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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Ya this is completely true, this can be loud to many students under the age of 25, but anybody over that has a hard time hearing it, i just received the text with the sound today its awesome, no teachers can hear it when im textin durin class!!!
Posted by Nick in VA on Fri May 23, 2008 at 05:38 AM
"I'm slightly over twenty and i can even hear the lowest frequencies of a bat (not the actual hunting frequency, but the 'powering-up' sound), although it gets less clear every year"
that is the funniest thing i have ever read in my entire life.
Posted by andrew in scotland on Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 07:24 AM
that is the funniest thing i have ever read in my entire life.
Too bad I'm not old enough to not hear that sound yet. Those mosquito sounds are really popular in the Netherlands, and quite annoying too.
Posted by Wouter in Leiden on Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 02:49 AM
It’s about time you started using it!
Posted by TERY on Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 01:35 AM
I would be wary of subliminal messages 
Posted by RINGTONESFREEDOM.COM on Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 12:49 AM
The sound causes my jaw to feel weird.
Posted by Matt on Sun Oct 26, 2008 at 10:22 AM
I can hear the high pitched sound in that mp3. I'm over 25, and my ears have certainly had their fair share of abuse (lots of loud rock concerts, and it was a while before I finally got wise and started wearing ear plugs).
Posted by Aracari in CA on Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 11:06 PM
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