Headphones are playing a local radio station

Before you even think about saying "fake" or something like that, I swear on my life this is real.

I am sitting in a hotel room in New Orleans right now, with my headphones on. Instead of hearing audio from my computer, I am hearing local radio stations, such as the Spanish station I am hearing right now. There are no open programs, so this audio can't be coming from an app.

This does not play through the speakers. It only plays through the headphones when the computer is on (including GRUB).

Is my integrated wireless card somehow receiving radio waves? What is happening? This is the first time I've ever experienced this, and I have no idea how or why.

If it helps, the volume and clarity of the radio streams changes as I move my head and/or my laptop.

2 Answers

OK, I'm an amateur RF engineer, so I know roughly what's happening.

Either your sound card or the headphones themselves are picking up the RF energy from a local AM or shortwave radio station. The wave is being rectified in the headphones and the audio is reproduced.

This can be solved by using shielded cables, and by buying RFI eliminating snap on chokes from your local RadioShack or other hobby electronics stores. Amazon also has RFI chokes available.

Having the same issue today and no shielded cable, I managed to minimize the effect by putting computer volume at max and speakers at low. Of course, works with speakers, not for headphones.