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Severe Tinnitus Following the Installation of New Electricity Meters

Since new gas and electricity meters were installed in my house on 9 February 2022, I have had a very serious problem with tinnitus. I also have had a feeling of strong pressure on my eardrums. Let me say straight away that this is nothing to do with smart meter communications; the hub responsible for mobile and Wi-Fi signals was removed one week after the meters were installed as a final attempt by the energy company to solve the problem. Various engineers I’ve been in contact with over this matter suspect the problem is most likely to be a switched-mode power supply or capacitors associated with it. I would like to know more about how such a device upset my health to the point that I do not feel it is safe to live in my own home. The energy company have refused to carry out any further work to investigate the issue and state that their meters meet all the current standards and are therefore safe.

I did not have any problems with the traditional analogue meters previously installed. I should add that I’ve been in houses that have smart electricity meters of various types and only in one of those houses do I feel my tinnitus tone is being amplified and none result in any pressure feelings on my eardrums. The first meter, a Landis+Gyr E470 was replaced with a Kaifa MA120 five days after complaining to my energy company. The Landis+Gyr meter was unbearable to live with any longer than that. The Kaifa model has seen me leave home twice for respite despite discovering on how to dampen down the tinnitus and greatly reduce the pressure feeling on my eardrums. The Kaifa makes an awful little noise which if I could hear that while in the living room, I could understand why my ears are being irritated. The Landis+Gyr also made a similar noise but a little quieter. However, should such devices make any audible noise at all? Some people don’t have the ability to hide these away in cupboards. I can hear the Kaifa meter 2 to 3 metres away with the cupboard door open where it is installed. A short recording of the continuous noise it makes can be heard in the following mp3 file:

My tinnitus grew into a significant problem within 24 hours of the Landis+Gyr meter being installed. I’ve had tinnitus in the past and was cautious to blame the new gas and electric meters at first, but I soon noticed this was very different to previous bouts of tinnitus: I found the affect would wane when away from the house and be amplified back to ‘horribly irritating’ upon return. The pressure feeling on my eardrums 'throbbed away' as soon as I got a short distance away from my house, it too would come back very quickly upon returning inside. When the Landis+Gyr meter was shutdown for replacement, it was an hour before the Kaifa meter was switched on. That is the only time I’ve been in the house since the new meters were installed on 9 February that my ears have felt calm, albeit the tinnitus tone only very slowly fades away. Unfortunately that short period of time was to end with a shock when the Kaifa was powered on; I felt a short burst of pain in both ears making me flinch in my seat. I was not watching what the fitter was doing and had to ask him what had just happened. He stated he had just powered up the meter with the distribution board still switched off. I’m horrified that simply turning on the meter could cause me pain, not to mention the fact the tinnitus and pressure feeling came back with this new meter.

With the aid of a friend who is also has a background in electrical and electronic engineering, I made the discovery that the effects of the meter can be reduced by turning off electrical devices plugged into the mains supply and found by turning off the ring main supplying the bedroom overnight, I could achieve better sleep, albeit still not adequate. Suspicion then was that the meter was emitting something being carried around the house via the mains cabling as opposed to just emitting something from itself. I requested help from the local power distribution company who sent out an engineer to check for electromagnetic fields. No unusually strong fields were found, however the engineer said he could perceive a high pitch tone and a bit of pressure on his eardrums. So far the only other person to sense something of what I am experiencing and I at least do not feel alone any more. He asked me to try powering down electrical equipment before turning the distribution board off and we both felt a relief from the pressure as soon as I turned off the television and surround sound system. The surround sound system along with most other audio equipment are now unplugged and the sense of pressure on my eardrums is much less noticeable. The engineer mentioned that tantalum capacitors and switched-mode power supplies can be a source of noise at frequencies in the audible range if they are defective or inadequately filtered.

