Mosquito Ring Tone Age Test. What Parents Can't Hear.

[BillsBayou]

My daughter just clued me into the latest scheme by teenagers to put one over on the grown ups: The Mosquito Ring Tone. (LINK (http://www.freemosquitoringtone.com/))

My daughter's friends are all setting their phones to use the tone for texting. That way they can leave their phones on in their classes and know when they've received a message.

It exploits the effect that age has on your hearing. As we get older, we lose the ability to hear very high frequencies. I'm lucky that at 43, I can still hear the tone.

I downloaded the MP3 file from the link above. I played it for the office. Only one person could hear it faintly when I had the speakers at full volume. For me, the sound was cutting through my teeth fillings.

Go to the link and play the sound for yourself. Tell me if you can hear the tone. If you're not shy, include your age.

I'd like to be the Cool Dad and not forward this info to my daughter's high school administration, but shouldn't they be learning instead of texting during class?

[tommykjensen]

Its only a couple years ago my hearing was tested to be pretty much perfect and I could definately hear that tone. (and you can see my age in the profile ;-) )

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Sure as hell can, and it's mighty annoying. I'm only 23, though.

[BillsBayou]

Get other people around your computer. It's funny looking at them cock their heads trying to hear the tone while the noise is cutting through your brain like a scalpel.

[misfit]

Yep, i can hear it. Like being in a hearing test, but i can still hear it even though it's not playing anymore. aarrrggghh. Oh i'm 34 ish.

B

[BillsBayou]

Yep, i can hear it. Like being in a hearing test, but i can still hear it even though it's not playing anymore. aarrrggghh. Oh i'm 34 ish.

B

Oh, sorry about that. I didnt' know it would resonate. :)

[Kevin]

Couldn't hear a thing except for that hummmmming.

[Miyagi-san]

I'm partial to vibrate myself :)

Loud and clear....30

[Primm]

I can hear it - at 38.

How annoying would that be, if you were in a shopping centre and all the teens had that as their ringtone? Would clear the place out pretty quickly, I'd imagine.

[timbernet]

Ack - all the glass in my room just broke ;-)

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I played it for my mother(53) to see if she could hear it, and I had my speakers up all the way. She couldn't hear a thing. My nephew (4) covered his ears and said it hurt. My niece (1) started crying and covering her ears.

[Nortelbert]

I can hear it with the speakers at about 20%... but the noise is drowned out by the 8 drive server sitting next to me if it's below that. :-)

[Citizensmith]

I'm 35 and spent a few years working as a steward at a concert venue (as well as attending) so my ears have had their share of loud noises. And f'king ouch, what a nasty noise, my speakers were turned down pretty low as well. I don't see how anyone couldn't hear it.

[fordmondeo]

I couldn't hear a thing, the bloke next to me is getting pissed off with it though!

[ieatstars]

That noise is awful! I would never want to get a text if that was the sound. I'm 19.. but .. yikes.

People at my uni text all the damn time. They just leave it on vibrate. That's just as obnoxious, unfortunately :( You can hear the desks vibrate every two seconds.

[Permagrin]

weird...I'm 40 and can hear it just fine.

[cosworth]

37, full monty on the laptop, I can hear it fine, but it doesn't bother me.

[Permagrin]

okay, this is the original site for the tones

http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/ (it gives you the different ages where you should still be able to hear it...I'm 40 and can't hear it until I get to the 50 and younger)

[dougj7]

I couldn't hear it through my pc speakers, but with the bose qc3 headphones, it was loud and anoying.

[Lightstream]

Very interesting, thanks for the site!

I can BARELY hear 17.7Khz, and the only things I hear of 18.8Khz are the 'clicks' at the beginning and end of the recording (that doesn't count). So your hearing does degrade. Anything higher frequency than 18Khz is inaudible to me.

Late 20's.

Myself? I turn the phone's ringer off. I actually don't want to answer calls myself ;)

[cfpackerfan]

That is so interesting. I could BARELY hear it. Volume ALL the way up.

I attribute that to G 'n' R blastin on my radio for too many years as a teen. ;) :p

[Jim G]

Ow. Annoying high pitched noise. at 23 I can hear it fine :p

[Jim G]

okay, this is the original site for the tones

http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/ (it gives you the different ages where you should still be able to hear it...I'm 40 and can't hear it until I get to the 50 and younger)

Hey, that's interesting... I can only hear 18.8 or lower! The other ones are totally inaudible to me.

[DozerLYP]

yep i can hear it. and it is awful...

[Becca]

I'm 44 and I couldn't hear it, but I know I don't have the best hearing in the world. Interesting what kids will come up with.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

that's freaky....I can hear 21.1 loud and clear, but at 22.4 I get absolutely nothing.

