Gaming Headset and Forza 4...
Gaming Headset and Forza 4...
Some of you are going to think I'm crazy for even asking this but I'm really curious...
I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but I pretty much stopped playing FM4 for quite a while, for various reasons, some of which I have already mentioned. However, I didn't mention one of them...
After a few months of playing FM4, suddenly one night while lying in bed, trying to get to sleep, I started hearing what sounded like the low hum of a diesel truck running in the distance. I didn't think too much of it because one of my neighbors has one. The same thing happened again the next night, I tried to cover my ears to block out the sound, it didn't help... I walked all over the house trying to find the sound and couldn't find it. Then it dawned on my... It was IN MY HEAD and only in one ear. I was a bit disturbed by this of course. Though it only seemed to happen at night right before bed.
My girlfriend kept telling me that it was probably from my game and I just dismissed it. It would happen about twice a week or so that I would "hear" this sound and it was getting pretty damn annoying to be honest. I of course looked it up on the internet and found no great info on it except that a lot of people have similar thing happen and doctors don't have an answer.
I finally decided to give in and test my girlfriends theory, sort of... I stopped playing Forza altogether for about 1 month or more. This was fine since I was pretty busy anyhow and had just purchased Skyrim. ;)
Guess what??? The humming went away... I hadn't heard it even ONE TIME for more than a month, though I'd used the headset to play other games. Then I popped in Forza last week and played for a few hours before bed. The sound returned. I haven't played again for about 5 days and the sound hasn't returned. I do not think it's a coincidence... Before anyone asks, I don't play with the volume cranked and my hearing is pretty fantastic otherwise. I haven't written the game off and I'm not POSITIVE that it's the combination of the game and the headset. I work around servers all the time so it could be that or god knows what else. I just found it a bit... odd.
So my question to you guys is this. Have any of you experienced something similar?
No, and other than the obvious "don't play 'em so loud" I don't know what it could be.
It's not a ringing like high blood pressure either, correct?
Also, you don't excessively "eat" Tylenol do you, can also cause ringing of the ears, and it can be permanent so all of you listen up on that one!
If it's the game, that implies something programmed in? If it's the headsets, it would have to be volume? Using same headset for other games, similar volume? What kind of isolated testing can you do to determine a cause? I'm all about the "scientific" method...
EDIT: Step one, have you tried wearing the headphones reversed? See if it swaps ears?
Well that´s interesting...Never happened to me, what kind of headset you use?? I´m using a basic stereo headset, it´s originaly ment to use with cell phone.
They offer a good sound without being too "closed" and because of that they work great with Xbox headset. Looks like this:
No, I don't eat too much tylenol. :) Though I do occasionally take Advil.
This isn't ringing though, like after loud concert... and it's not right after playing. It could be a pressure thing I suppose, but like I said it only does it after playing Forza, at least as far as I have seen.
The sound is like... a really low hum. If I put my finger IN my ear, like an earplug, I can't hear it anymore, just the normal sound you hear when you do that. (if you can call that a sound) It's weird.
The headset I am using is a Tritton AX 720.
I'm thinking that since it doesn't do it with other games that it must have something to do with the constant sound of the engine. There may be a low frequency that bothers my ear or something. It would be intersting to reverse them and see what happens. :) If it moved to the other ear that would be pretty definative proof!
After you try that, I'd try a different set and see what happens as well, might completely eliminate the set as a possible source, or it may not. If it persists, it's the game, if it doesn't, it's the set? I'm using X-11's and I don't get this at all.
Well others her use the same headset as me as well... and I never had this happen with FM3 and I played that for endless hours at a time lol :)
I'll be playing more lately so we'll see. It may be a volume thing and it could just be me being sensitive to SOMETHING that's going on. Might not even be the game, but at this point all signs point to it. Freaking strange.
I've thought about recording the sound from FM3 and FM4 and looking to see if there is a difference but I'm not sure I can get what I need from that since I don't have a way to decode dolby digital. (the headphones play that)
Lets start without changing too many variables at once. You know that game does it, you know its doing it to your ear, so lets leave them there, as truly, the other options removing your ear, not using someone elses...
