The Mosquito Ring Tone: This Adult Can Hear It!
The NY Times published a story on the Mosquito Ringtone (also known as Teen Buzz) this morning. Allegedly inaudible to adults, this 17Khz ringtone has become popular among teens looking to be able to send and receive text messages surreptitiously in class. They even included a sample of the ringtone, so you could determine for yourself whether it's audible or not.
Well, I had no trouble hearing it, and according to the convenient chart provided (reproduced at left), at the age of 42 most people my age can't hear anything beyond 13Khz. Apparently, I am more youthful than I thought…
Wondering what I could hear, I took a quick trip to the NCH Swift Sound website, and downloaded the NCH Tone Generator application. This little tool is used by audio engineers to generate various different kinds of tones ranging from square waves to pink noise to sine waves, and a bunch more. I generated a four different sets of tones at 15Khz, 16Khz, 17Khz, and 18Khz and listened to them, comparing them with the mosquito. The mosquito is a very dirty tone, with lots of noise in it. Perhaps that's because it's been converted to MP3, or perhaps it's not a pure sine wave. In any case, while the allegedly 17Khz mosquito tone is quite audible, I had difficulty hearing a true 17Khz sine wave. The 18Khz tone was inaudible. You can listen to all four WAV files for yourself and do your own comparison. I recommend not turning the volume way up. Despite the fact that they are nearly inaudible, they are still very high energy sound, and my ears were sore after several listenings.
- Mosquito
- 15102 Hz pure sine wave
- 16000 Hz pure sine wave
- 16961 Hz pure sine wave
- 17959 Hz pure sine wave
Related links: ringtone
June 12th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Alec, I could hear all of the tones you posted except the last one. I’m 26. It was surprising to me that I couldn’t hear the last one, since the previous ones were so clear. Also a little depressing, since I’ve got a great ear for sound (I’ve produced records and such).
I’ll get over it though ;-)
June 12th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
I was surprised at what I could hear, actually. I remember my dad being very tone deaf in the upper registers when I was a kid.
June 12th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Early thirties and I can hear them all except the 18 Khz sound, which still makes my ears hurt.
June 12th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Damn. We’re the same age, Alec, and yet I couldn’t hear a damn thing — not on any of them. I guess I know what that means… too much standing close to the stage at those ZZ Top and Foreigner concerts.
June 12th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
:) I think it must have been your taste in music Mathew… I was listening to the Pistols and the Clash…
June 13th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Definitely taste in music. *shudder* @ ZZ Top.
June 13th, 2006 at 11:45 am
In my defence, I was living in a small town in rural New Brunswick at the time, so I didn’t get access to the Pistols or the Clash until much later :-)
I still love ZZ Top though — sorry Jeremy.
June 14th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I am 43 and could hear all notes with ease..I am a migraine sufferer and at all times I hear a high pitch whine..that is why I always have the TV or radio goinmg ..to drown out the sound …but the sound generator was a much lower tone then I usually hear ..
June 14th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
I just downloaded the tone generator…couldn’t find a tone I couldn’t hear ..though some were very annoying ..and some tougher to hear.then the majority
June 15th, 2006 at 4:52 am
Well i am 9 years old and i can hear all of them its very annoying but i can use my phone in school!!! Ye haaaa!!!
June 15th, 2006 at 6:38 am
I’m aproaching 29 and can hear them all. All my life i’ve been able to hear high pitches (i can hear it when the TV is on standby).
June 15th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
i’m 12 years old and i can hear them all except the last one
June 15th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
well i’m 13 years old and i can hear them all except the last one
June 15th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
I can hear the mosquito just fine but, the pure sine waves were harder. I could only hear the first and second. More like pressure when listening to the sine waves. Oh yes, I am ancient by kid standards, a graceful 50 thankyou.
June 15th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
i’m 14 and i can’t hear the last two, but i can hear the mosquito ring. I thought the t.v. on stand-by thing was all in my head, but i guess they can’t hear that either.
June 15th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Have any of you done experiments with it yet? I played it in my school library and really confused some teachers.
June 16th, 2006 at 12:14 am
I can hear before 16900KHz. 17959 can’t :(( I’m 28
June 16th, 2006 at 8:21 am
I am 22, can hear all but the 18 kHz, it seems as if a lot of people over 25 can still hear the mosquito tone, so whats the big deal its not that big of a break-through.
June 16th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Those of you despairing of your inability to hear the 18kHz tone, I wonder what your transducer is? Many consumer-grade speakers and headphones roll off significantly in those octaves. You might want to try some quality speakers before you consider yourself partiually deaf.
June 16th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
I’m 15 and i can only hear 18 [faintly] and lower. also…. Bernadette is 9 and already has a phone? I put it on an ipod and brought it in to school. My teacher couldn’t hear but everyone was laughing so I got kicked out. When I got kicked out I played it through the door and everyone continued laughing. It really pissed my teacher off!
June 16th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Oh my god……..I’m a high school teacher and for the first time I felt embarrased and deaf in front of my kids when they told me about this (on the last day of school). I could not hear any of them except for one. Keep up the great inventions !!!
Ms. V
June 17th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
I could hear all of them. I’m 13 years old and I knew already that I would be able to, but I went ahead and did it anyways for laughs. I guess keep up the good work, but I don’t really care if you do or not.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I can hear them all. I’m 14.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
I’m 45 and can hear the ring tone no problem and from a distance too. I’ve avoided loud sounds all my life, wear earplugs when going to the movies, and if seldom use headphones and when I do keep the volume very very low. I can hear the 18kHz sine wav, but not the others although I’m in the tv room with the hockey game on. By comparison, my 33 yr old sister can hear all the sine waves even across the room (with the tv on), and my 36 yr old brother-in-law can only hear 15 and 16 across the room, and the 17 halfway across the room (again, with the hockey game on).
June 18th, 2006 at 11:20 am
It hurts my ears.
June 18th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Hey there “Yeah righ…”… just wanted to let you know that I saved you the embarrassment of posting the other two very immature posts you wrote. I deleted them. If you still want them posted, post them again, and I’ll publish them.
