Comments on: The Mosquito Ring Tone: This Adult Can Hear It! http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/ A daily round table on the tech industry with experts and callers from all over the globe. Join us as we pick apart the news and get to the meat of what\'s happening out there. Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:24:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: david http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-911091 david Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:25:03 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-911091 i can hear them all and i am CRAZY! i can hear them all and i am CRAZY!

]]> By: Brendan http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-866466 Brendan Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:37:38 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-866466 Ok - lets put some of this into perspective. There are many reasons that someone may hear 18k, 19k or 20k tones such as the ones referenced in this discussion - but most are NOT because you can physically hear those frequencies. While some people my age (31) are fortunate enough to still hear 18k, I know I stop hearing at just above 16k. My ears are checked twice yearly. ( I can however easily sense any frequencies above this range, and in blind tests have correctly identified 25k+ tones with a greater than 90% accuracy. But I digress.) The funny thing about these high frequency tones are that speakers will often play back a tone thats "different" to the one being fed to it, simply because speakers are not all "perfect". Its referred to in acoustics as non-linearities, distortions, poor dampening etc. This means that sometimes (a) you'll hear a low frequency click at the start and end of a tone (caused by the speaker driver speading up suddenly / slowing down suddenly, or the sample of audio starting / ending at a "non-zero" position. This is a dead give-away, and often makes people think they are hearing the tone with their ears, even if the ear is not actually hearing anything at all! (b) you'll hear a lower frequency tone than the one being fed to the speaker for the entire duration of the clip. I've done many many tests on speakers over the years, and you'll be surprised how different signals can be coming out of speakers compared to those being fed to the speaker. Its the speaker cone distorting (and there are many reasons why that may be occuring!) I truely believe this is why so many people think they can hear the 18k tones. My laptop speakers clearly put out a 9k tone when fed 18k - i saw it 2 minutes ago on a spectrum analyser. These types of tests are VERY misleading, and potentially problematic if people take the results too seriously. Indeed, many of these 16+k tones through a mobile phone cause the whole phone to let out lower frequencies at quite reasoable levels. I've seen tones as low as 3k come out from the phone when fed 16k signals. So this whole thing is really quite pointless, in that it doesn't show much at all. So, back to normal programming...... Ok - lets put some of this into perspective.

There are many reasons that someone may hear 18k, 19k or 20k tones such as the ones referenced in this discussion - but most are NOT because you can physically hear those frequencies.

While some people my age (31) are fortunate enough to still hear 18k, I know I stop hearing at just above 16k. My ears are checked twice yearly. ( I can however easily sense any frequencies above this range, and in blind tests have correctly identified 25k+ tones with a greater than 90% accuracy. But I digress.)

The funny thing about these high frequency tones are that speakers will often play back a tone thats “different” to the one being fed to it, simply because speakers are not all “perfect”. Its referred to in acoustics as non-linearities, distortions, poor dampening etc. This means that sometimes
(a) you’ll hear a low frequency click at the start and end of a tone (caused by the speaker driver speading up suddenly / slowing down suddenly, or the sample of audio starting / ending at a “non-zero” position. This is a dead give-away, and often makes people think they are hearing the tone with their ears, even if the ear is not actually hearing anything at all!
(b) you’ll hear a lower frequency tone than the one being fed to the speaker for the entire duration of the clip. I’ve done many many tests on speakers over the years, and you’ll be surprised how different signals can be coming out of speakers compared to those being fed to the speaker. Its the speaker cone distorting (and there are many reasons why that may be occuring!)

I truely believe this is why so many people think they can hear the 18k tones. My laptop speakers clearly put out a 9k tone when fed 18k - i saw it 2 minutes ago on a spectrum analyser. These types of tests are VERY misleading, and potentially problematic if people take the results too seriously.
Indeed, many of these 16+k tones through a mobile phone cause the whole phone to let out lower frequencies at quite reasoable levels. I’ve seen tones as low as 3k come out from the phone when fed 16k signals.

So this whole thing is really quite pointless, in that it doesn’t show much at all.

So, back to normal programming……

]]> By: Michael http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-865549 Michael Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:31:01 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-865549 Although the spike at 15kHz, the ringtone contains frequencies all around the area of 90Hz - 11,5kHz (with peaks at 90Hz, 3kHz and 9kHz), which is probably what most of you (beyond 25) actually do hear. Besides, this explains why the sinus-waves are not clearly audible for some, even though the ringtone seems to be. ;-) Although the spike at 15kHz, the ringtone contains frequencies all around the area of 90Hz - 11,5kHz (with peaks at 90Hz, 3kHz and 9kHz), which is probably what most of you (beyond 25) actually do hear. Besides, this explains why the sinus-waves are not clearly audible for some, even though the ringtone seems to be. ;-)

]]> By: Austin http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-828700 Austin Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:50:39 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-828700 I'm 26 and can hear them all equally fine. I’m 26 and can hear them all equally fine.

]]> By: Betty Hubbard http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-819539 Betty Hubbard Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:02:51 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-819539 I am trying to find a way to stop the noise as I get it day and night and it interferes with my sleeping. I suspect that someone does it intentionally. I live in a senior complex and am 74. It is not right that at our age that we should be subject to this type of inhuman behavior. Tell me how I can stop the noise in my house. Drowning it out is not an option. I have tried. Another lady heard it in my house too. I am trying to find a way to stop the noise as I get it day and night and it interferes with my sleeping. I suspect that someone does it intentionally. I live in a senior complex and am 74. It is not right that at our age that we should be subject to this type of inhuman behavior. Tell me how I can stop the noise in my house. Drowning it out is not an option. I have tried. Another lady heard it in my house too.

]]> By: Olivia http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-815896 Olivia Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:11:38 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-815896 That was kool but my ears are still ringing. I'm 13 and could hear all of the tones. Its kinda creepy bcause after I played that last tone, my light bulb started flickering and blew out... :D That was kool but my ears are still ringing. I’m 13 and could hear all of the tones. Its kinda creepy bcause after I played that last tone, my light bulb started flickering and blew out… :D

]]> By: David http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-802480 David Thu, 29 May 2008 00:36:57 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-802480 again just telling you I'm 10 again just telling you I’m 10

]]> By: David http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-802477 David Thu, 29 May 2008 00:35:08 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-802477 I could hear all of them but I let my 50 year old parents listen and they counldn't hear a thing!!!I am sooo changing my ringtone!!! I could hear all of them but I let my 50 year old parents listen and they counldn’t hear a thing!!!I am sooo changing my ringtone!!!

]]> By: Eduardo http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-786858 Eduardo Fri, 23 May 2008 00:54:49 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-786858 im 14 and i could here everything, im suprise my parents cant im 14 and i could here everything, im suprise my parents cant

]]> By: GuArAnI http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-784571 GuArAnI Thu, 22 May 2008 05:01:38 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/#comment-784571 I'M 23 AND I CAN HEAR ALL OF THEM,WITH THE SPEAKERS AT NORMAL VOLUME,EVEN AT 18 KHZ.THESE SOUNDS ARE VERY UMBEARABLE,AND CAUSES ME HEARACHE IN SHORT TIME CAN I HAVE BIONIC EAR? O.o I’M 23 AND I CAN HEAR ALL OF THEM,WITH THE SPEAKERS AT NORMAL VOLUME,EVEN AT 18 KHZ.THESE SOUNDS ARE VERY UMBEARABLE,AND CAUSES ME HEARACHE IN SHORT TIME

CAN I HAVE BIONIC EAR? O.o

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