Unfortunately the tinnitus tone has been gaining strength recently worsening my sleep down to just 2 hours a night. Hence I have had to leave my house again for respite, immediately achieving nearly 7 hours sleep on my first night away despite the tone having hardly subsided. I have used a tone generator to match the tinnitus at 14kHz. Sound analyser applications on my smart phone don’t show anything unusual at this frequency, but there is some low frequency noise below 100Hz and high frequency noise around 20kHz. Both are at low volumes, albeit I hardly think the microphone on a smart phone can be trusted at these low and high frequencies. However, what is interesting is that noise in the 17kHz to 21kHz range is hardly present when I am in other houses with smart meters where my tinnitus is not amplified and it is present in the only other house I know where my tinnitus is amplified. It could be a red herring, but there must be strange harmonics involved one way or another.

I’ve spent a great deal of time researching the Internet trying to find out about the problems with tinnitus and smart meters. I find people reporting life affecting tinnitus within two days of having smart meters fitted and then the forum responses where they posted concentrate on the arguments about Wi-Fi and mobile phone signals, neither of which apply here and then they soon degenerate into conspiracy theories about smart meters. (I’d have been very disturbed by tinnitus for the last 20 years if I had any sensitivity to radiation from mobile phones and Wi-Fi routers.) I’ve been in touch with the British Tinnitus Association and they have confirmed my case is “not without precedent”. I’ve had an email discussion with a specialist audiologist who states that the link between electrical apparatus and tinnitus is not scientifically proven but it is known some people can be hyper-sensitive. I’ve not knowingly been sensitive to any electrical devices in the past. I've had a hearing test which proves my hearing in the normal range is very good for my age, just some mild loss in the 7kHz to 8kHz range. The tone generators I used to match my tinnitus show I can hear tones up to around 15kHz, subject to the quality of these tone generator apps, websites and speakers within my smart phone and attached to my computer.

Maybe the arguments over smart meters and health problems have been clouded by the debate on Wi-Fi and mobile phone signals rather than the quality of the electronics in these meters. The electronics engineers who have pointed out the problem is likely to be the switched-mode power supply or capacitors within the electricity meter have done so independently, based in three different countries, which proves to me there is some concern about these components which obviously are in lots more devices than just meters. There is a difference though: I have two devices which have power supplies, almost certainly switched-mode, that make audible noises, but these can be turned off and would be replaced if I suspected they were causing any health concerns. The electricity meter is not something that can be turned off and replaced by the householder, it has to be changed by the energy company and any interference with it is illegal. I’m currently left in a position where I am reporting health effects coincident with the meters being fitted, locational to my house, affected by household electrical equipment and I'm so afflicted I am renting accommodation at some expense away from home, but being told by the company they are not going to do anything about it. They asked me switch company if I wanted the meter changing again and issued me with a deadlock letter so that I could take my case to the Energy Ombudsman as the only alternative. Either takes more weeks than I would like to contemplate, I've suffered more than enough already.

As switching energy companies at the current time is very difficult and very expensive without having to make the unusual request to remove a virtually new meter, I have started a complaint with the Ombudsman and I need to supply them with as much evidence as possible to prove the electricity meter is causing my health problem. There does not appear to be anyway of enabling the meter to be replaced as a matter of urgency given all my personal evidence as described above. If anyone can provide any advice or evidence that the quality of these meters can result in problems like I am experiencing I would be very grateful indeed. If anyone is researching in this area I would be very happy to help them with my experience, I do not fancy a future where such tinnitus inducing devices are common to every home.

Parents
  • But if you do move the meter outside it would make it easier to separate the effects of acoustic, electrically conducted, and directly radiated emissions. If you can get your problems to be dominated by just conducted effects then in-line filtering where it enters the house becomes possible.
    Note that turning things off  at the circuit breaker usually only breaks the live core, not the neutral or earth, (main switch and RCDs are normally L and N )so if doing  that helps (and the improvement is not just due to reduced loads) then in-line filtering of the live cores also ought to work. It also suggests that shielded wiring may also help you . (does not have to be earthed conduit, but there are wiring types that ought to be a lot better than twin and earth.)