June 19th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Hmmm. I’m 35, and I can hear all of them. Whether this ability will make me rich and famous is up for debate. But I can certainly hear the Mosquito, as well as the 4 frequencies above. And I hate loud music. I’m wondering whether the warnings we were given as children about loud music were actually correct…
June 19th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
OK……. I can hear them all and I am 61 !!!! But that’s a very good thing since I am an audio engineer. I have been blessed with very good hearing since I was first tested in my college days, and I test my hearing on a regular basis. But you guys who can’t hear the tones should keep in mind that it might not be your hearing…. it could very well be your computer speakers. Some of the speakers cannot reproduce above about 12k. Try some good quality headphones. BTW, most people reach their peak of hearing at about age 19 and then start a gradual downward slope.
June 20th, 2006 at 3:29 am
I could hear it fine, and I am 48. Could be the distance at which you can hear it is different, though.
Another possibility: some can’t hear it because they are just a genetic variation, like the “Supertasters” of
the world…those people identified by scientists who can taste certain things that no one else can taste.
I think the researchers jumped to the conclusion that it was age because there are age-related declines in
hearing…that fact does not allow you to conclude that all differences in hearing are due to age. You can say
age contributes, but you can not say it exclusively causes the difference.
June 20th, 2006 at 4:55 am
Im 19, listened to all of them and can hear all of then clear across my room (about 12 feet) from my headphones. then went to play with the NCH tone generator and cranked it upto 22khz (max my headphones can process) and still heard it clear as a bell.
June 20th, 2006 at 9:47 am
I can hear all of them just fine. I am 13 years old. I think this is amazing! I have an idea…If sombody would like to email me
d4ta13@gmail.com
I will share it with you. I think it might work…
June 20th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I’m 56 and I could hear all the tones quite clearly.
Like Glen P who wrote that “at all times I hear a high pitch whine,” I too hear an ongoing buzz at a very high pitch, much higher than the ones posted. I will try the tone generator to see if I can identify the frequency I hear.
I am also a “Hum” hearer - one of a worldwide group who hears ultra-low infrasound with pulses and beats that we think may be from drilling or other industry, and is sometimes known as the Taos Hum. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/humforum/
June 21st, 2006 at 12:46 am
Thanks for the link to the tone generator! I was feeling exceptionally old (42 next month) because I couldn’t hear any of your samples. After playing around with the tone generator, at least I know I’m not too far off the norm for my age, at least. And I discovered that the persistant ringing in my ears is resonating at nearly exactly 13000. I can hear, just barely, 13773.02–but just enough that I can clearly tell that the pitch is higher than my tinnitus. After that, nada. You may also be amused to know that my dog was totally nonplussed about the whole thing, but the testing drove one of my cats positively batty! She could clearly tell when I was starting and stopping pitches that I had no hope of hearing myself.
June 21st, 2006 at 2:07 pm
ye i can hear dem im 13
June 21st, 2006 at 9:00 pm
I can’t hear 16961 Hz– I just feel a slight change, but I can hear the last, which I find odd. I turned it up and tried again, and now my ears hurt. The mosquito ringtone is like sandpaper on my teeth. I hope any kid who uses that around me is prepared to get smacked by a girl.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:23 am
Hi, I am living in Japan. This entry was mentioned and linked from one of IT news site in Japan (http://www.pc-view.net/), and I have visited there.
This topic reminds me my old experience in my childhood. In those years, I was always being bugged by some strange noisy pulse of sound in my ears when I was in places around main streets of my home city. In later year, when I was 17 or 18, I realized that was a supersonic pulses transmitted by traffic sensor set on the top of the electric pole, and I had just understood it natural that all other people didn’t care about such unpleasant noises, simply they couldn’t hear that.
Today, I’m almost 41 years old, I tested my ears and realized I can hear 16kHz, but cannot hear all higher frequencies. It is shocking, though I could never check how high that traffic sensor’s sound frequency was. Thanks for having your great blog entry here, and helping me having my great memories back.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:51 am
I am 37 and heard all of them. ’70s era ZZTop is excellent. Punk is for retards.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:35 am
Welcome to Japanese visitors, and thanks for letting me know where the traffic was coming from, M.H.
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:49 am
Well, I’m 32 years old and I can hear all of the sounds even the last one! It’s a little fainter than the others but I can still hear it. I work with people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds and we realized that the caucasian women aged 50 and up couldn’t hear the the mosquito and higher, the black women aged 50 and up could hear only the mosquito and the men aged 50 and up of both ethnicities couldn’t hear a thing! So what does this mean?…
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:44 pm
I’m 32 and I can hear only the first one :(. If you want to try different frequencies on a mobile, go to http://www.mymadcow.com, they have high pitch mp3s for mobiles. Does anyone know which frequency is the highest a human can hear? Around 20 kHz?
June 22nd, 2006 at 1:21 pm
I can’t even get those mosquito rings to play, when I click on it, it moves to a different page saying this page can not be found
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:48 pm
I’m 19, so no surprise that I could hear them all just fine, but the mosquito and the first two others irritated my senses, but the higher two did not bother me so much. Don’t know if that’s significant, or just opinion.
June 25th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
A 9-year old has a cell phone?
What is this world coming to???
I’m 16, and I can hear them all just fine.
My brother played it for my dad on his computer, and he couldn’t hear it.
So I threatened to set it as my dad’s ringtone on his cell phone so he couldn’t hear his own phone ring. xD
June 25th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Although I can hear them all, I find it harder to hear the 16961kHz than the 17959kHz.
I’m 18.
June 26th, 2006 at 2:51 am
I’m 17 and I can hear them all!! ^^.. but now my ears still hurts me!!!!
June 26th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Does it posible to download this riigner on cell phone ???
June 27th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
MOSQUITO TONE
June 28th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
[...] It’s been quite a trippy month on the Saunderslog. Midway through the month I wrote a short piece on the Mosquito Ringtone, which has catapulted traffic into the stratosphere (or, at least, what I consider to be the stratosphere). [...]
June 28th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
NICE ! RINGTONES !
BUT IT CAN HURTS ADULTS HEAR !
NICE INVENSION !
KEEP IT UP !
THANK’S ! ! !
June 29th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
[...] This guy can hear the Mozzy Tunes, so at least the adults have infiltrated. [...]
