It’s a pretty ordinary day for you. You’ve just gotten home from work (or from wherever you happen to spend your time during the week), and you’ve decided to putz about on the Internet for a while. Suddenly, you hear a rather strange, irritating sound- a series of rapid, loud buzzing sounds emanating from your speakers. Almost immediately afterwards, your phone rings, and you realize with a start that you placed it directly on top of them (or near them, at the very least). It’s the same deal with your TV, your radio, and your headphones- something about the phone wreaks havoc with them.
This is a form of something known as Electromagnetic Interference- and it’s the reason why you can’t use phones in hospitals or on planes.
Basically, whenever a phone receives or sends a message or call, it’s emitting a pulsing signal to the nearest radio tower. Occasionally, this signal will cross paths with other signals or devices. When the waves from the signal pass through a non-linear circuit, the circuit will ‘detect’ the signal, and may convert it to an audible frequency. Basically, it’s how your cell phone’s transmissions ‘sound.
This is also an explanation as to why cell phones and other wireless devices are generally no-nos in places like hospitals and aircraft. The equipment in these locations is far, far more sensitive than the speakers on a typical PC or radio, and as a result, they’re far more likely to pick up electromagnetic interference from a mobile device. The amount of interference generally depends entirely on the device emitting the signals as well as the device through which the signals are passing. Newer devices tend to be better shielded against such interference.
As to how you can mitigate this, well…you really can’t. You’ve just got to live with it, truth be told. Move your cell phone away from your TV and PC speakers if it’s a problem.
Image Credits: [Thoroughbred Audio]
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