    Mike

  • Hi Mike, Andrew & co. Thank you for all your helpful advice.

    Had UK Powernet around this morning to quote for moving the mains supply outside the house to move the meter outside. We also have an appointment with our supplier British Gas to change the meter in a month. That was soonest they could do. I was very specific with the British Gas person I spoke to and she took down in the notes to change it to an "analogue meter because of tinnitus". I thought it was important for them to have that against the issue.

    We have had confirmation emails/text that say 'all booked in for changing up to a new smart meter' which doesn't bode well, but we're hoping that's just stock communication.


    In meantime we have possibility of someone with appropriate equipment to test for radio waves so if that pans out I will post any results here.

    Also going to speak to new electrician next week about the internal wiring, lighting,etc to see what we can do about that. I have printed out this thread so will discuss your suggestions Mike with him so thanks for those.

    We have been running the house (internet hub, tv) off only the kitchen ring for about a month now with all lights, underfloor heating and fire alarm system off. So we've ruled them out as primary tinnitus cause. Which leaves only the meter as possible cause.

    I have tried to stay out of the house as much as possible, working in the garden and even sleeping in the shed the last couple of nights. Which gave me a full nights rest for the first time in around a month. My wife has been sleeping with earplugs in but not well and is going to try room furthest away from the meter tonight. Her tinnitus is strongest at night and early morning and for both of us, even with only the kitchen zone turned on, unfortunately it seems to be getting slowly worse. 

    Thanks, Mark. 

Reply
  • Hi Mike, Andrew & co. Thank you for all your helpful advice.

    Had UK Powernet around this morning to quote for moving the mains supply outside the house to move the meter outside. We also have an appointment with our supplier British Gas to change the meter in a month. That was soonest they could do. I was very specific with the British Gas person I spoke to and she took down in the notes to change it to an "analogue meter because of tinnitus". I thought it was important for them to have that against the issue.

    We have had confirmation emails/text that say 'all booked in for changing up to a new smart meter' which doesn't bode well, but we're hoping that's just stock communication.


    In meantime we have possibility of someone with appropriate equipment to test for radio waves so if that pans out I will post any results here.

    Also going to speak to new electrician next week about the internal wiring, lighting,etc to see what we can do about that. I have printed out this thread so will discuss your suggestions Mike with him so thanks for those.

    We have been running the house (internet hub, tv) off only the kitchen ring for about a month now with all lights, underfloor heating and fire alarm system off. So we've ruled them out as primary tinnitus cause. Which leaves only the meter as possible cause.

    I have tried to stay out of the house as much as possible, working in the garden and even sleeping in the shed the last couple of nights. Which gave me a full nights rest for the first time in around a month. My wife has been sleeping with earplugs in but not well and is going to try room furthest away from the meter tonight. Her tinnitus is strongest at night and early morning and for both of us, even with only the kitchen zone turned on, unfortunately it seems to be getting slowly worse. 

    Thanks, Mark. 

Children
  • For some reason I got a notification which drew my attention to this thread once more.

    Let's get something clear: electricity does not stimulate the cochlea unless it is applied directly by a cochlear implant. The same goes for radio waves, 5G masts, etc. That also goes for the auditory pathways and the cerebellar cortex.

    You might just as well blame the wearing of red clothes as blame the electrical installation - both would be equally valid.

  • Chris, I could feel the ringing in my ears increase as soon as the meter recently installed was turned on. The previous meter put pains in my ears and made me flinch forward when it was turned on followed by tinnitus after a calm hour of the electricity being off once the L+G E470 was turned off.