June 29th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
I downloaded this earlier just to test on my 13 year old daughter. She said it gave her a headache. I definitely heard it (not quite 30 though, but I will be in a few months, close enough!). My kids and my husband call me Sentinel Mom though because I hear, smell and see other things that many people do not (not in a paranormal way). It’s just my senses are keen usually.
The sound gave me a headache! It was quite irritating.
June 30th, 2006 at 11:36 am
man, is it bad that im 17 and cant hear any of them?
i would say maybe its all the concerts ive been to (seen over 100 bands, and alot more to come…) but i dont think this really has to do with if your deaf or not, but more so just what range your ears are capable of hearing.
June 30th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
I’m 14; and I can barely hear the last one. ^^ .. i guess that’s what real loud headphones does to you. I downloaded the software so I could convert it to an mp3 to send it to my phone. Since every other site requires you to pay outraegeous fees just for the tone.
July 2nd, 2006 at 7:18 am
I’m 22 and could only “hear” the first two, though they all hurt my ears, especially that last one.
July 2nd, 2006 at 8:22 am
I’m 37 year old guy and I could hear all of them. However, they are painfull to the ear.
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:10 am
Hello.
I could hear them all just fine, but right now I feel a little bit dizzy and have a headache. Oh, I’m 20.
>_
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:35 am
56 years old, a history of plenty of standing in front of speaker stacks at rock gigs, working in noisy environments, power tools, aero engines, gunfire, explosions… So plenty of hearing abuse likely. But I could hear all but the last one, and i was aware of that whilst it played, but as a sensation of pressur, rather than sound.
And I’ve been a teacher, I’d play a medley of these just to get my revenge on irritating kids!
Oh, and I’m a different Soubriquet to the earlier poster, So… Hello Soub!
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:36 am
At age 56 I could heatr even the 17959 pure sine wave (that last one was a bit faint). They all were uncomfortable to listen to.
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:38 am
well with a name like that ^ :)
i’m 18 and i listen to a lot of loud music, but my hearing hasn’t gone yet!
i could hear all of them except the last one, maybe its recorded bad or something, but next time (if anyone is reading this) turn the volume up just a lil bit.
July 2nd, 2006 at 10:42 am
I’ll be 36 in 2 weeks, and I heard all the tones. This really suprises me because I used to be one of those kids who always listened to headphone music to loud.
July 2nd, 2006 at 11:08 am
I’m 51 and undergoing gene therapy in a clinical test environment
for hearing restoration. Via tone sweep my range is still 15.8Khz,
but the promise of 5 year old ear sensitivity was too hard to resist.
My range when 12 was 22khz - lets see if this test group I’m in produces any results.
Its not surprising that the mosquito is audible - its a very dirty tone.
i think most of the young repliers leaving their proud ‘i can hear it’ replies will be near deaf
by 30 without precautions. My idea of near deaf is way below functional deafness.
Earbuds will flatten those young ears within 5 years.
July 2nd, 2006 at 11:31 am
I’m 12 years old and I can hear all of them. I’m going to try it out on my parents.
July 2nd, 2006 at 11:35 am
I read about this in a magazine and I think I realized something!!!
Outside of a Costco I’ve been to I hear that Mosquito noise. They play it ever other second. Repeatedly. It bothered me so I asked my parents “What’s that noise?” And they said “I don’t hear any noise.” But my little sister heard it. Perhaps that’ what it was, though, they’ve had it for a while now, before I read about it.
July 2nd, 2006 at 11:38 am
27 years old and I can hear them all ok.
Although listening to these sounds does make me feel a little nauseous.
July 2nd, 2006 at 11:45 am
Well, all people who has normal hearing should be able to hear up to 20kHz. That chart shows how high pitch sound people can hear at 60dB. By the way that mosquito sound is 15kHz not 17kHz and soundclips are not normalized to same level. Generated ones are little bit quieter.
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:13 pm
I can’t hear them. I have significant hearing loss in bothe ears. This occured when I was stationed in Irag. A very large IED went off near my vehicle. I now teach and I bought every kid in class a Ring Detecting Pen from http://www.elstonsystems.com/prod/cellular_pen_cell_phone_uv_led.html. Kids with the Samsung models are not allowed to bring those into class.
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I’m 18 and can hear all of the souds, interesting experiment it even hurts my ears i hear em so well!
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Ditto what Nick wrote aside from age. I’m 42.
It’s not just about the frequency of the tone, however. Most people ignore high frequency sounds in the same way that they ignore the fabric of their clothes stimulating the nerves of their skin. It takes a conscious effort to pay attention to something we tend to ignore. Loading the tone onto a phone, carrying it and expecting to be called accomplishes just that.
In the classroom, articles such as this one accomplish much the same for teachers. But I think it’s safe to say that a very small percentage of even the best ears here have actually recognized the tone “in the wild”. It’s not just our ability to hear well that makes the tone so successful at what it’s meant to do; it’s the exploitation of our brain’s natural tendency to filter out extraneous stimuli.
It’s is very near-fetched to compensate for these shortfalls so that teachers can teach instead of reacting to every buzz in their ear. Simply put, the student needs a device to produce the sound. He/she cannot generate it with his/her voice. (Mariah Carey’s protege’? No. Facial contortions would give it away. That and a screaming classroom with blood coming from their ears.)
A passive high-frequency detector that measures sudden pulses of sound within a given range could be placed on the teacher’s desk. When the predetermined parameters are met, a flashing red light and low-pitched buzz could alert the teacher to instruct her students to “turn off your phone or lose it”.
Better yet, three detectors (one centrally located in front of the classroom and one in each rear corner) could be used to triangulate the exact location of the sound. The robot that comes into the classroom to assign homework to the student needs some more concept design work. I’m partial to the wiiiirrrr-clunk. wiiiiirrr-clunk as it approaches the door. Crashing through the walls would be a bit much.
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Tempie, The sound you and your sister heard at Costco is something that’s been used for years. It’s meant to disperse groups of “kids” from simply hanging out in establishments. I stopped going to a particular Sears store long ago because the shopping experience was less than enjoyable. I wonder now just how many other places don’t get my business because of that whine…
Here again, I’m 42 and still hear it. Age may have allowed me to tolerate the sound but perhaps they didn’t anticipate the years of conditioning.