But try swapping them left to right, and see if it moves or stays or stops first.
If it moves, it might be the ear piece? If it stays, it might be the game or the ear.
If it stays, try a different headset, borrow someones. Also, if it stays, mess with the game audio settings by lvl relative to overall volume. (engines/etc.).
Try only one variable at a time, just like tuning!
haha sounds like a good plan. I'm going to turn the headset around and see what happens. I'll have to do that for awhile though since it doesn't happen every time I play.
Maybe I have a tiny ant in my ear that's screaming...
Yep I noticed
Noticed a lot of the fast guys have stopped playing, either all together or just with us.
I haven't ever had the resonant hum or engine noise you're experiencing. I use the Turtle Beach X31 headset.
There's a whole nother notion of whats called a sympathetic ear, but usually its sensitive only to a certain pitch or note if you will, and usually it's quite apparent when you hear it, instantly.
Of course, you simply might be hearing "things".
Basher,, r u fuckin with us or r u nuts?! Maybe you can build some type of low frequency filter for your headphones.
haha I'm not screwing with you guys, I promise. :)
I hope something isn't wrong with me... But like I said, so far I ONLY get it after playing Forza 4.
I dunno, it could be nothing, it could be the girl next to me having servers running in the damn office for hours on end with the fans. That sound is pretty annoying and it's on the side of me that has this happen.
Do you wear the headphones when you run rFactor? Completely different sounds from these two games. Do you run different classes? Would be interesting if different exhaust notes affected you differently.
Dude your emphasis on the head phones is way of bat I too suffer with some thing similar .
I can start an EUSL event say 20 laps by the time I hit the 10 lap point I have the makings of a powerful head ache and a dule hum in my ears, this only occurs with 4RZA and have looked into this and find that the concentration level far exceeds any other game which in tern produces tension so on and so forth . This can be combated with breaks and lots of fluids .
Tell us how you get on !!
Interesting Kabar... Though I never had this in FM3 and I played much much more... Though, I haven't tried playing WITHOUT the headset to see what would happen.
Zed, yes, I use the headset with rFactor and have not experienced anything similar. I'm beginning to wonder if it actually started when I switched over to using the optical out on my xbox going directly to the headset so that I had true Dolby Digital going into the headphones. I had it coming from the TV before which I found out was only stereo. Doing this added an entirely new level to the sound, much more pronounced bass mostly. I can't remember when the weird hum thing started though.
I'm just using the stereo connection atm...
No such problems here. I use the Turtle Beach PX-5 headset for Forza 4.
Thanks for those of you that responded to this...
As of now I'm not entirely sure it's the game or the headset... I know it's not the headset. I played the other day without it for about 3 hours and later that evening I heard the sound. However, I have heard it subsequent nights where I did not play.
That being said, I have some interesting info for you...
Last night I finally did something I have been meaning to do for some time now. I downloaded an app for my phone that generates tones based upon whatever frequency you tell it to. While I could hear the sound in my ear I ran the app and put a headphone in the other and started generating tones. I finally settled on a tone that I thought best matched the sound. It was 80 hertz... Tinnitis, or ringing in the ears is a much higher frequency for people, starting at it's lowest around 1000 hertz. So armed with this knowledge I started looking again online to see what I could find...
I think you guys should read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum and http://m.wisegeek.com/what-is-
After reading about that last night I almost jumped in the car and took a drive to another location to see if it would stop but it was 12am and I was in bed :)
If any of you would like to hear what I hear, it's very simple... Get a pair of headphones that go IN the ear and find an app to generate that sound. This page should work fine for you: http://onlinetonegenerator.com/ Set it to 80 and keep your sound at somewhere below 1/4 volume I guess. It is that sound, very pure, like a sine wave, nice and smooth. It is not loud though, just at a normal audible level, not pervasive or anything.
