Audio sensory question - Need some NT answers, too.

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Can you hear batteries charging?

Every time I plug in my phone or my mp3 player to charge I can hear this high pitched frequency that sort of pulses or surges. It's as if I can hear the electricity flowing from the cable into the charging circuit.

I never notice it with my computer, but that may be due to hearing fans & the hard drive instead ?? but I don't think so, I just don't think it makes the same noise. Different charging circuit? More acoustic insulation? Dunno. I charge both my phone & mp3 player via the Blackberry supplied micro-usb charging cable. My Macbook has one of Apple's magsafe charging cables - so a completely different physical connection. Could be something to do w/ the micro-usb connection?

Whether it's my phone (Blackberry) or my mp3 player (Sansa Clip+), they sound about the same, and it's quite distracting and irritating. My use my phone for an alarm clock & can sometimes leave it plugged in at night, but often have to make sure it's charged well enough then unplug it so I can try to get to sleep vs. being kept awake by the annoying sound of the battery charging. Sometimes I can still hear this when I put ear plugs in at night to block traffic noise so I can try to sleep.

I'm not sure if this is unique at all, or if everyone can hear this - I've never asked anyone.. and I want some NT replies from people who have no known audio sensory issues and a normal range of hearing. Can't ask too many people around me as many family members and friends are AS, my best friend since high school & his wife are both deaf, and my dad's hearing was damaged at work decades ago.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I know what you're referring to, and I can often hear that as well... but it's not the flow of electricity or the actual charging that you're hearing. A lot of electronics make sound like high-pitched tones, hums, etc. (varies depending on the device). It's usually because of AC or pulsed currents inside the device creating varying magnetic fields which cause slight vibrations in some of the components. In some cases, high voltages can cause vibrations due to changing electric fields rather than magnetic ones as well, but most devices don't have rapidly changing electric fields of sufficient magnitude to create a noticeable sound that way. In the battery charger, it's probably due to a switching power supply circuit used to get the proper charging voltage (some of those circuits pulse current through inductors at a a frequency of several kilohertz, which will give a high pitched tone).

I grew up when CRT (picture tube) monitors and TVs were the norm, and used to be able to tell if there was one switched on anywhere nearby (even in another room quite a distance away) because I could hear the sound the flyback circuit made.

Yep, my hearing is so 'delicate' that I've had to buy noise isolating earbuds , I can hear tubelights , microwave ovens on standby.
Mobile phones in airport mode , the world is full of noise and I often end up in bed , curtains drawn and head under pillow with my earbuds in!! !

What gets me is how NT's filter or not hear all this racket

I'm very sure I'm not NT, but I can hear when TVs, speakers, and lights are on, along with a few other devices. When the power goes out it can be very relaxing if it doesn't interrupt things.

I'm autistic, but I can't hear batteries charging. I don't really hear any electrical devices when they're on unless they're 'noisy'. My ears aren't that sensitive to noise. In fact, sometimes I fail to hear what other people hear. Then again, I might be hearing it, but I might just be isolating myself from the noise. I can hear my computer when it is on, but only if I pay attention to the noise it makes.

I can hear some of them, butnot all of them. They rarely annoy me, though.

I can hear some electronics, but most don't bother me too much. TVs are probably the biggest annoyance. People in my family have this tendency to mute the TV when they're not using it instead of just turning it off (why???), and I always have to turn it off because the noise bothers me. It seems like different display technologies makes different amounts of noise. CRT and Plasma TVs, for example, are very noisy in my experience. However, my small LCD TV is barely audible (although still annoying when I do hear it), and LED TVs are okay, too.

Most other electronics don't really pose a problem for me. Hell, I didn't even think that tiny electronics like phones and tablets created enough noise for even those with the most sensitive hearing to pick up on it, but that does not seem to be the case.

I remember as a child being able to tell if a tv or computer monitor in a room was switched on before walking into the room.

Even before I knew I had Asperger's, I can remember always being able to hear if TVs were on from another room, electric currents etc., and I can still hear them.

oh yeah, tv's being standby, speakers being on but not used, fluorescent lights, lower-grade AC/DC converters, all make annoying hums and squeels at the edge of my hearing; i have to unplug all my chargers if i do not actually charge something, else i'll get crazy.
also, i once went to take a hearing test for fun (it was for free, as a promotion), and i heared them turning the device on before the test, trough the headphones.
needless to say, i didn't have to take the test anymore since i was outside of the tests range

I seem to be both NT and AS.
My hearing is completely average. TV on stand by and loudspeakers can irritate me too, but I have always been over sensitive to loud noise, drills, trainbrakes, cars starting, low flying airplanes, very loud music and such. They scare me.
Some days everyday sounds seems very harsh and creates a buzzing or ringing in my ears, but most days I just have to protect myself from the worst of them.
On the sensitive days, also flickers of light seems sharper, - so it must be an over all sharpened sensitivity, wherever that comes from.
It´s between the ears, I guess

In my youth I could hear high pitched electronic whine. That went away some time in my 20's even as the number of things around me that have electronic whine increased. When I was a teen there were some stores that I found unbearable to go into because they had anti-shoplifting systems with electronic whine. (I asked my unaffected Dad and he assumed it was anti-shoplifting tech that the store used because he knew about such things and he also knew that young people can hear in the high registers better than old people).

Now I no longer hear this electronic whine even though I know it must be everywhere around me unless I'm in the woods. I don't hear it not because I'm NT but because I'm old.

As undercaffeinated explained, it's not the batteries, but the switching regulators in the devices. They have inductors whose cores vibrate according to the frequency of the current. Sometimes they operate in the audible range, so you can hear them.
I'm quite sure other people can hear that, too, but they're not that sensitive (me neither).