July 2nd, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Well, i am 18 and i could hear all of them pretty easily. But for people who is not able to hear it, you should check if your speakers/headphones are really able to reproduce the frequency generated. Not all are able - ‘generic’ speakers or headphones may not have a broad frequency range (generally they dont), and you could be not hearing it for this reason.
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I’m 36 and am definately hard of hearing in one ear. I could hear:
Mosquito
15102 Hz pure sine wave
16000 Hz pure sine wave
pretty well in my right ear, but not my left.
My daughter, who is almost six, could hear them all. We had to play the last one twice though.
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:06 pm
I could hear the provided sample though.
July 3rd, 2006 at 11:19 am
I am 40 and can hear the 15KHz and 16KHz tones.
Has anybody tried the mosquito ringtones at http://www.aubraux.com/mosquito-ring-tones.php ?
They have some fancy high frequency ringtones and the pure sine wave ones too.
July 4th, 2006 at 12:56 am
I’m 35 and can hear all of the tones you’ve provided Alec. Thanks for the link to the NCH Tone Generator.
It seems there is considerable discrepancy between age-related hearing loss as shown in the chart and the replies above. Koliedrus has an interesting point regarding real-world behaviour, however, it doesn’t seem to explain this data since (presumably) the chart is based upon clinical testing rather than the sort of automatic prioritizing to which Koliedrus refers.
At least some of the mosquito ringtones are not 17 KHz as the ‘original’ is supposed to be; but rather range 1 KHz above and below a main frequency of 15 KHz. (So says my audio software’s spectral analysis of a ringtone I downloaded).
As for the appropriate classroom response to the tone, rather than a robot I’d be in favour of some spidery-type thing dropping from the ceiling to devour the kid. Gruesome and instructive.
July 4th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
I am 14 and could listen to all of them, my grandfather (65) also could hear all of them, so unless he is a special case, I’d say the story is untrue
July 5th, 2006 at 2:05 am
Love it L.B.! What’s te spectral analysis software you’re using?
July 5th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
yeahh ok so i can’t hear the Mosquito ringtone and I’m 14 so whats that about??
July 5th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I must be missing something here. Why would kids use this ringtone instead of just setting their phones to silent/vibrate mode in the classroom?
July 8th, 2006 at 3:03 am
So let me see if I understand this? Youngsters use ringtones for their celular phones so ONLY they can hear… Now why would they do that? I mean you can’t realy talk to the phone in classrooms right? so what is the use? There is a guy in Japan who invented a device that could kill a cell phone by a touch of a button, so as a teacher you get that plus a ultrasound detector and fry the loosers. On the other hand why would you let them ring whay do you care. If they are annoyng to you just use the cellphone killer.
July 8th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I’m 24 and could easily hear all of them.
July 10th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I could hear all four, but yeah my ears tickle now.
July 10th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I could hear them all easily, unfortunately I think the proggy listed is bugged, since past 18khz it seems to go into a lower tone… I’m curious to see just how high I can go though
July 10th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Hey Sly,
A drop in the tone on the 18khz signal is probably due to the capabilities of your speakers. I observed the same thing with cheap speakers myself.
July 10th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
My friend and I tried this on mymadcow.com; we could both hear all of these but on the other website I was the only one who could hear 19 khz… My friend’s mom couldn’t hear any of them, and my dad could hear up to 16 khz. Very coo’…
July 13th, 2006 at 2:02 am
I am 25 and heard up through 17 clearly. The 18 sounded like a faint whining, but it wasn’t as loud as the other three, although it really hurt my ears. I’m glad my students are too young to use cellphones at school.
July 13th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
I could only hear the mosiquito and the first two. But the other two made my ears turn red! :)
July 14th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Well I had a range of ages here and we all pretty well fit the curve. It was from ouch turn it down to me I can just hear the ring tone. I read the warning about the sound levels to late and 20 minutes later and my ears still hurt…Oh yes I am 48 the 19, 21.
July 15th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Umm i’m 12 and i could hear the first two, but not all the rest of them. I dont think this will be very popular cause i mean, not EVERY kid will have the same result i got and not EVERY adult will get the same result as another, and i mean, if i had my cell phone at school and someone texted me, i would not be able to hear that because of like the teacher talking or my class mates talking, or just period cause it would be in my back pack and its not loud enough. I dunno…maybe i’m wrong. ;-|
July 15th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
I can hear them all and I am 39…The last one was quite faint, however. I’m loving it…
July 15th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
I could not hear the 18k tone but could hear the others at 34. I used a pair of headphones that should have a frequency response that high. I can easily hear CRT (television/monitor) whine. And I could easily hear the mosquito tone. I agree that it is grating.
My biggest surprise from all of this is that cell phone ringers can even produce tones this high. I would not expect the hardware makers to bother with speakers that go to 17k.
July 16th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
I’m 15 and I can hear all the sounds without any difficulty
July 16th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
i heard all of them neah and i’m 20.
July 17th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I am 27 and could hear them all… but the 18KHz sound could not be produced by my laptop speakers; I had to break out the earbuds to hear it. I am the youngest person at my office and no one else here was able to hear the ringtone.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:36 am
As with so many other responders, I can easily hear all but the 18K tone. Note: I said easily. I think the problem is likely one mentioned by another responder: the speakers, but, hey, when I want music, I’ve got the hi-fi. By the way, I’m 62. I never listen to rock.
July 19th, 2006 at 1:15 am
Guess I’m just another data-point, but I’m 59 and I know I have hearing loss acquired in the USAF after 8 years service near flight lines (three years with my barracks next to the staging pad). The loss showed on my out-processing physical. _BUT_ I hear all the samples reasonably well EXCEPT the ring tone, which is barely audible in my right ear. Strange. Mkes me think there is something odd about the ring tone.
July 19th, 2006 at 4:18 am
Eh? Could not hear a thing!But I can hear a real mosquito!
July 19th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
I’m 59 & I heard them all.
July 19th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
am 22, could hear each one, but a little trouble on the last. definately heard it though. now to stop my ears from ringing….
July 19th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Couldn’t hear any of them, darn it, and neither could the other mid-40’s person I work with. Too many rock concerts in our youths, i guess. But we can both hear our daughters THINKING ABOUT MISBEHAVING from the opposite end of the house…so I guess that’s worth something!
But my two 30-something co-workers could hear the mosquito and the 1500. My 23-year-old co-worker could hear mosquito, 15 & 16.