    Me, Mark and Dan are in the same horrible trouble with tones in our ears once smart meters were installed. Mark even has the L+G E470 as triggered my tinnitus at the beginning. Mark and I find the tinnitus dies down away from the house and sleep better outsude of the house. We've ruled out everything else as the cause. There's lots of people on other forums complaining of tinnitus after meter installations. For a possible explanation of what is happening for meters to cause tinnitus please see the research document from Norway produced for 10 people who feel strong enough to go to court other their decline in health including tinnitus, insomnia and fatigue. (See post: engx.theiet.org/.../123148) Whether the science in that document stands up in a Norwegian court or not, I am in no doubt about the harm to my health that the digital meters that have been installed in my house have caused to my health. The circumstances in which the tinnitus and other effects, can be reduced with a Faraday Cage and my testing points to low frequencies causing biological effects, something which the ICNIRP low frequency guidance acknowledges is possible. They have accepted my experience for inclusion in their review of this guidance which a lot of people are campaigning for them to get tightened up.

    I look forward to the day when my meter is changed to one that does not emit low frequencies by way way of good noise suppression or back to an induction powered analogue meter. On two occasions the latter was promised and I was hoping to reporting back to the forum the results. Unfortunately the industry and government policy is making that return to an analogue meter virtually impossible while I have to continue suffering from what is a very serious problem which began the day the L+G meter was installed with people who are in disbelief of what is a debilitating condition which is not some kind of allergic psychosomatic response. The lack of recognition that this is happening to people is a major block in getting changes made.

  • Chris, 

    You are missing the causality.

    Tinnitus comes inter alia as a physiological reaction to sound waves. Such triggering sound waves are overtones and undertones to other ultrasound and infrasound waves. These waves are caused by mechanical vibrations. Such mechanical vibrations are well-known to occur in and emanate from electronic equipment. 

    This kind of causal chain should also be well-known to a person such as yourself. I am puzzled as to why you would be trivialising the phenomenon. 

    Given the existence of such causal chains, the further question is whether this is actually occurring in AR Brearley's case. He has measured the sound environment in the environment of his meter. He has found peaks which are Helmholtz-related to his prime tinnitus frequency, and has shared the measurements with us on this thread. Prima facie there is reason to think his tinnitus is being exacerbated by such sound/ultrasound waves.

    He is, however, finding it very difficult indeed to engage others. Someone needs to visit, investigate and reproduce his measurements, and then explain them causally. Nobody competent seems motivated to do so. 

  • Tinnitus comes inter alia as a physiological reaction to sound waves.

    No, that is simply not true. What you describe is hearing.

  • These waves are caused by mechanical vibrations. Such mechanical vibrations are well-known to occur in and emanate from electronic equipment.

    Indeed. I happened to walk past a large substation this week and there was a fairly loud humming coming from it.

  • Chris,

    What I said is exactly true.

    You need to revisit your physiology. Since loud rock music became popular, there is significant study of this, not least amongst musicians and roadies. And the results of all this study is why, for example, Germany has strict laws regulating sound emissions in public venues.

  • No, that is wrong again. There is an association between hearing impairment and tinnitus. Exposure to loud noise causes an initial temporary threshold shift and accompanying tinnitus: that is physiological. If it continues, it becomes a permanent threshold shift ± tinnitus: that is pathological.

    The UK also has laws concerning exposure to noise at work. That is why you see musicians wearing ear pieces nowadays.

    In any event, what has this to do with a smart meter?

  • Do you have any medical or physiological basis for claiming I am wrong? If so, please present your reasoning.

  • There are no sensible limits or product standards for exposure to ultrasound however, and the acoustic limits we have are quite high, being related to avoiding occupational hearing loss, not just discomfort.

    It is known that most people are sensitive to ultrasound to some degree more or less, and there are some fairly dodgy products available online that exploit that effect.  Now I am not suggesting that the electricity meter radiates acoustically at a level that compares to vehicle mounted crowd control devices or the self defence "pain field generator" linked to above, but as with normal sound there is a huge range between things that keep a sensitive person awake, and the level that causes hearing loss. Many switch mode power supplies generate what is in effect a supersonic transformer buzz, at levels that may be legal, but may  still be a significant nuisance to some fraction of the population.

