OT - "Teen Ringtone" can other adults hear it?

Ok... evidently someone developed some tech to drive away
mall-loitering teens that hang out near their stores, interrupting
business - it's this high-pitched tone that only teens and young
children can hear. There's a video about it on CNN.com, but I couldn't
paste the link, unfortunately.

Evidently as you age, the little hairs inside your cochlea flatten out,
making it hard or impossible for adults to hear certain frequencies.
This process starts happening at around 20 years of age.

So someone decided to turn it into a ringtone for cell phones.
Great... another way to help kids cheat.

However, I was curious and went in search of the tone, to see if I
could hear it, I found it he

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages...0_RINGTONE.mp3

To my surprise, I could hear it just fine. It was horrible -
high-pitched and throbbing (it's real name is the "mosquitotone" - very
appropos). Very annoying and bordering on painful - and it's not even
loud. Now, I'm ah, not a teenager. I'm nearly double the oldest age
that's supposed to be able to hear it reliably (I'm 37).

Does anyone out there know the reason some adults can hear it and other
can't? I've never been one to play loud music, in my car or anywhere.
I do like my TV set louder than my family does, but certainly not
blasting. And I've only been to one concert that left me
"cotton-candy-eared" (at others, I stuffed my ears with cotton to
prevent it, but I've not been to many of those, either - maybe 3 or 4)

But I've also mowed my share of lawns over the years.

Any docs out there that might know? Or am I just lucky in that I've got
good hearing?

Cathy Weeks

Too bad they can't make their music so adults can't hear it.



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"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok... evidently someone developed some tech to drive away
mall-loitering teens that hang out near their stores, interrupting
business - it's this high-pitched tone that only teens and young
children can hear. There's a video about it on CNN.com, but I couldn't
paste the link, unfortunately.

Evidently as you age, the little hairs inside your cochlea flatten out,
making it hard or impossible for adults to hear certain frequencies.
This process starts happening at around 20 years of age.

So someone decided to turn it into a ringtone for cell phones.
Great... another way to help kids cheat.

However, I was curious and went in search of the tone, to see if I
could hear it, I found it he

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages...0_RINGTONE.mp3

To my surprise, I could hear it just fine. It was horrible -
high-pitched and throbbing (it's real name is the "mosquitotone" - very
appropos). Very annoying and bordering on painful - and it's not even
loud. Now, I'm ah, not a teenager. I'm nearly double the oldest age
that's supposed to be able to hear it reliably (I'm 37).

Does anyone out there know the reason some adults can hear it and other
can't? I've never been one to play loud music, in my car or anywhere.
I do like my TV set louder than my family does, but certainly not
blasting. And I've only been to one concert that left me
"cotton-candy-eared" (at others, I stuffed my ears with cotton to
prevent it, but I've not been to many of those, either - maybe 3 or 4)

But I've also mowed my share of lawns over the years.

Any docs out there that might know? Or am I just lucky in that I've got
good hearing?

Cathy Weeks

I guess I'm a bit closer to the age - I'm 23 (in a month lol) and I found
that 'ringtone' to be downright annoying. If I heard that from someone's
phone - a kid, an adult, whatever - I'd be tempted to grab the phone and
smash it to pieces. To me, it sounded like a quieter, high pitched 10
seconds of microphone feedback or feedback from an amp or something.
I think I opened yahoo the other day and saw a short article about a new
ringtone that adults can't hear - didn't read the article, though.
I spent basically all my teen years at every type of rock concert, often
every weekend night with the odd week night as well - from big ones to small
hall shows in small, confined spaces - and have played in bands. I could
never use ear plugs, aside from my few years of drumming, and that's by far
less years than playing bass with monitors, amps, speakers and the whole 9
yards blaring at me a whole evening. I can't tolerate the TV loud, but I do
crank up the music and amp in the car when I'm driving alone. I also now
drive a station wagon with an open back, and the subs are about 4 feet
behind me all the time, yet the amp in the car is turned off while the kids
are riding.
I heard it fine, it annoyed me more than I thought a cell phone ring could,
and I really would break someone's phone if I heard it while out and about.

On 13 Jun 2006 13:19:44 -0700, Cathy Weeks wrote:
Ok... evidently someone developed some tech to drive away
mall-loitering teens that hang out near their stores, interrupting
business - it's this high-pitched tone that only teens and young
children can hear. There's a video about it on CNN.com, but I couldn't
paste the link, unfortunately.

Evidently as you age, the little hairs inside your cochlea flatten out,
making it hard or impossible for adults to hear certain frequencies.
This process starts happening at around 20 years of age.

So someone decided to turn it into a ringtone for cell phones.
Great... another way to help kids cheat.

However, I was curious and went in search of the tone, to see if I
could hear it, I found it he

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages...0_RINGTONE.mp3

To my surprise, I could hear it just fine. It was horrible -
high-pitched and throbbing (it's real name is the "mosquitotone" - very
appropos). Very annoying and bordering on painful - and it's not even
loud. Now, I'm ah, not a teenager. I'm nearly double the oldest age
that's supposed to be able to hear it reliably (I'm 37).