July 19th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
I heard the mosquito and all 4 tones and Ill be 54 in Dec. I take event photos and music videos and am often in from of PA’s etc.
When it hurts I know its really loud and will be distorting the audio in , so I reposition. Loud is fine but once its annoying or painful to the individual you know you are doing permanent damage if you continue without ear protection.
July 19th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
I’m 32 and I couldn’y hear any of the tones … a friend of mine (30 yrs old) sais she heard all but the last two *weird*
July 20th, 2006 at 6:49 am
That was intresting. I heard all of them but the skeeter then I went to the rigntone site mentioned above in the post. and could’nt hear nothing above 13k. Strange, but thats what made it really intresting to me.Either the frequincies are off on this sites samples or the other sites was.
Still I think that the hearing aid business is gonna boom before long. All these young people riding in cars with 500 watt amps viberating everything within 100 feet.
Oh, I’m 46.
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:18 am
[...] ã¦ãªã‚ã‘ã§ã€ã“ã¡ã‚‰ãŒãã®ãƒ¢ã‚¹ã‚ート音ã®ã‚µã‚¤ãƒˆã€‚http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/ [...]
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:27 pm
i can hear all ,but i can barly hear the17 one
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:27 pm
age 13
July 26th, 2006 at 2:02 am
I’m 17 and I can’t hear anything above 14 hz.
I feel embarrassed about it, but I think it’s in my genetics.
July 26th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
I am 28 and I could hear all of them, I also can hear TV on standby.
July 27th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Dont worry you old lot!
Im just a young ‘un at 19 and I cant hear the 18Khz sound and the 17khz is quite quiet.
Death metal bled my ears! doh!
July 27th, 2006 at 8:08 am
oh … and whatever happened to putting your phone in your pocket on vibrate? :P
July 30th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Just FYI for the people who mention hearing constant high pitched whines - that sounds like tinnitus, which actually isn’t a hearing issue. Tinnitus is neurological - there is no sound to be heard and it’s not coming through your ears. Conceptually/analogously, you can think of it as in internal feedback issue, though it doesn’t even originate in the brain’s aural “circuitry.”
Otherwise, this has been interesting. I’m 42 and always had “good hearing” in the ordinary sense of the term. I hear things others don’t or before they notice them - including my brother’s kids - and have excellent (NOT perfect) pitch. Whether it’s my computer speakers or no, though, I can hear the NYT mosquito ring only slightly, and none of the sine waves at all. Will have try it out on better equipment but even still, I suspect I just can’t hear them. Off to play with that tone generator…:)
July 30th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
this ringtone is great but i cant find a website where u can get it without having to sign up for something or getting spammed. anyone know where i can find it without having to do the above? o yeah im 13. ^_^
July 31st, 2006 at 2:09 pm
I’m 28 and could hear them all, so I went and downloaded the same tone generator. Figured out I could hear up to 20khz. Now my head hurts and my eyes are watering tho. Good psychological warfare for the office…. :)
August 1st, 2006 at 5:51 am
I am 17 and i can hear alll of them ,but my freind(same age as me) he cant hear the 17khz,HE use to hear to loud music (skazi,SUY,&….) and we think that is the reason he can’t hear!!!
August 1st, 2006 at 10:40 am
i am 15 and i can here all of them and anyone can hear all of them if the sound is turned all the way up on your comp
August 1st, 2006 at 10:44 am
I am turning 13 and can hear all of them clearly my father in 40’s can barely hear the mosquito
August 2nd, 2006 at 3:49 am
Im 11 in a few days. Can hear every one except the last. >.>
August 2nd, 2006 at 3:56 am
Oh and also I asked my grandpa to listen and he could not even hear the mosquito. Will test my mum.
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:25 pm
Seems like the mosquito tone really isn’t 17 khz, or that its interspersed with other (lower) frequencies which render it audible to me. I say this because on the pure sine wave tests, I can barely hear the 16 khz sound, and everything above that is inaudible (yet still painful!). I’m 41, and have blasted my ears with high volume rock, guitar amps, etc., for much of my life. I don’t miss the annoying high frequency sounds though–an unintended but pleasant consequence of all the years of hearing abuse!
August 4th, 2006 at 2:29 am
Woot!! Yeak i like heard them all and im 17!!!
lolololololol!!!
I love this kid at my school Mictchell Dye!!!!!
(He can’t hear it!) :(
August 4th, 2006 at 3:29 am
Hmmz i heard them all very loud. When i generated my own with a program i could hear up to 20khz, maximum the program could generate, but just. Btw im 15.
August 5th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
im 12 and i heard it just fine all my friends say it burns or makes their ears bleed etc.
i personally think it sounds REALLY cool. any way i always hear really high pitches and really low pitches. and to any of you who tyhink im japanese im not. im ganna try to piss off my teachers on monday!!! ^_^
August 5th, 2006 at 7:34 pm
I’m 22 and can hear all the tones from the other side of the room, I wonder if the volume on the speakers makes a difference to those who can’t hear all of them, mines set to a comfortable listening volume, quite low, small speakers built into the monitor
August 5th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
i heard them all really clearly, my mom doest though :( im 12 well there still cool. i wonder if they can make them any higher???? if so i wanna listen to them!!!!
later…
August 8th, 2006 at 1:07 am
Yah i heard them. And you could make them higher with Audition/Cool edit’s tone generator, but your speaker system isn’t made to reproduce those freq so no….
August 8th, 2006 at 5:11 am
i can hear all of them but my dog went crazy when it heard them lol
August 10th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
im a 15 year old male and can hear it
August 11th, 2006 at 7:32 am
[...] i can hear it, can you? [...]
August 11th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
im 80 years old and i can hear it my grandson play it for me
August 11th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
I just turned 14 years old, and i can only hear the first 2
August 12th, 2006 at 9:28 am
I am 20 and heard te mosquito one very well, it actually hurt my ears…
August 12th, 2006 at 9:30 am
..In fact I heard all of them
August 14th, 2006 at 8:25 am
i could hear all three im 15……they rok…i can fool any 1 now…….in skool at home……
August 15th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
I could hear them all and so could some of the older guys at my work, it was fun to irritate the younger guys (22-25) they kept complaining. I’m 21
Brian
August 17th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
How accurate are the speakers on a computer to the frequencies they are supposed to be creating? In other words, are the computers accurately making noise at the frequencies the links say?
