Poll: Can you hear this hideous noise?

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:14 pm

I ran into an article today about some ringtone--"The Mosquito"--teens are using so that they can get text messages in class without the teacher hearing. It's at a frequency most >25-year-olds can't hear, hence their old fogie teachers can't hear it.

Here's a website from Swindon . . . I believe we have a Chiffer there . . . where this noise has been used as a teen repellant. You can listen to it. I recommend a headset for best results, but be sure to turn the volume all the way up.

I listened to it at work today, and it certainly repelled me. I'm afraid I became agitated and required calming with chocolate.

Can anyone else hear it? What did it sound like to you? There is a metal clanking sound, but that's not it.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:16 pm

Where's the link?

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:31 pm

Oh.

Link to Repellent Sound

djm · Post by **djm** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:46 pm

Oh, dear. I can only hear kids' voices and traffic sounds.

djm

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:54 pm

I don't hear anything more than background voices, and that faint hum that you get in almost any recording. I have not seen 25 in quite a while though, and my family is not reknowned for retaining super acute hearing in middle age.
OTOH I can ALWAYS hear nasty lights that buzz--especially fluorescent ones.

BoneQuint · Post by **BoneQuint** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:12 pm

I'll bet there are under 25s who can't hear it.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:19 pm

I read about this a few weeks back..kids are using it for ringtones now so that their teachers can't hear their phones ring. I got a copy of the mp3 they're using.

http://www.tinwhistler.com/misc/ringtone.mp3

I can only hear it with headphones on and turned way up. It's a very high-pitched whine.

Through the computer speakers, I can't hear it at all unless my ears are very close to the speaker. The 20-something-year-old tech support guys across the hall could, though, because they howled every time I turned it on (I had to test them at random intervals with the volume up full blast to make sure they weren't pulling my leg..hehe). They could actually hear it all the way down the hall when I couldn't hear a thing. Spooky! They said "it sounds like the TV", which is what my 5 year old says, but I don't know what they mean exactly by that.

My boss and roommate both said they could hear it, and they're both over 38. But, they both failed the random test, and I suspect they were just saying they could hear it so they wouldn't feel old

The network support guru who's closer to my age couldnt hear it and thought I was pulling his leg, until I put the file in Audacity and showed him it really wasn't silence.

My wife can hear it..she's 36 at the end of the year and has some hearing loss, but evidently not in that range.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:35 pm

That is a disgusting noise. I have a headache, now.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:52 pm

Oh, Lord, Wanderer! That one was really noticeable.

I hear three tones. One is a low hum, but above that is a higher-pitched sound like cutting a piece of metal in a saw. Above that is a really hideous, needle-sharp, high-pitched pheeeeeeeee. Like one of the highest tones in the hearing test.

I'm still shaking my head and shivering. The budgies got real quiet.

Kind of like a Rodar J for humans.

I wonder if older people with Asperger's syndrome can hear it. Hmmm.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:54 pm

I played the ringtone version for my 14 year old, on the iBook, which doesn't have good sound. He could absolutely hear it. Said it was a tv type of noise.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:09 pm

emmline wrote:I played the ringtone version for my 14 year old, on the iBook, which doesn't have good sound. He could absolutely hear it. Said it was a tv type of noise.

Yes. It's a noise I hear coming from electronic equipment.

The poll didn't come out quite right. There was one more choice, but it didn't show up.

TheSpoonMan · Post by **TheSpoonMan** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:17 pm

I can almost hear it- i can in afew places. But not much. However, listening through gave me a really abd headache, lol. So yes.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:25 pm

I couldn't hear it well in the "mosquito" recording...

However....

Both my wife and I very plainly heard the ringtone, and both found the sound immediately and intensely unpleasant, even at a pretty low volume on regular computer speakers.

That sound causes an instant headache and makes your fillings hurt.

--James

Edited to add: I am 40. Shannon is 34.

rebl_rn · Post by **rebl_rn** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:13 pm

I'm 34, I could hear it but it was very faint with the speakers turned all the way up. Most teenagers already think they are better and smarter than adults anyway, they are going to love this which, in their minds, will prove it. Ugh.

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:20 pm

For the past year I've been toying with buying an ultrasonic broadcasting device to deal with my next door neighbors' dog barking.

What I used to do in the past was when the dog started barking I'd stick my head out the window and say, "what's that stupid dog? You want to hear some fiddle playing? Well, all right!"
and, no matter what time of day or night it was, I'd start practicing my fiddle.

It didn't take my neighbors long to relate the two together, if dog barks I will practice the fiddle.
Then I got sort of good on the fiddle and they stopped hushing the dog to keep me from practicing.

About a week back the level of my discomfort from the barking finally registered with my husband (or perhaps it was our upstairs tenant commenting how annoying the barking is) so he did some research of his own and came across people talking about Swindon.
He was amused.

Now he's offering to make me his own version of an ultrasonic device that he claims would be 4 times more powerful than anything on the market.

If it works, I think his next project should be creating a device that will inspire my neighbors to clean up all the stinky dog poop in their backyard.
I'm clueless what direction to point him for research to do that.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Poll: Can you hear this hideous noise?

Can you hear "The Mosquito" noise? Yes, you have to listen to it FIRST!

Poll: Can you hear this hideous noise?