TikTok user Ali Perkins says she wasn't sure where the sound was coming from until she stuck her head in the dishwasher
NEED TO KNOW
- A Tennessee woman went viral after documenting hearing voices coming from her dishwasher
- “It was cool for a second but now I need it gone,” Ali Perkins wrote of the odd occurrence
- She asked social media for help figuring out the source of the phenomenon and an expert came through for her in the comments
A Tennessee woman made a recent discovery inside her dishwasher you'd have to hear to believe.
TikTok user Ali Perkins went viral after sharing a video filmed inside her kitchen. She was sure she was hearing faint voices, but was initially stumped as to where the sound was coming from. That is, until she happened to have her dishwasher open and the sound got louder and clearer.
“I passed through the kitchen [and] I heard a talk radio station very clearly coming out of my dishwasher,” she tells Storyful. “I tore apart my kitchen thinking there was a radio somewhere and even checked to see if someone was living in my crawlspace.”
But upon further inspection, it became clear where the sound was originating when she stuck her head in the dishwasher.
“Calling all radio nerds!” she wrote in the caption of her April 3 post. “Please tell me how to get my dishwasher to stop picking up on a radio station. It was cool for a second but now I need it gone haha.”
Some commenters who identified themselves as engineers helpfully offered their insights on the matter.
“Engineer here, If the power cord or internal wiring length is equal to a harmonic of the radio frequency it will act as an antenna,” user @That_Carolina_Fam wrote. “Most dishwashers these days have a small speaker to ding or chime when complete which is probably what is broadcasting the sound that we hear in the video.”
The commenter added: “You might try having someone make sure the dishwasher is properly grounded and install a small ferrite choke on the power cord. This would most likely block the frequency. You probably live close to the radio station which is why the signal is so strong.”
Some users shared comedic takes on the matter, while others shared their own anecdotes of similar situations.
“Can you change the station if you move the forks,” asked one commenter.
“One time when I was camping I swear I could hear the radio through my tent poles and these comments are convincing me that I was not in fact losing my mind,” said another.
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British writer and science communicator Zion Lights, who runs the YouTube channel @SciencewithZi, took to the platform to explain what happened in an April 7 Short.
She explained objects, such as appliances, can occasionally pick up radio frequencies, especially strong AM signals. The phenomenon, known as radio frequency interference, is caused by ungrounded or loosely grounded wires or metal, or a breakdown of internal shielding or filtering in a machine's components.
The parts, like antennas, can receive signals and then generate sound waves audible to humans.
Perkins shared an update on TikTok that she called an electrician who called the phenomenon "the craziest thing he's ever seen" but didn't know how to fix it. She plans to share the commenters' insights with him and hopefully find a solution.
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