[eternally_bored]

Wow... The highest I can hear is 17.7. 18, 19, and the rest are completely inaudible, even with my volume at max. I can only hear the clicks at the beginning and end, even all the way up...I get nothing. Man, my ears are worse than I thought lol... I'm 2 months shy of 19.

[Citizensmith]

The teachers just need to get a dog whistle and blow that, then see who reaches for their cell phone. :)

Or we wait for the news article, teenager mauled to death by pack of dogs after receiving a text message from a friend.

[whowie]

I can hear it and I'm 50.

[In2Photos]

Wait, wait, wait! Why is it that we are trying to find a solution to a problem but looking at the wrong problem. The first clue that something was wrong is the fact that "kids have cell phones". Rediculous! Not the fact that they have figured out how to manipulate them so they can still use them in class. After all haven't we all tried to get away with something when we were kids?

[Digitally_Altered]

I can hear it and I'm 50.
show off... :lol:

[_aravena]

This was post within a day? Hm...ya'll aren't old because you can't hear this, ya'll are old because this is news from early this year. Leave it to Europe to have it since last year. They use it in stores to annoy young "customers" and make them get out.

[_aravena]

^It's a frequency, not noise so to speak. Frequency hits a different spot in the eardrums

[Citizensmith]

They use it in stores to annoy young "customers" and make them get out.

Why not just play classic rock instead?

[_aravena]

I like classic rock.

[rklepper]

Makes no difference. If I wanted to catch students sending and receiving texts I would just look for the ones looking at their laps (yes I know which one are and which ones are not). Also, if they choose to do this rather than listen to the lecture, well I guess the upside is that I offer my Chemistry class every year.

[JWright]

Where have you people been? This is old news. It was reported on the national TV news three months ago...

[_aravena]

Where were you? I posted that 6 posts ago. :p

[FZ1dave]

I can only hear it, and just barely, if my ears are right up against the speakers.

I'm sure having tinnitis doesn't help.

[Becca]

Also, if they choose to do this rather than listen to the lecture, well I guess the upside is that I offer my Chemistry class every year.

Good answer! One of the most important lessons that children need to learn and one that is often neglected these days.... consequences for their actions.

[Lightstream]

Makes no difference. If I wanted to catch students sending and receiving texts I would just look for the ones looking at their laps (yes I know which one are and which ones are not). Also, if they choose to do this rather than listen to the lecture, well I guess the upside is that I offer my Chemistry class every year.

I like your solution the best. :)

[RTMiller]

I couldn't hear it (47). Woman (39) in the next office over yelled, "What the @#&! are you doing in there!!!"

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

Soon to be 50, and hear it fine on the laptop speakers.

Annoying tone.

Considering that audio quality is part of my job, this is nice to be able to hear.

[Tom W]

My daughter just clued me into the latest scheme by teenagers to put one over on the grown ups: The Mosquito Ring Tone. (LINK (http://www.freemosquitoringtone.com/))

My daughter's friends are all setting their phones to use the tone for texting. That way they can leave their phones on in their classes and know when they've received a message.

It exploits the effect that age has on your hearing. As we get older, we lose the ability to hear very high frequencies. I'm lucky that at 43, I can still hear the tone.

I downloaded the MP3 file from the link above. I played it for the office. Only one person could hear it faintly when I had the speakers at full volume. For me, the sound was cutting through my teeth fillings.

Go to the link and play the sound for yourself. Tell me if you can hear the tone. If you're not shy, include your age.

I'd like to be the Cool Dad and not forward this info to my daughter's high school administration, but shouldn't they be learning instead of texting during class?

The simple solution is to confiscate their cell phone. My generation made it through school just fine without cell phones.

Of course, we all walked to school each day, 10 miles uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow. And the winters were so cold back then that the wind chill approached absolute zero.

BTW, I can barely hear 14.1 KHz, and I'm approaching geezer.

[Tom W]

Makes no difference. If I wanted to catch students sending and receiving texts I would just look for the ones looking at their laps (yes I know which one are and which ones are not). Also, if they choose to do this rather than listen to the lecture, well I guess the upside is that I offer my Chemistry class every year.

The pop quiz is a useful tool as well, though in chemistry class, it wouldn't matter if I paid attention or not. It is not my strong area.

[_aravena]

Makes no difference. If I wanted to catch students sending and receiving texts I would just look for the ones looking at their laps (yes I know which one are and which ones are not). Also, if they choose to do this rather than listen to the lecture, well I guess the upside is that I offer my Chemistry class every year.

Hm, that's what my teaches said. It's stupid for the reason the media is saying and i really doubt it's true. Maybe some few did and a reporter decided to run with it. That's all. There was such thing as vibration before this.