Pretty freaky eh? :) Apparently I'm in tune with "something" and only from about 9pm to 8am lol
Just read the wiki. You must be frikin Batman, at least your getting nearer to the cause , keep the faith " THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE"
So, can you google common sources of noise generated at 80 hertz? Btter yet, can you cobble together a detector that will zero in on 80 hertz sources?
C'mon Bash, I know you like challenges...
Edit: Maybe there's a secret governmental research lab/bunker under your place? Or it's built on an ancient indian burial ground? Or maybe they just moved the headstones...how's your T.V.?
LOL, well I've done a bit of research which is how I came across those articles I posted. I was searching for "hearing 80hz one ear" and similar terms. Seems oddly common and location specific. The one ear thing seems to be common as well... Apparently your ears "tune" to things differently. In case anyone cares, E2 which is not quite the lowest E on a piano is like 82hz which might be what I'm hearing. (it's pretty hard to perceive a difference of a few hz at that low a frequency)
If it continues, worsens or becomes more frequent, I'm going to the doctor just to be sure there isn't something growing in my head. Otherwise I'm not going to let it bother me.
As for measuring the signal... Apparently that's part of the problem with the "Hum" stuff. Nothing can reliably measure it and not with any directionality. Honestly, while it's interesting it seems like way too much work to try and build some kind of contraption for. :)
Receivers can be set to "hear" a set wavelength, the only problem would be the pitch is so low, the lower the pitch, the less directional the sound as the wavelength is so low it's quite wide, sonic'ly speaking, as in the higher the pitch the more directional and easier to pin point.
I'll try recording it for the hell of it with a standard mic. Maybe it'll pic up something.
Another interesting note... Someone on a page mentioned that a lot of people that hear this have gas pipelines nearby... So I took a look at the local map... Um, there is a big pipeline only 1 mile away.
Subterranean sounds from below? Might explain the low wavelength. I was fairly close on the undergound part, just no misplaced governmental indian burialgrounds with missing headstones...
Still a possibility! I'm sure I'll never know :)
You know... One thing I could try just for grins is to connect my oscilloscope to one of my loudspeakers. They each have two 10" subs in them. That might register something and certainly not all the other "crap" flying through the air.
interesting.. just found this in the news.
[url]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230399060457737018255733981...
Canadians Make a Racket Over Mysterious 'Windsor Hum'
Unexplained Noise Spurs Diplomatic Fracas At Detroit Border; Americans Can't Hear It
WINDSOR, Ontario—Last month, Bob Dechert, a senior aide to Canada's foreign minister, was dispatched to Detroit with an important diplomatic mission: To stop a highly annoying noise.
The so-called Windsor hum, described as a low-frequency rumbling sound, has rattled windows and knocked objects off shelves in this border community just across the Detroit River from the Motor City. Locals have said it sounds like a large diesel truck idling, a loud boom box or the bass vocals of Barry White.
Windsor residents have blamed the hum for causing illness, whipping dogs into frenzies, keeping cats housebound and sending goldfish to the surface in backyard ponds. Many have resorted to switching on their furnace fan all season to drown out the noise.
Even weirder, Americans can't seem to hear it. Canadians find that suspicious—especially since their research suggests the hum is coming from the Yankees' side—and accuse U.S. officials of staying silent over the noise.
A strange hum on the U.S./Canadian border has Windsor, Ontario residents pointing the finger at an industrialized wasteland on the southern fringe of Detroit. WSJ's Alistair McDonald reports.
"The government of Canada takes this issue seriously," Mr. Dechert said after his recent fact-finding trip, which included a visit to a heavily industrialized area on the American side of the river that some Canadian scientists believe is to blame for the hum.
Unexplained noises have tormented city dwellers for centuries. Residents west of Green Bay, Wis., have been trying to identify an occasional loud boom that they say sounds like a cannon blast—geologists have said earthquakes made the noise. Locals in upstate New York and other places have described similar episodes.
But few such cases have become international diplomatic incidents.