Does anyone out there know the reason some adults can hear it and other
can't? I've never been one to play loud music, in my car or anywhere.
I do like my TV set louder than my family does, but certainly not
blasting. And I've only been to one concert that left me
"cotton-candy-eared" (at others, I stuffed my ears with cotton to
prevent it, but I've not been to many of those, either - maybe 3 or 4)

But I've also mowed my share of lawns over the years.

Any docs out there that might know? Or am I just lucky in that I've got
good hearing?


I doubt very much that the average set of computer speakers will be
able to faithfully reproduce the tone - it's likely to be distorted
and have enough harmonics that you can hear the MP3 version, but not
the "real" one.

Or, you just might have very good hearing. ;-)

- Rich

xkatx wrote:
I heard it fine, it annoyed me more than I thought a cell phone ring could,
and I really would break someone's phone if I heard it while out and about.

I wouldn't break someone's phone, but I would start shouting at them if
they didn't answer it quickly. I am shocked at how uncomfortable that
ring makes me.

Speaking of cell-violence, I witnessed a near-miss at a restaurant a
couple of years ago.

Three tables in close proximity, in a triangle-shaped configuration.
Table one had a young woman (I'm guessing in her late teens or early
20s) and her parents. Table two had my husband and I and then
2-year-old daughter. Table three had a couple that looked to be on a
date. They looked to be in their mid to late 20s.

The girl at table one's cell phone rang. It was a fairly annoying ring,
but she answered it promptly, and proceeded to have a conversation,
though it wasn't long. It was enough that it made my husband and I
roll our eyes slightly and wish she'd talk a little more quietly.

In short, her cell-ettiquette (or lackthereof) was roughly average.
I've seen far worse cell behavior, and far better.

The guy at the next table waited for her to put her cellphone away,
then told her that if it rang again, he'd smash it for her. I don't
remember the whole thing, but the girl's dad told him to back off, and
the young man basically told him that he'd think nothing of attacking
them over it. Things calmed down soon. The couple at table 3 looked
quite sour for the rest of their meal. The family at table 1 looked
ill-at-ease as well. And my husband and I were... flabbergasted. The
girl hadn't been *that* bad. My husband, though he hadn't appreciate
the cell-phone conversation either, told me later that he would have
stepped in - on the side of the girl's father, because he felt that the
young man was obnoxious - and crossed the line in threatening violence
without at least having *asked* her to turn it down, or off, of
whatever.

Ah, well...

Cathy Weeks

user wrote:
On 13 Jun 2006 13:19:44 -0700, Cathy Weeks wrote:
I doubt very much that the average set of computer speakers will be
able to faithfully reproduce the tone - it's likely to be distorted
and have enough harmonics that you can hear the MP3 version, but not
the "real" one.

Yes, but the average cell phone ringer (really just a louder speaker)
isn't a piece of high-quality sound equipment either (the speaker for
when you hold it to your ear, on the other hand...)

But your point is taken. I'll have to find someone who has the ringtone
and have them play it for me on their phone, instead.

Cathy Weeks

"Cathy Weeks" wrote:

Ok... evidently someone developed some tech to drive away
mall-loitering teens that hang out near their stores, interrupting
business - it's this high-pitched tone that only teens and young
children can hear. There's a video about it on CNN.com, but I couldn't
paste the link, unfortunately.

Evidently as you age, the little hairs inside your cochlea flatten out,
making it hard or impossible for adults to hear certain frequencies.
This process starts happening at around 20 years of age.

So someone decided to turn it into a ringtone for cell phones.
Great... another way to help kids cheat.

However, I was curious and went in search of the tone, to see if I
could hear it, I found it he

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages...0_RINGTONE.mp3

To my surprise, I could hear it just fine. It was horrible -
high-pitched and throbbing (it's real name is the "mosquitotone" - very
appropos). Very annoying and bordering on painful - and it's not even
loud. Now, I'm ah, not a teenager. I'm nearly double the oldest age
that's supposed to be able to hear it reliably (I'm 37).

I can hear it although it is faint. I am 68 and I know I have a
fairly severe hearing loss in one ear due to using a starting pistol
to start swim meets before I knew any better.

Does anyone out there know the reason some adults can hear it and other
can't? I've never been one to play loud music, in my car or anywhere.
I do like my TV set louder than my family does, but certainly not
blasting. And I've only been to one concert that left me
"cotton-candy-eared" (at others, I stuffed my ears with cotton to
prevent it, but I've not been to many of those, either - maybe 3 or 4)

I've always had very sensitive hearing. When I was a baby, the high
pitched noise that was made by baby swallows when their mom came back
to the nest (which was in the eaves of the porch where I was napping)
woke me up screaming. And I used to find the high pitched whine of
the TV sets (which I could hear and most people couldn't) to be very
annoying. So I suspect that some of it is genetic.

But I've also mowed my share of lawns over the years.

I refused to mow lawns with a push mower because it made my ears ring.
And since I became aware that I had a hearing loss, I've tried to be
very careful to protect my ears.