BTW… 20 years old and heard all of them.
August 18th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
That was phenomenal! I’m 20 years old and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Is it weird that I hear frequencies like this often? I hear them and I can’t quite figure where they’re coming from. lol =/ I may be mistaken but is that frequency equal to a B-flat in the 9th octave or is it higher?
August 19th, 2006 at 7:43 am
I’m 13~but the last one is not so clear
August 19th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
[...] Damn, I wonder if I can hear it. This blog post has the tone in addition to some sine wave tones he generated. I couldn’t hear the last couple until I plugged in decent headphones that could produce the sound. Even then the 18kHz is hard to hear for me, but at least I can hear it. Can you hear all of them? If not, a) You’re doing deaf (it’s ok, it’s natural); b) You need new headphones; or c) All of the above. [...]
August 20th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Heya all ! Damnit,my mom (36 years old) heard all of them.I am a little big dissapointed, and i think there’s something wrong ;s.
Hell…
August 20th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
I’m 18, i can hear them all.
August 23rd, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Can hear them all and am 18. Friend is 19 and can only hear the ring tone lol. Other friend is 20 and can hear all but the 18k. Dad is 41 and can hear the ringtone and the 15k only. Mum is 51 and cant hear any of them lol. Just for the record 17k Hz is C10 which is 2 octaves higher than the highest note on the piano.
August 23rd, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I can hear all of them and im only 12 but im going to test it on my friend.
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Strange…Im 34 and I hear all of them. The 16000 and 15102 hurt but the others don’t bother me, but I can hear them. I never did like concerts cuz there too loud!
August 25th, 2006 at 4:36 am
I can hear all of them :)
August 25th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
I’m 21 and I can only hear Mosquito and 15102!!
August 26th, 2006 at 3:09 am
Wow! I’m 12 i cant hear the last one…
August 27th, 2006 at 7:36 am
they suck man, they gave me a mega headache
August 27th, 2006 at 8:37 am
WOW
August 28th, 2006 at 12:18 am
im 14 (female) and i can only hear the first two! might have something to do with bad quality speakers though.
August 29th, 2006 at 8:49 am
I am 34 and I can hear them but then I never got my wisdom teeth either. I guess I am just young at heart.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
I could hear them all loud and clear and I’m 29 years old.
August 30th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Does anyone know the actual frequency of the commercial Mosquito, as the ringtone version freq changes from site to site. Ranging from 15 kHz to just above 17kHz. I’m looking to build a cheaper copy for some customers they dont wanna pay £500 a pop!!!
August 31st, 2006 at 7:40 am
Woop woop.. I can hear them all.. I am great.. ha! altho the last one hurts.. I’m 17.. My fella’s 22 n he couldn’ hear the mosquito one.. tut.. aincient I tell you! My cat wasn’t too keen on them either.. she jumped off my knee n ran away :(
August 31st, 2006 at 8:58 pm
I like rock dudes i hear dem all! you suck i rock.
Da end
September 1st, 2006 at 10:19 am
[...] On June 12th I wrote a piece called “The Mosquito Ringtone: This Adult Can Hear It!“. It’s about a 17Khz ring tone that adults can’t hear, or have difficulty hearing, and it’s now popular with school kids who want to discreetly text in class. I also included samples of 15Khz, 16Khz, and 18Khz tones so you could compare. [...]
September 1st, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Folks, if you’re listening to these tones through earbuds (and you spent less than a $1000.00 on them), they don’t reproduce sounds over 16khz. Buy a decent ($50.00) set of over the ear head phones (sennheiser is a good choice) and you’ll probably hear this stuff, I must say I have to turn it up much louder than I would have in the past. FWIW, I’m 42 and I have tinitus. Unless those in their mid 20’s have been listening to CD’s with teh volume on 10 for the last 10 or 15 years, you probably can hear this stuff with the right speakers/headphones.
September 1st, 2006 at 2:26 pm
my mom(41) can hear all of theese mosquito sound:(:(:(:(
September 1st, 2006 at 9:00 pm
i’m only 15 and i cant hear past 1600.
wtf mate?
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:09 am
Justin, yes it has completely to do with your hearing ability. The fine hairs of your inner ear not only diminish with age, but also with hearing damage from listening to loud noise such as at a concert or being arround loud equipment constantly. The reason that you cannot hear it is likely because your hair inside the inner ear is damaged from the loud music. I listen to loud music in my car and can hear up to 19 KHz. I am 19 and my friend that is the same age as me but doesnt listen to loud music can hear 20 KHz. Baicaly dont fool yourself, loud music is damaging your hearing.
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:58 pm
I am 44 and I can hear mosquito quite clearly (’ve heard that it is men who lose the higher tones from their hearing more readily with age; is this true ?); I can hear the next two, but the 169xxx and 17xxx hz were very faint. Does anyone else feel nauseated after listening to mosquito ? I don’t listen to it with my volume near the limit, but I the sound gets to me, and it does, surreptiously, in a classroom too, where I tend to think there is some annoying high pitch from electronic equipment, but then figure out it’s mosquito from the nausea. I’m not prone to it, e.g. never get seasick, etc. Anyone ?
PS Cats hate these sounds—
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:41 pm
Lol kids rulz man I kep asking my mom and she still can’t hear and said i was annoying dots =.=”
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:52 pm
I hear noughting
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:53 pm
I 33 years old I hear noughting
September 4th, 2006 at 3:09 am
When you read the original article it’s quite interesting on the method used for getting holding of this irritating tone; btw I’m 33 and I can hear all of them albeit the highest is a push, especially when you combine it with this from The Register:- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/04/mobile_digital_music_so_what/
September 4th, 2006 at 3:17 am
I can hear all but the 17959KHZ, I have a headach now so I dont know how teens can stand it… well I am 19 and I cant stand it, I’d rather use vibrate on my phone at college than put up with this
September 4th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
I’m 14 years old and i can hear all of the tones easily. None of them hurt my hearing. It’s good to be a kid :)
September 4th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
Well, I’m 25 and I can hear all the way up to 19k (a little bit higher actually, but it makes me want to shoot myself in the head. Some of the kids I teach have this ringer and they aren’t usually too happy when it rings.