    There are also questions as to if some folk can detect electric fields directly as well. Of course we all can when it is a huge DC field and the  fine hairs stand up with approaching thunderstorms etc,  but some seem considerably more sensitive than that.

    Mike.

  • Thanks Mike. As discussed previously, the evidence does point to the problem being caused by acoustically and electrically noisy switched-mode power supplies used by some, maybe not all, digital meters. In my case, it is certainly nothing to do with smart meter functionality. The electricity meter now fitted is not even a smart meter.

    A lot of other people are reporting tinnitus immediately following meter installations on other forums. There are some people around the world who have worked out that switched-mode power supplies are causing harm. The controversy and conspiracy theories surrounding smart meters are too loud and get in the way of sensible discussion. In government circles it seems a taboo area, probably due to failing installation targets, technical problems and excessive costs that the news media enjoying reporting so often. As an IET member, I thought there was no better place than here to report my problems and findings, have a sensible discussion, get help, get the problem recognised and ultimately help stop the problem affecting others, some of whom will be suffering without a clue the source could be their meter.

    Just a few reminders of my situation before things stray off course a little bit too far:

    • I haven't had active smart meters since 16 Feb, that's before I started this discussion. The smart turned dumb electricity meter was replaced on 11 July with a pre-smart era digital display meter. The 3 different digital electricity meters have resulted in 3 different intensities of tinnitus. Turning the smart meters dumb on 16 Feb made no difference to the high pitch tone I was suffering at that time with the second meter installed.
    • No other electrical devices in my house have been installed on or since 9 Feb.
    • The high pitch tinnitus occurs all around the house, it subsides only by leaving the premises. After fitting a Faraday Cage, effects are less intense. There are some places where the instensity is worse than others not necessarily always closer to the meter. The fewer cables near me the better, eg the bathroom. Sleep is improved by turning the ring main supplying the bedroom off at night. (Weather permitting, I sleep outside.)
    • When away from home, the tinnitus fades very slowly, except at other premises where ultrasound background noise shows up on the sound analyser app on my phone. If it was not tinnitus and just a high pitch tone from the meter I was hearing, the tone would completely stop when far enough away from the house not to hear it.
    • Unlike the previous digital electricity meters, the digital display meter now fitted seems to make no acoustic sound within my hearing range. (15kHz is the max tone I can hear, around 1kHz above the tinnitus tone.)
    • I had my ears tested in March, the result was very good for someone of my age with only a mild drop off in the 7 to 8 kHz range.
    • I am struggling to get my energy company to reinstall an analogue meter to revert me back to 'normality' prior to 9 Feb. The Energy Ombudsman has given up on me after promising they would instruct my energy company to refit a traditional analogue meter in accordance with a letter I presented them from my doctor, after declaring that the replacement digital meter was a traditional meter. (Complaint with them now in progress.)
    • I have not found another energy company to switch to that are willing to refit an analogue meter even when they have them in stock. I have not been able to have a reasonable conversation with any of them about the choice of a new meter that they can install to ensure it is fitted with adequate noise suppression of its power supply.

    I am hurting, I am tired, I am very fed up. My life since 9 Feb has been nothing like it ought to be. I have spent a lot of time and effort researching this while far from being well. I am seeing doctors more often than both me and they would like. Having a 14kHz tone buzzing around my head is debilitating. There is little the doctors can do about it except they do agree though that the meter needs changing back to analogue. Sadly the top researcher in the UK I had been hoping to discuss the matter with has recently passed away. I have recently been trying to contact other medical specialists who may be able to confirm or help establish scientific proof of the problem.

    To be told by anyone I am not suffering because of the digital electricity meters I've had, despite all the evidence, testing and mitigation techniques I've discovered, simply hurts me even more and I am sure Dan and Mark are extremely annoyed at any such suggestions after their own investigations and ongoing ordeals after having new meters fitted. We need the problem recognising and solutions finding. We do have problems, truly horrible ones and on so many fronts because of the disbelief by those who do not have or do not understand the sensitivity issues we are experiencing to these meters.