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I thought the standard (and cheaper) method to discourage teens from hanging around was to play classical or opera music on your store's sound system.

If that doesn't work, bagpipes are guaranteed to get the job done.

This is crazy, humans hear at a certain frequency and age has nothing to do with it.....unless your one of those people that start going deaf...

amongst most of my freinds, neither classical nor bagpipes would constitute a reason to go away, bad POP on the other hand....

I think I have an idea of the kind of sound they are talking about, old TVs and monitors with the power on, but muted, will vibrate in their frames producing a really annoying high pitched hum, which is compounded by the fact that most people (even in the below 25 range) tend not to hear it.

this anti-loitering machene would have the potential to make me violent, and I like classical music. good thing I'm 21 now, and it won't be pointed at me.

"The field trails" (sic) would indicate it is not true. Too bad they can not spell!!

Ask an audiologist - young people can hear up to near 20 kHz. When I was younger I could easily hear TV horizontal scaning and ultrasonic burglar alarms. As you age, that upper limit drops. I can no longer hear TV sets or burglar alarms (what a relief!). The premise is quite reasonable. Intense sound above 15 kHz should annoy young folks while us older types can't hear it at all.

I wondered why nobody else could hear the annoying noise the tv makes when there's a black screen but it's still on. Didn't think age had anything to do with it, cool.

CaptainAl said:I thought the standard (and cheaper) method to discourage teens from hanging around was to play classical or opera music on your store's sound system.
If that doesn't work, bagpipes are guaranteed to get the job done.

OR you could even try country music.

I can't really think of any sound more annoying than a buzzing flourescent light. Many stores already feature this effect.
I don't guess that would be inaudible to over-25s, though (at least not to me).

yeah, most country music would do it for me

Sooo, I checked it out and I was wrong in my earlier post......

So I will eventually stop hearing that whine from the TV? Great! How much longer will I hear it? I'm 37 already...

I've heard about this, and it seems to be true. Apparently your ability to hear high-frequency sounds deteriorates with age.

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=267312
http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/4/245

I realize those aren't definitive, but WTH.

Five hundred and eighty-one pounds is a lot of pounds for a loudspeaker that broadcasts a high-pitched tone. The science is sound enough, in the sense that hearing deteriorates with age, but it seems unlikely that a gang of unruly teenagers would be quiet enough to hear the tone; and what if they are wearing hoods, or headphones?

A more useful device would be something that blocks or interferes with mobile phone signals. The modern-day teenager cannot exist without strong mobile phone reception. The gang would be unwilling to lurk near a shop where their mobile phones do not work.

I would patent this idea myself, but I'm sure it has been thought of before. Active jamming devices are illegal in several countries, perhaps because they might cause aeroplanes to crash, and so some clever people at Iwate University in Morioka, Japan, have developed a kind of magnetic wood (!) which passively blocks the signals:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2461

It seems to be some kind of layered composite wood material that resembles modern-day tank armour. I wonder why they decided to start with wood as their base material, rather than - say - brick, or metal?

Where can I get some of this wood?
I want to line my office and my classroom with it.

Because so many buildings in Japan are made or at least decorated with wood.

And yes as you get older you loose hearing. Including high sounds. I can hear all sorts of things my Dad cant.

Perhaps they need to get one of these...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5359306/site/newsweek/

I'm glad I got this on the frontpage because it's been annoying me as to wether its real or not, it appears that it might be though.

Thanks.

What happens when parents with tots congregate outside the stores and chit chat for a few or wait for others? I forsee tons of screaming and crying babies, many annoyingly restless kids, lots of spankings, and numerous parents and children who no longer patronize stores because of the unusual effects of visiting there.

For all those wondering about this age-related hearing loss thing, it is real (i.e. demonstrated and well-documented) and it's called Presbycusis.

The New York Times ran an article about the Mosquito today, confirming that it does indeed seem to work as advertised. Here's part of the article:

It is too early to predict the device's future. Since an article about it appeared in The Grocer, a British trade magazine, Mr. Stapleton has become modestly famous, answering inquiries from hundreds of people and filling orders for dozens of the devices, not only in stores but also in places like railroad yards. He appeared recently on Richard & Judy, an Oprah-esque afternoon talk show, where the device successfully vexed all but one of the members of a girls' choir.

He is considering introducing a much louder unit that can be switched on in emergencies with a panic button. It would be most useful when youths swarm into stores and begin stealing en masse, a phenomenon known in Britain as steaming. The idea would be to blast them with such an unacceptably loud, high noise - a noise inaudible to older shoppers - that they would immediately leave.

"It's very difficult to shoplift," Mr. Stapleton said, "when you have your fingers in your ears."