After three months of seismic studies conducted by Canada's natural resources department, scientists said the noise was likely coming from Zug Island, a nearly 600-acre man-made island on the Michigan side of the Detroit River. The coal-blackened industrial zone is dominated by steel mills, including facilities operated by U.S. Steel Corp. and others whose blast furnaces belch out steam and flames.
The area is off-limits to the general public and surrounded by wire fences, with the only access via a guarded gate. A spokeswoman for U.S. Steel didn't respond to requests for comment.
The sound has been plaguing Windsor residents on and off for two years. Last May, a particularly loud eruption shook Windsor resident David Robins as he watched the National Basketball Association playoffs. The room began to vibrate with a loud throbbing noise.
Mr. Robins hit mute, fearing he had gone overboard on volume. But the noise persisted. Stepping outside, Mr. Robins said he found the "entire neighborhood pulsating."
"To be honest, I was scared," he said.
Bob Dechert
Hundreds of other sleep-deprived locals have demanded action from politicians in Windsor and Ottawa.
Locals blamed earthquakes, local salt mines, an underground river and wind turbines in the past. But Canada's seismic study last summer narrowed the likely source down to approximately 250 acres in the vicinity of Zug Island.
American officials say they aren't so sure.
"It may not be actually emanating from Michigan," said Hansen Clarke, the U.S. Representative for the East Detroit congressional district that includes Zug.
Michael D. Bowdler, the mayor of River Rouge, Michigan, the municipality with authority over Zug, said his cash-strapped government doesn't have funds to investigate further. Mr. Bowdler suggests the city of Windsor pay for a survey that could isolate the noise to its exact location.
American officials contend there haven't been complaints on the U.S. side of the border. Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality looked last year at whether the companies at Zug started up any new machinery in the past two years that might be causing the noise and found nothing.
"The only place I am hearing noise from is Canada—from politicians complaining," Mr. Bowdler said.
Mr. Dechert, Canada's parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, concedes the source may not be Zug Island, given there are a "number of operations" in the vicinity that could be responsible. But he wants his U.S. counterparts to investigate further to help quiet down the border ruckus.
"There is definitely something going on that's affecting people on the Canadian side of the river," he said.
Canadian diplomats formally raised the issue with the U.S. Department of State last September. They took up the cause again at a meeting on Thursday. A State Department spokesman declined to comment on the meeting.
"We do sympathize with the plight of those affected but, unfortunately, the federal government doesn't have regulatory authority over noise pollution," the spokesman said.
Canadian authorities have also hoped the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would investigate. But a spokesman for the EPA said it doesn't have the authority to assist.
If U.S. officials don't help find a solution, "there will be a lot of upset people," said Brian Masse, a Canadian New Democratic Party member of parliament, whose Windsor constituency sits across the river from Zug Island.
Studying the hum, much less its origin, is challenging. It is difficult to capture the mainly nocturnal sound on tape, since it doesn't hum all the time.
During a recent visit to Windsor by a Wall Street Journal reporter, Windsor resident Gary Grosse played several recordings he said came from the noise, which modulated from metallic grating to a pulsing beat.
On a visit to the area around Zug Island, a fainter version of similar sounds was audible. But Americans nearby said they still can't hear it.
Fishing under the shadow of some of the large mounds of coal that fringe Zug Island, Samson Jenkins says that in 20 trips here he has never heard a noise like that described in Windsor.
"And they say they can hear it all the way in Canada?" said the 45-year-old maintenance worker. "No way."
Nearby, an industrial chimney belched out a twist of sulfurous-smelling smoke. Mr. Jenkins joked the only noise pollution he has heard of late is Canadian singer Celine Dion.
In Windsor, nobody's laughing.
In January 2011, Sonya Skillings's nocturnal baby-feeding sessions were disturbed by what she said sounded like an underground subway beneath the house. Over a year on, it has become so loud sometimes she worries the windows will blow out.
"I just want to be in my rocking chair with my baby asleep on top of me," she said. But "all I can hear is 'vrump, vrump, vrump.' "
It's out I guess. I've been tunneling my way to Ontario. damn import/export fees...
I saw this yesterday in the news, it is crazy...