[KirkHMB]

okay, this is the original site for the tones

http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/ (

47, can hear all except the 24.4

Back in the early days of computers, on a TI-99/4a, we programmed something like this. The 20+ year old (me), the 30+ year old could hear everything, but the 45+ year old, who had spent many years working in glass handling facilities (beer bottles) had a marked dead spot in his hearing. We sent him to the occupational health nurse for a test, and she verified it.

[thekid24]

I couldnt hear it and thought 'OMG Im only 25 and I cant hear it?!", then I notice the speakers werent plugged in:|

I dont have to turn it up very much to hear it.

[JWright]

Where have you people been? This is old news. It was reported on the national TV news three months ago...

Where were you? I posted that 6 posts ago. :p

Senior moment...

I'm 61 and I can hear all of them except the two highest, but I have to run the volume up pretty high.

[Citizensmith]

I wonder how much the results depend on speakers? Will a given sound be as audible on crappy laptop speakers as on some decent headphones?

[Tom W]

I wonder how much the results depend on speakers? Will a given sound be as audible on crappy laptop speakers as on some decent headphones?

Good point. A lot of PC speakers have a very limited frequency range.

[strmrdr]

12k on really crappy speakers, 14k on a set of headphones.
Late 30's, did compitition car sound systems for 3 years when I was younger and trashed my hearing.
One ear is worse than the other, a 125db bass note from an quad 18" subs from 12 inches away when an amp powered up when I thought the head unit was off.
Ear bled for 15 min and caused a trip to the ER.
Didnt rupture the eardrum but came very close too it.

[theflyingkiwi]

I wonder how much the results depend on speakers? Will a given sound be as audible on crappy laptop speakers as on some decent headphones?

that's a very good point. the first download I couldn't hear a thing on my laptop. However plug my headphones in and bingo.

as for the 2nd site, I could hear anything between 8 and 17.7. I could hear the difference in 18.7 but with out those clicks it would be hard to tell.

anyway with a noise like that why would one want to have something that annoying as a ring tone?

but this is nothing new, I did hear of a shop owner that used the same sort of thing to stop kids of hanging around his shop. of course it worked. no kids and the old people don't hear a thing.

[CyberDyneSystems]

okay, this is the original site for the tones

http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/ (it gives you the different ages where you should still be able to hear it...I'm 40 and can't hear it until I get to the 50 and younger)

Most speakers will not be able to reproduce the 22k and 21K tones very well,.
I can't imagine ANY cell phone could.

My low end Cambridge Soundworks speakers hooked up to the PC could not do anything higher than the 18K,.
I need to run it through the Alison Acoustics on my stereo (yes, stereo, I'm an old fogy that way) to hear the 19-21... but either the speakers or my ears give out at 22K
Don't know which.

[tim]

Ouchy. 30 with a home stereo hooked up to my PC.

[flippinfleck]

My wife, 28, could hear everything from 18.8kHz down. Myself? I couldn't hear anything over 12kHz.

I used audacity to create ten second tone's and burnt them as .wav to be played on my home stereo; denon dvd to yamaha receiver via optical. I didn't tell my wife what I was doing and she came in complaining of her ears ringing. Casually paused the 'test' and told her I couldn't hear anything. She went back to doing the dishes and I looped the 18.8kHz tone. She came back to see what the hell I was doing and promptly stuck her foot up my @ss.

This 'test' confirmed my suspicions: my wife can kick my @ss quite easily. Dang...

[theflyingkiwi]

My wife, 28, could hear everything from 18.8kHz down. Myself? I couldn't hear anything over 12kHz.

I used audacity to create ten second tone's and burnt them as .wav to be played on my home stereo; denon dvd to yamaha receiver via optical. I didn't tell my wife what I was doing and she came in complaining of her ears ringing. Casually paused the 'test' and told her I couldn't hear anything. She went back to doing the dishes and I looped the 18.8kHz tone. She came back to see what the hell I was doing and promptly stuck her foot up my @ss.

This 'test' confirmed my suspicions: my wife can kick my @ss quite easily. Dang...

and you had to use a test like this to figure it out :confused: :lol:

[SOT]

I'm 39, been shooting all my life, been in combat and I can hear that thing...so well it made my teeth freaking hurt!

[S7000]

It's called vibrate. It's all there in your phones manual.

[BillsBayou]

It's called vibrate. It's all there in your phones manual.

Unfortunately, for many phones, the vibrate option is quite loud. This is especially true in quiet situations, such as classrooms. Further, if the phone is in a purse sitting next to a hard object like a compact or tin of Altoids, the noise can be as loud, or louder, than a ring tone.

I use vibrate for noisier situations where I may not hear the ring tone, not to be quiet about it.

[Jimmer411]

My ears are ringing now. I could hear it...24

[narlus]

Why not just play classic rock instead?


:lol:


i'm 41 and could hear it. i also go to a ton of rock shows (see my sig file URL).