Skip to Content

How to Fix Extremely Loud White Noise on Headphones Even on Low Volume

How to Fix Extremely Loud White Noise on Headphones Even on Low Volume

This is one of the things that I hate the most: getting random, but extremely loud white nose thorough my headphones for no apparent reason. The last time it happened I was actually writing an article, with background music running at a very low volume.

My headphones didn’t really care (oh, if only they had a soul!) and they decided to test my eardrums with the most incredibly loud white noise I have ever heard. That really scared me!

It was so bad that I actually jumped up from my chair and threw the headphones away. I literally thought that my ears were bleeding, which was not the case, fortunately. It wasn’t a pleasant experience at all, though!

I am sure I’m not the only one dealing with this problem – so I’ve decided to write this guide and teach you how to fix extremely loud white noises coming from your headphones randomly. Because it’s one of the most unpleasant things that can happen to you, no matter how loud it is.

The first important thing that you should know is that even though there appears to be no obvious reason for your headphones to throw at you that white noise, there’s always one.

Some are easier to fix than others, so just go through all the recommended fixes below and see what works for you.

How to fix loud white noise on headphones

Most likely, this is caused by a software problem and we’ll talk about it later. But first, we’ll have to rule out other potential causes, which are easier to test, so here are the steps that you should do:

1. Swap your headphones from the rear headphone jack on your computer to the front one (or vice versa).

There is usually a crackle noise when you do it: try to see if any of the jacks causes a louder one. If that’s the case, it might be a problem with the jack or some other hardware related problem.

2. If you have your headphones plugged into the speakers or speaker controller or something like this, try plugging them directly into a headphone jack on your computer.

The same goes the other way around: if you have them plugged in to your computer and your speakers have a special jack for the headphones, move them there and see if that changes anything.

3. Do some testing by shutting down various things around your laptop or computer: try turning off your WiFi and then try to unplug your speakers if you have them plugged in.

If there’s something that could be interfering with your headphones and causing problems, it’s usually the WiFi (or, better said, your router).

4. Finally, if you have the option to do so, try switching the position of your sound card. Although unlikely, the PCI slot might have some problems – as sometimes white noise is caused by emi so you might want to try and rule that out if possible.

However, in most cases, the loud white noise coming randomly to your headphones is not caused by hardware problems or other interferences.

As I said earlier, the most likely cause is either some interference with other programs or, most likely, some software glitching for some reason. Here is what to do:

1. Right click the speaker icon on your taskbar and select “Open Sound Settings”

2. In the new window, under the “Output” section at the top, click “Device properties”. A new window will pop up – make sure that you have Spacial Sound Format turned off, as it could cause some problems:

How to fix white noise on headphones 1

3. Now, click the “Additional device properties” to the right side of the screen. There, tap the Advanced tab to reveal some additional options:

How to fix white noise on headphones 2

4. There, make sure that the “Enable Audio Enhancemets” option is disabled.

This will basically eliminate any potential glitches that might cause the white noise coming through your headphones.

If this isn’t working, it’s worth testing your headphones as well, if you’re using wired ones. In many cases – especially if these are older or brand new and untested for a while – there might be a poor contact or a slightly cracked wire along the way, one that is causing the loud noise when in a certain position.

In order to find out if that’s the case, turn on some music with a very low volume and twist the cable from one end to the other. Usually, the problems are towards the phones themselves, so move them carefully. Don’t twist too hard to break them, but move them a little bit so the cable is not always in the same position.

If this causes a crackling noise or the loud white noise you’ve been hearing, then there’s a problem with the headphones.

Finally, if you haven’t updated your audio drivers in a long time, it wouldn’t hurt to do it as outdated drivers could cause problems as well.

However, the most likely fix is that software glitching fix that I’ve shared above and turning the enhancements off will solve your problems and you will no longer jump off the chair when white noises randomly occur.

Now it’s your turn to let us know if these solutions managed to help you fix your problems. Also, if you managed to find a different fix, please share it in the comment section below so that other people with the same problem can benefit from the knowledge.

Click here to cancel reply.

thanks

Thursday 7th of October 2021

thanks this worked

Lily

Tuesday 22nd of September 2020

LMAO WHY DID I KIND OF ENJOY THE WHITE NOISE HAHAHHAHA LOL SOMETIMES ITS SATISFYING THEN ANNOYING

Calin Ciabai

Thursday 24th of September 2020

If it's not too loud, it might have a therapeutic effect indeed :)

Jerin B.

Tuesday 23rd of October 2018

OMG TYSM