September 6th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
I’m 29 and can hear all the tones, my husband is 28 and he always askes me to repeat myself and I told him that I was going to get him a hearing aid if I had to repeat myself one more time but since he can hear all the tones I guess it was just selective hearing!
September 7th, 2006 at 12:17 am
I’ll be 20 in three months, and being a person who runs sound for bands and stuff(which means loads of loud music and screeching feedback) for over a year now, I kinda thought my hearing was going out. I heard every one of those wav samples, though. The tones sounded very thin, but very intense & extremely annoying. It sounds just like feedback to me, and i felt nauseated with a headache. I know someone in his early 70’s who’s a friend of the family, and I laugh at him because he can’t hear the pikepass beep on the freeway tolls.
September 8th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
i did this to my parents and it made them feel old
September 9th, 2006 at 9:41 am
hey, im 17 and i was lookin for some fun in my borin classes, so i been lookin into this thing. B4, i could hear all but the last one until i put my headset on, then i herd the 18Khz :P. i felt like a dumb*** when i couldnt hear the 18Khz so i had to see if it was the speakers
September 9th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
im 11 and it is soooooooooo loud hurt like a monkey stabing you with a screw driver in the butt!
September 10th, 2006 at 5:19 am
Hi im 12 and i can so totally hear everything its like so cool but it does make my ear hurt a little but its still amazing!
September 10th, 2006 at 5:41 am
HI, I’m 15 and I can hear all of them. I listened to them all numerous times on full volume and it didn’t affect me (no nausea, headache etc.). They’re pretty annoying.
September 12th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
I coul hear all of them clearly. I am 49 years old. I don’t know how?
September 13th, 2006 at 2:26 am
I’m only 23 years old and I hear absolutely NOTHING on any of the sounds. I thought my friends were messing with me but everyone at the office is able to hear the mosquito sound and most of the sine files. Now, I’m kicking myself for all those raves in my early years.
Peace,
Mike
September 13th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
[...] The Mosquito Ring Tone: This Adult Can Hear It! - saunderslog.com - With students back in school, many are Instant Messaging amongst themselves, some in class. To do this without attracting the attention of the teacher, some are using a Ring Tone that is inaudible to adults. Well, to some adults anyway. [...]
September 14th, 2006 at 2:27 am
i’m 12 and i can hear them SOOO LOUD i got a headach after listening just once
September 14th, 2006 at 2:32 am
~it was so funny when my phone rang in class, i had 2 teachers and the younger one started screaming at me and the older one looked at her like she was insane-lol
September 15th, 2006 at 9:35 am
im 9 and i hear all of them loud and clear they hert like screwdrivers plunched up my ears but its still cool
September 15th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Man I caN’t hEaR aNy moRe im taKeINg YoU to CoUrT
September 16th, 2006 at 5:09 am
I’m 14 and I can hear them all extremely clearly. my mum can hear them all except the 18hz, shes 39. my grandma whos 63 couldnt hear them at all. my dad whos 40 could’nt hear any of them at all either but he could hear the mosquito if he was close enough. I’ll download an 18hz sound and use it on my phone.
September 17th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
I am 32 and I can hear all of them. I could barely hear the last one.
September 20th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Hey alec i hope you manage to read this under all the other posts.
I opened the sample file in audacity, http://audacity.sourceforge.net .Using the plot spectrum dialog i saw that the sound is a pretty clean 15011 Hz sine wave, not the alleged 17kHz. However, the article at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2222217,00.html says there is a 15kHz and a 17kHz version.
That would make the difference for me because my hearing drops off at about 16kHz. I’m 20 btw.
mp3 compression tends to remove noise (white noise and pink noise and the like) rather than put it in. most mp3 artefacts are holes in the noise that is meant to be in the sound. (correct me if i’m wrong)
the tv my family got 2 years ago emits loud sounds above 14 kHz both when on and when off. When I play 14983Hz on NCH tone generator i feel like i’m watching tv. Another noise from the ignorably high pitched world is car brakes. they squeak within the range of 12kHz - 15kHz for some reason.
last of all, the plus and minus button in nch tone generator go up and down at the same rate as the keys on a piano (incl. black keys). if u hav a piano or music keyboard handy u can test that. 440 Hz is an A.
September 20th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
I couldn’t hear the 16kHz one but I could hear all the others, even the 18kHz. Is there something wrong with me?
September 20th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
FWIW I’m 45 and can’t hear any of these tones, not even a little bit.
I downloaded the NCH tone generator and discovered I can’t hear anything over 12 khz, which according to the handy chart makes me 50-59 years old.
I blame the sound system at clubs like The Channel and Spit in Boston in the late 70’s, and bands like the Sex Pistols and the NY Dolls. Wouldn’t trade any of that to get my high-frequency hearing back.
September 21st, 2006 at 11:27 am
it scared me i pooped in my pants and teeteed in my ears and the doctor had to suck out all the pee i cant hear eny more
September 23rd, 2006 at 4:50 pm
it hurts my hears but i can hear all of them but my family cant hahahahahaha
September 23rd, 2006 at 4:51 pm
all of u r bitches i cant hear none
September 23rd, 2006 at 4:52 pm
i can hear all but my family cant hahahahahahah it hurts my ears
September 26th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
I’m 23 and i can hear them all except the last one. My dad can’t hear any. But he is nearly 60 :)
September 27th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Hi Ms.Saunders,
I am doing an experiment on the effects of sound frequencies on age. Two of my family members should not be able to hear the ring tone but the fact that it is not pure may explain why a couple adults can hear it including you. Could you write back with more information on how these frequencies behave and the effects they have.
Your truly,
$!DANIELLE!$
September 27th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Yea, i can hear em all, im 20, my buddie at 21 can hear em all except the last one…
interesting…but i will never use one of these anoying tones…
September 27th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
I am 45 & I can hear all of them although the last one is a ltttle faint. It’s odd as when I was a kid, none of my family could ever hear the high pitched noise from the TV, and my younger brother used to think I was making it up until one day he tried to creep up on me but I heard him doing it by ‘echo sound’.
