Can you hear your ultrasonic sensor cleaner working?

When the room was reasonably quiet, I could hear a couple of faint chirps whenever the sensor cleaning was active on my 50D. But for some reason after using a rocket blower and my breath/cotton swab to manually clean the sensor myself, I only hear a few faint clicks now instead of chirps. Now I'm worried that I might have done something wrong by cleaning it myself, or its just my teenage ears listening to music too loudly . Can you hear you sensor being cleaned? If so, what does it sound like?

PS: I know that I really shouldn't use my breath and a plain cotton swab to clean a sensor, but there was this huge speck of dust that appeared right after using the blower which was extremely annoying since using the blower again had no effect. So, I just used what I had on hand to get it off, which worked pretty well. I didn't scratch the low pass filter, and I only swabbed the area of the speck, but I think from now on I'll send it in to get cleaned.

My answer, you're getting old.

No, seriously, the human ear can hear "ultrasonic" vibrations only when the ear is intact, but as aging progresses, that part of the ear is the first to get damaged. It's usually natural loss,by age 25 or so most people can't hear above 22kHz (one reason why CDs are sampled at 44kHz, by Nyquist Shannon sampling theorem you need twice the max frequency you want to replicate). In fact, some people can never hear those sounds, and others lose it much earlier than 25. Could just be you're getting old, or your hearing loss was accelerated by your music selection (keep it to under 50% for under two hours, any more than that and you do risk hearing loss)

I can also definitely hear a series of rapid noises when the sensor cleaning is working. As to what it ACTUALLY sounds like, I would say it's more of a clicking than chirping. But, it is a very light, delicate clicking. Another thing: I can hear it all the time, not just when it's really quiet.

I still can hear the sesor cleaner so i´m not that old yet

Oh cr***p... I'm deaf!!!!

Oh wait, I have a 5D.... never mind

RexC wrote in post #6937638
I can also definitely hear a series of rapid noises when the sensor cleaning is working. As to what it ACTUALLY sounds like, I would say it's more of a clicking than chirping. But, it is a very light, delicate clicking. Another thing: I can hear it all the time, not just when it's really quiet.

If you only hear a click, you're too old already

First Car...

1970 Chevelle + 425hp 396 (Not stock) + Open headers + utterly drown out friends 69' Chevelle 350 w/ open headers = 18 year old's hearing loss

26 now, cant hear my 40D and miss my Chevelle

First year engineering - a lecture theater holding about 200 students - most of us were eighteen. The physics professor brings in a sound generator and has us all stand up. He starts the machine generating about 100 Hz and slowly raises the frequency generated. When the frequency is raised so where an individual can't hear the sound, he is to sit down.

After a few minutes there was one guy standing - the frequency was 20,000 Hz.

The guy standing looked like he was sixteen years old. I quit at 18,000. Today I can't hear beyond 5,000 (that's why I re-started photography - music is becoming difficult).

Females have higher frequency hearing, and keep their high frequency hearing longer than males.

If you're a twenty year old male and say you can hear 20,000, you're either lying or have exceptional hearing (or you have four legs, a tail, are furry, and bark).


Bottom line: depending on your hearing, you will hear nothing, a click, a whir, or some vibrating sound. If you can hear the vibrating sound, make sure your tail isn't showing when you go out.

Glenn NK wrote in post #6939013
First year engineering - a lecture theater holding about 200 students - most of us were eighteen. The physics professor brings in a sound generator and has us all stand up. He starts the machine generating about 100 Hz and slowly raises the frequency generated. When the frequency is raised so where an individual can't hear the sound, he is to sit down.

After a few minutes there was one guy standing - the frequency was 20,000 Hz.

The guy standing looked like he was sixteen years old. I quit at 18,000. Today I can't hear beyond 5,000 (that's why I re-started photography - music is becoming difficult).

Females have higher frequency hearing, and keep their high frequency hearing longer than males.

If you're a twenty year old male and say you can hear 20,000, you're either lying or have exceptional hearing (or you have four legs, a tail, are furry, and bark).


Bottom line: depending on your hearing, you will hear nothing, a click, a whir, or some vibrating sound. If you can hear the vibrating sound, make sure your tail isn't showing when you go out.

The beauty of hating loud music and loving piece and quiet
I can still hear the mosquito ringer, so 17.4khz is a go. Checked out http://ia301203.us.arc​hive.org …z_tone/20kHz_au​dacity.wav for a 20khz sound, laptop speakers can't play it, and the headphones make my ears hurt rather than really hearing anything.

And I'm pretty sure that you can hear parts of the vibration, sounds like -=^-..*click*-=^-..*click* where the -=^-.. is an increasing pitch chirp followed by a bit of silence. Might just be something that is resonating though.

And sorry for the screwup before, most people over 25 can't hear above 17khz, not 22.

Glenn NK wrote in post #6939013
First year engineering - a lecture theater holding about 200 students - most of us were eighteen. The physics professor brings in a sound generator and has us all stand up. He starts the machine generating about 100 Hz and slowly raises the frequency generated. When the frequency is raised so where an individual can't hear the sound, he is to sit down.

After a few minutes there was one guy standing - the frequency was 20,000 Hz.

The guy standing looked like he was sixteen years old. I quit at 18,000. Today I can't hear beyond 5,000 (that's why I re-started photography - music is becoming difficult).

Females have higher frequency hearing, and keep their high frequency hearing longer than males.

If you're a twenty year old male and say you can hear 20,000, you're either lying or have exceptional hearing (or you have four legs, a tail, are furry, and bark).


Bottom line: depending on your hearing, you will hear nothing, a click, a whir, or some vibrating sound. If you can hear the vibrating sound, make sure your tail isn't showing when you go out.

Haha, I've had that done in a class as well. I was pretty good until around 19,000 Hz.
And yes, I can hear my sensor cleaner working on my XTi.

funny, i never thought of listening. so i just did it, and it kind of sounds like my knees when i am walking down the stairs. so does that make me old or young, i can hear it, but my knees creak a whole lot...

jxg wrote in post #6940228
funny, i never thought of listening. so i just did it, and it kind of sounds like my knees when i am walking down the stairs. so does that make me old or young, i can hear it, but my knees creak a whole lot...

I think that makes you a poorly oiled robot

is "anal-retentive" spelled with a hyphen?

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basroil wrote in post #6937166
Could just be you're getting old, or your hearing loss was accelerated by your music selection (keep it to under 50% for under two hours, any more than that and you do risk hearing loss)

You mean you can't stand directly in front of a speaker at a rock concert with a crowd of 100,000 I've been known to wear earplugs at the few rock concerts I've attended (classical fan here) in an attempt to preserve what critical listening capability I have left. Was around jet engines practically my whole career. Wonder what the highest frequency is that I can still hear. Actually I can hear my ears ringing a lot

Yes. I hear it on my 1DMKIII when I'm indoors. My hearing is not so good generally and I can't hear my watches tick as much as i'd like to. (No, they are not quartz. I'm a collector of mechanical watches).