who is measured is different.

Here's a guess ... it is only a guess ... there are a small number of people (you included) who hear a specific frequency range BETTER than the rest of us. The whine is always there. It is only heard by a small number of people.

You working with someone who doesn't hear it when you do and using the exact same equipment would go a long way in proving this theory.

My guess is that the only long term solution will be for you to try a number of different devices until you find one that doesn't whine and stick with it. It is obviously critical to you. You should expect that the results will vary from one software release to another on the same device.

... Thom
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Even at my age, my hearing is excellent--better than most my age. As a former ardent audiophile, I appreciate good sound. My wife who is younger, but has tinnitus can BARELY hear the whine on our bionics.
 
I know this is a sub-optimal solution, but as a workaround it works great: buy a BlueTooth headset. I bought one about a year ago and haven't plugged in a set of headphones since. Love not having to worry about cords or wearing out the jack, etc. Just make sure it supports A2DP -- nearly all stereo ones do. Amazon has these over-the-year types for $29.95, or if you prefer earbuds, my coworker swears by this type, which NewEgg has for $45.99. Here's an interesting variation on the Beats-type headset for $39.99.
 
Somniferum said:
I know this is a sub-optimal solution, but as a workaround it works great: buy a BlueTooth headset. I bought one about a year ago and haven't plugged in a set of headphones since. Love not having to worry about cords or wearing out the jack, etc. Just make sure it supports A2DP -- nearly all stereo ones do. Amazon has these over-the-year types for $29.95, or if you prefer earbuds, my coworker swears by this type, which NewEgg has for $45.99.
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I don't like BT for quality sound. I expect to have a new phone within a month. The bionic is on it's last legs for me. I can't stand earbuds. I've been aware of the "BT solution" since LAST September when the phone was released. I also see no reason to add to my collection of headphones. I have enough as it is. but thanks for your comments--i know you are try to help. I'm just waiting for another phone, at this point.
 
dave1812 said:
Even at my age, my hearing is excellent--better than most my age. As a former ardent audiophile, I appreciate good sound. My wife who is younger, but has tinnitus can BARELY hear the whine on our bionics.
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It does not relate (necessarily) to age. The words good and bad have very little meaning.

If you are serious about this ... have a hearing exam and see what you find out. You might find you are in the .005% who have exceptional hearing in one frequency range.

Take your Bionic to a REAL electronics shop and have them test it for you. Describe to them what it is that is annoying you and see if they can zero in on it.

... Thom
 
theoutput wasnt frequency limited by the corrected OS. music wasn't muffled. and it was no where near a 17khz frequency whine. software issues CAN cause problems for some installations and not others on pc's out other devices. just like someone says foxfi works for them and the next person says it doesn't work. nature of the beast
 
Both of you really need to stop arguing with each other, as it's not solving anything.

The overall point is that the update to ICS brought back the whine. Who really cares if it's a software or hardware issue... so a problem native to some Bionics was causing a whine in the past... a software update made the whine go away, or masked the problem.

Regardless, ICS brought it back. And again, it doesn't matter if it's software or hardware... for those of us affected by the problem, it is 100% apparent that ICS "influenced" the return of the whine. It wasn't there before, and it is now.

We're not simply hearing things, we don't have superhuman hearing, and it's wrong to assume that it's only a few people that are affected. Not everyone with a Bionic subscribes to these forums. I've had mine since April, and only recently signed up as it was a recommended forum when I installed Tapatalk.

It doesn't affect you, great! It does affect us. So let's just leave it at that.
 
Glock23 said:
Both of you really need to stop arguing with each other, as it's not solving anything.

The overall point is that the update to ICS brought back the whine. Who really cares if it's a software or hardware issue... so a problem native to some Bionics was causing a whine in the past... a software update made the whine go away, or masked the problem.

Regardless, ICS brought it back. And again, it doesn't matter if it's software or hardware... for those of us affected by the problem, it is 100% apparent that ICS "influenced" the return of the whine. It wasn't there before, and it is now.

We're not simply hearing things, we don't have superhuman hearing, and it's wrong to assume that it's only a few people that are affected. Not everyone with a Bionic subscribes to these forums. I've had mine since April, and only recently signed up as it was a recommended forum when I installed Tapatalk.

It doesn't affect you, great! It does affect us. So let's just leave it at that.
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I couldn't agree more. I'm done arguing with them. pointless and time-consuming.
 
Aha!

http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-bionic/641879-no-ability-turn-off-4g-in-ics.html#post5154093

Previously, I could independently turn on the phone, CDMA and LTE. Tis was handy in England where I could keep the phone off but use the data. I also have problems with the LTE generating noise in audio circuits.
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dave1812, do you mind trying out something? Turn on airplane mode and see if you still hear the audio whine? (I realize that this is perhaps an unacceptable solution to you if it does eliminate the whine, but others may be happy to turn off LTE and eliminate it going forward.)

Also, have any people who do not hear the whine installed an an app that allows them to turn off the LTE radio?
 
doogald said:
Aha!

http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-bionic/641879-no-ability-turn-off-4g-in-ics.html#post5154093



dave1812, do you mind trying out something? Turn on airplane mode and see if you still hear the audio whine? (I realize that this is perhaps an unacceptable solution to you if it does eliminate the whine, but others may be happy to turn off LTE and eliminate it going forward.)

Also, have any people who do not hear the whine installed an an app that allows them to turn off the LTE radio?
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Just tested this... still have the whine in airplane mode.
 
Because my Bose are in another room, i just grabbed my Koss. I can hardly hear the whine (not airplane mode--regular mode). That goes back to what I said BEFORE: there are three factors that seem to be important to whether or not one notices the whine.

1) sensitivity of earphones
2) one's hearing acuity in the affected range
3) which OS version is running on an affected Bionic

ergo, I can see why SOME PEOPLE can't hear the whine. If I handed them MY phone, along with my Koss headphones, I'm sure 90% or more would say "what whine???". Conversely, if I let them try my Bose QC15's, I expect that 99.5% would say, "WOW! that's frickin' annoying!"
 
Problem solved.

I bought a Samsung Note 2. Awesome. Adios Bionic! (I've HATED that phone since the moment the headphone whine came back with ICS)
 
NightAngel79 said:
Your problem may be solved but the actual issue is not. Thread title changed back :)

Thanks for understanding
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oh, that's fine. I have no faith in Moto fixing the issue, so for me the solution was to get a different phone. I'd not have spent the money if I didn't have the headphone whine problem with the Bionic--at least not in the short term. I'm sure I'd succumb before too long, to the "latest and greatest" but the mishandling of the Bionic has been far too much for my patience.
 
dave1812 said:
oh, that's fine. I have no faith in Moto fixing the issue, so for me the solution was to get a different phone. I'd not have spent the money if I didn't have the headphone whine problem with the Bionic--at least not in the short term. I'm sure I'd succumb before too long, to the "latest and greatest" but the mishandling of the Bionic has been far too much for my patience.
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Fair enough. But we don't want people popping in here thinking there is a real solution and then seeing 'buy a new phone'

That's not how things work here.

Thanks for understanding and enjoy your new phone!
 
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