Any docs out there that might know? Or am I just lucky in that I've got
good hearing?

People who are exposed to high noise levels lose the high frequencies
first. So evidently you were born with good hearing and haven't
abused it that much.

"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
oups.com...
xkatx wrote:
I heard it fine, it annoyed me more than I thought a cell phone ring
could,
and I really would break someone's phone if I heard it while out and
about.

I wouldn't break someone's phone, but I would start shouting at them if
they didn't answer it quickly. I am shocked at how uncomfortable that
ring makes me.

In the long run, no, I probably wouldn't just break someone's phone, but I
also know it would take all of me to hold back - that ring, for some reason,
really bothers me. I'd probably end up just giving someone a dirty look or
something LOL

Speaking of cell-violence, I witnessed a near-miss at a restaurant a
couple of years ago.

Three tables in close proximity, in a triangle-shaped configuration.
Table one had a young woman (I'm guessing in her late teens or early
20s) and her parents. Table two had my husband and I and then
2-year-old daughter. Table three had a couple that looked to be on a
date. They looked to be in their mid to late 20s.

The girl at table one's cell phone rang. It was a fairly annoying ring,
but she answered it promptly, and proceeded to have a conversation,
though it wasn't long. It was enough that it made my husband and I
roll our eyes slightly and wish she'd talk a little more quietly.

In short, her cell-ettiquette (or lackthereof) was roughly average.
I've seen far worse cell behavior, and far better.

The guy at the next table waited for her to put her cellphone away,
then told her that if it rang again, he'd smash it for her. I don't
remember the whole thing, but the girl's dad told him to back off, and
the young man basically told him that he'd think nothing of attacking
them over it. Things calmed down soon. The couple at table 3 looked
quite sour for the rest of their meal. The family at table 1 looked
ill-at-ease as well. And my husband and I were... flabbergasted. The
girl hadn't been *that* bad. My husband, though he hadn't appreciate
the cell-phone conversation either, told me later that he would have
stepped in - on the side of the girl's father, because he felt that the
young man was obnoxious - and crossed the line in threatening violence
without at least having *asked* her to turn it down, or off, of
whatever.

Ah, well...

Cathy Weeks

My phone, when out and about in certain places, is off or on vibrate only.
I know I have a few VERY annoying rings - when my mom calls from work or her
cell, it's set to ring like an annoying car alarm (my mom has issues with
her own car's alarm constantly going off and she has no clue how to turn it
off once it gets going - she tends to forget about the alarm being on and
just opens to door, sending the alarm screeching, so I figured no other ring
would be more appropriate to warn me my mother is calling...) When my dad
calls from work or his cell, it's Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams
that plays - my dad, for some reason, is obsessed with this song... I have
the Hockey Night in Canada song for my youngest brother, for obvious
reasons, Diamonds from Sierra Leone when DH calls, a quick babbling about
sex when my one girl friend calls, Buzz Lightyear letting me know I have a
new text message and Pooh announcing I have voice mail... Yes, most all of
my normal songs or sounds are so annoying, but it is turned off or volume is
off at times - restaurants are one of those places where the volume is off.
Movie theatre is a place where the phone is turned off as well.
I witnessed a similar ordeal at the movie theatre a few years ago... It
started with a group of obnoxious teenagers - about 14-15 years old -
playing with one of those laser pointers on the screen during the movie.
Someone shouted out to knock it off. Kids kept doing that, and then had
decided to act like idiots with it, pointing the laser on noses, eyes,
random things on the screen and then making loud comments about it. Someone
else had yelled for them to cut it out, and then one started playing with a
cell phone. What I think was the original guy then told them to knock it
off before he knocks their heads off, and the theatre security was called in
after the guy got up and went to the kids, grabbed the laser pointer, threw
it on the ground and stomped on it. I, personally, was totally with the guy
as far as the group of kids went.
The security guy was on the man's side as well, as the kids were removed
from the theatre and the man stayed to obviously enjoy the show with the
rest of the people in there.
I wouldn't have gone over the edge with your case and the girl on the phone.
Again, I'd probably give a kind of dirty look and let it go with nothing
said or anything. If she had sat and talked on the phone at the table for a
while, talking about the cute guy in her math class, how sweet her new
boyfriend is, how fantastic that movie was the other night or started making
plans on the phone to head off to the mall, I might have said something, but
I probably wouldn't have caused a huge scene.

"Rosalie B." wrote in message
...
I can hear it although it is faint. I am 68 and I know I have a
fairly severe hearing loss in one ear due to using a starting pistol
to start swim meets before I knew any better.

Well, I can't, and neither can my kids. But then again, the puppy was
chewing on the speaker cable....

Bizby

"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
oups.com...
To my surprise, I could hear it just fine. It was horrible -
high-pitched and throbbing (it's real name is the "mosquitotone" - very
appropos). Very annoying and bordering on painful - and it's not even
loud. Now, I'm ah, not a teenager. I'm nearly double the oldest age
that's supposed to be able to hear it reliably (I'm 37).

I'm 37 and I can hear it.