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Adult-Proof Ringtones
Status: Undetermined
I've received quite a few emails about this. A British paper, metro.co.uk, reports that resourceful teenagers have devised a way to make the ringing of their cellphones inaudible to adults. The trick is that they've recorded the sound of the Mosquito, which is a device that emits ultrasonic tones inaudible to most people over the age of twenty-five, but quite audible, and rather annoying, to people under the age of 25: Techno-savvy pupils have adapted the Mosquito alarm, used to drive teenage gangs away from shopping centres. They can receive calls and texts during lessons without teachers having the faintest idea what is going on. The alarm, which has been praised by police, is highly effective because its ultra-high sound can be heard only by youths but not by most people over 20. Schoolchildren have recorded the sound, which they named Teen Buzz, and spread it from phone to phone via text messages and Bluetooth technology. Now they can receive calls and texts during lessons without teachers having the faintest idea what is going on.
Can this be real? Well, the Mosquito is real enough (I posted about it back in November 2005), and it is true that young people can usually hear higher frequencies than older people because we lose the ability to hear high frequencies as we age. The question is whether cellphone speakers can generate these ultrasonic frequencies. Boing Boing posts a comment from one of their readers who swears that cellphone speakers would not be able to do this. However, another reader links to an article that contains an mp3 recording of the Mosquito sound. (When I listen to it I can't hear any high-pitched noise, just a bunch of street noise.) So if computer speakers can generate these frequencies, perhaps some high-end cellphone speakers also can. Seems plausible. In other words, I'm not yet willing to label this story as a hoax or false rumor, even though it does seem to be a bit far-fetched.
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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Wow, that was annoying. I'm 27, and I could hear it plain as day. Horribly annoying... Of course, I do produce music and mess with high and low frequencies a lot. So I have kinda trained my ears to pick up on highs and lows. I do have a slight headache now though. wow.
Posted by Charles Garcia in Las Vegas on Thu Sep 28, 2006 at 10:51 AM
Oh, yeah, I hear it! I'm 25. I tried months ago and could just barely hear it, but now I hear it louder. Interesting.
Posted by Fox Mulder on Mon Oct 02, 2006 at 09:30 PM
i played the sound
i could hear the sound fine
it hurts my ears after a while
neither of my parents could hear it
but my brother and i could
Posted by chirs on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 04:28 PM
i could hear the sound fine
it hurts my ears after a while
neither of my parents could hear it
but my brother and i could
this thing is so annoying ! im 55 and i can still hear it ! get rid of it !
Posted by olga on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 07:07 AM
At 34 I can still hear it (yeah for me) and so can my wife (30). But she was a music major with a piano background, while I was in chior and heavy into music. Plus, we've both always been able to hear a TV turn on, so I'm guessing we're probably an anomaly.
Posted by Kevin in Sun Valley, NV on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 12:42 PM
Wow, i didin't know if what they say is true, but it is! I can hear it, im 14 and my parents have no idea it is being played! Although, i suggest to other people who can only hear the crowd noise to go to another website and listen to it there.
Posted by Fatcatjak in England on Tue Oct 10, 2006 at 07:34 AM
OMG. That is the worst sound ever. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I could here the frequency of the alarm in the department store. It was so bad I would have to leave. I'm 26 now, and I can still hear it. It sounds like: a tv being turned on, one of those insect repellent sounds that ended up repelling me instead, and the sound before a jet engine turns on.
If I was a teacher, I would probably go postal on my students.
If you can't hear it..ignorance is bliss.
Posted by Ebby in USA on Fri Oct 13, 2006 at 07:16 AM
If I was a teacher, I would probably go postal on my students.
If you can't hear it..ignorance is bliss.
Wow, im 13 and i cant hear it at all!
Posted by nopppppppppeeeeeee in nnnooooooooopppppppppeeee on Tue Oct 17, 2006 at 05:40 PM
I'm 38 and I can hear that ringtone! It is definitely headache inducing.
Posted by maggiethebeagle on Sun Oct 22, 2006 at 10:02 AM
im 13 i can hear it damm clearly
fatteeeeeeeeee
Posted by bla bla on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 10:34 AM
fatteeeeeeeeee
im 43...
and with headphones.. i can hear it distinctly.
rather annoying.
dont hear it on the computer speaks.
peace.
Posted by John in Honolulu on Fri Nov 03, 2006 at 04:51 PM
and with headphones.. i can hear it distinctly.
rather annoying.
dont hear it on the computer speaks.
peace.
Make it go away.
I'm 13, and I could hear it at the volume of 1. I don't know why, but all of a sudden my head felt hot, and I started jerking...hopefully it will wear off. I even started crying. I played it at night, but nobody woke up...my back hurts now. I hope this goes away.
Posted by Jamie in Texas on Sun Nov 05, 2006 at 08:46 PM
I'm 13, and I could hear it at the volume of 1. I don't know why, but all of a sudden my head felt hot, and I started jerking...hopefully it will wear off. I even started crying. I played it at night, but nobody woke up...my back hurts now. I hope this goes away.
i could definately hear it and so could the rest of my class, my teacher couldn't though!!
Posted by mo on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 06:09 AM
I could hear that sound even before I turned the speakers up loud enough to be able to hear the "street" sounds, as you described them.
The sound is some sort of chirping noise...Kind of hard to describe exactly, though.
Posted by Tsukiyo on Thu Nov 16, 2006 at 03:26 PM
The sound is some sort of chirping noise...Kind of hard to describe exactly, though.
I'm only 13 and I have heard the pitch many times before on MTV and when my teacher showed it to the class. But when I downloaded the mp3 mosquito sound file, it sounds just like you've described it: 'street noise'. I can hear it loud and clear and it is rather annoying even with headphones on.
Posted by Kylie on Sun Nov 19, 2006 at 02:42 PM
i'm only 16 and couldn't hear it at all at first, wasn't until i turned it up quite loud that i could identify the noise. As a ring tone i'd probably miss every call. What wilth it being in my bag under 8 books and a smushed sandwich and all.
Couldn't hear it on the tv ad either.
Posted by Gabrielle in Byron Bay on Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 04:12 AM
Couldn't hear it on the tv ad either.
Hm, that probably means one could record a pest-repelling sound from some ultrasonic repeller and let it play from his or her speakers as well? Can one download that kind of mp3 somewhere?
Posted by Harassmenko in USSR on Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 09:57 AM
I am 25 and I can kind of hear it my little sister is 13 and it pops up to her like a plane crash....
Posted by Ci-C in USA on Tue Jan 23, 2007 at 06:30 PM
You can get them from here
http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/
I'm only 19 and couldn't easily hear higher than 16.7kHz.
Posted by J in Canada on Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 05:53 PM
http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/
I'm only 19 and couldn't easily hear higher than 16.7kHz.
I am 35 years old and have harmed my hearing so bad at tesla and metallica concerts and I can still here it very loudly and it's an extremely annoying.
It feels like I turned into a dog and I can hear a dog whistle when I listen to it.
Old people can hear it, so it's not really effective.
Posted by neo on Mon Jan 29, 2007 at 03:47 PM
It feels like I turned into a dog and I can hear a dog whistle when I listen to it.
Old people can hear it, so it's not really effective.
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