In the UK, there was even a brief attempt during the 1970s to use ultra sonics for shop security alarms where they actually left the emitters on during the day. When my mum mentioned to an assistant in a department store that they hurt my ears, he laughed and said that there was a guy that worked in the basement who had the same problem, and refused to go up to that floor.
It seems odd how selective hearing is even within families.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
I can hear them all fine.
My parents can’t hear them.
They thought I was making it all up when my 12 year old sister came downstairs for a drink or something and kept asking “What is that noise?”
My parents flipped their shit and said I am tricking them.
September 28th, 2006 at 12:24 am
I’m 17 and I couldn’t hear any of them, maybe it’s time to get my ears checked out. Bit depressing, though I could hear a second or two of the ringtone.
September 28th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
One thing that someone mentioned above was the quality of your equipment_
If you have off the shelf speakers that probably came with 95% of the PCs on the market over the past 10 years - then yeah - who knows what yore hearing_
Having quality equipment is a more accurate test for starters - but also just because you can or cannot hear the audio listed on this page doesn’t neccesarily mean you’re deaf_ Before anyone decides to get a hearing aid - contact a doctor or hearing specialist and have your hearing checked out by experts in a controlled environment_
Other things contributing to being able to hear these frequencies from your computer could also be random background noise - the size of the room you are sitting in - the materials surrounding you [as to whether they absorb or deflect sound or cancel it out]_
So unless you are sitting in doctor’s office or sound booth at a recording studio - don’t think your ears are bad just yet_
I’m 31 - I heard all 4 posted frequencies and also the mosquito thing_ I had a Tv going in another room loud enough to hear thru a closed door - the outside unit of an air conditioner going - the traffic drriving by out on the busy main road and various people talking_
Also something to think about - a dog whistle is usually in the range of 16-22 kHz_
September 28th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
I’m 46, and I can hear all of them just fine.
September 30th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Hey, I am 22 and I heard all of them fine.
I’ve always thought I was crazy, being able to hear the “static hum” from electronic screens and apparatus’.
My greatest problem right now is that after having listened to the four examples, being in the same room as a TV that is turned on it giving me a major headache - all those pitches!!
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:31 pm
I just turned 25 and have to wear earplugs at rock concerts and NYC subway due to overload in my right ear (sounds like a shorted earphone when exposed to loud noise). I have been protecting my ears over the last 15 years with these earplugs. I can hear the first three pretty well. For the last two, I have to put my ear up to my speaker to hear it.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:32 pm
typo in my post — I just turned 35, not 25! sorry!
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:59 pm
dude this is awesome my mom couldn’t hear it at all,but my dad could a little GET THIS NOW.
October 5th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
I’m fifteen, and could hear all pitches sans the last one.
October 7th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Im 18 and heard all of them even in the backroom of my house. They are SO ANNOYING! I played it for my mom and shes 50, she heard all except 17 and up. She also suffers from migraines so maybe some of the previous posters have something there… If i was still in H.S id so be getting in trouble playing these to get people mad
October 9th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
I’m 44 and couldn’t hear any of them. On the plus side, with my glasses on I have nearly 20-10 vision.
October 9th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
my science teacher showed me mozzy tones today in class- my teacher couldn’t hear them but all the kids in class thought it was annoying. i just listened to the 17 with VERY low volume and i could hear it. my ears hurt so bad now! if you were wondering i am 12. not bad ey? i’d like to try my luck at 20 but, mabey tomarrow- my ears just can’t take it right now. i wish i had a cell phone. if i did mozzy tones would be my ringtone.
~hayley out!
October 10th, 2006 at 9:12 am
I’m 45. result in bellow. very strange.uuuu.
* Mosquito —————————easy to hear
* 15102 Hz pure sine wave———easy to hear
* 16000 Hz pure sine wave———I can’t
* 16961 Hz pure sine wave———I can’t
* 17959 Hz pure sine wave———I can hear but not easy
October 11th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Hello, I`M 28 AND I HAVE SUFFERED AN EAR PAIN SINCE SOMEONE PLAYED THE MOSQUITO TONE, I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT THE MOSQUITO TONE GIVES BAD CONSEQUENCES AND I AM SUFFERING FROM AN EAR PROBLEM. THANKS FOR READING ME.
October 11th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE TO ANNOY OTHERS WITH THAT SOUND? I DON`T GET IT. MY TEACHER GOT MAD ABOUT ME WHEN I PLAYED IT AND TOOK 20 POINTS OFF OF MY GRADES
October 13th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
I downloaded the mosquito one and put it on my phone(the others wouldn’t play for some reason)
i can hear every one but the 17959 Hz which is really annoying because it is just outside my hearing range(i produces noise but not to the point to where i can really hear it)
I played the mosqito one for my mom and she couldn’t hear it but she got mad cause she though i was pullin a prank but my sister(14) could hear it fine
at 15 i think this is an intersting site and that this page is truely interseting.
October 15th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
[...] By the time most people reach the age of 18, they can’t hear sounds above 16kHz. By the time they’re 30 they can’t hear above 14kHz. I found a handy chart and a link to a free tone generator on Alec Saunder’s blog. He’s another adult who can hear the mosquito tone. I downloaded the tone generator from NCH software and gave myself a little hearing test. I can hear tones up to 20kHz. I ran Steve through the test (he’s 37) and he could only hear up to 15 kHz, which is actually pretty good for our age group. [...]
October 15th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
I’m 18 and i sat here listening with my brothers, ages 7 and 10. all 3 of us could clearly hear all of the tones.
my mother on the other hand, who is 37 suddenly had a headache after li played a tone but she could not hear it. they got very annoying to me though.
October 18th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
I’m 13, and I could hear them all. The mosquito ringtone what really loud to me, but the 18k one was pretty quiet. I thought that was pretty cool.
October 18th, 2006 at 9:36 pm
Im 15 and i can hear all the tones…i had trouble so i found out if u point ur ear towards the speaker u can hear it better…..the last 1 took awhile but i turned my speakers full blast and then i heard it perfect!!!
October 21st, 2006 at 4:10 am
can we get the tones in mid file format ? : (
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:12 am
Hi i can hear the mosquito but i had an strange sound in my ears it hurts
im 36
October 25th, 2006 at 12:52 am
25 y/o male. I can hear them all but they give me a headache and give me nausea. I’ve listened to them twice on two seperate occasions and it happened both times. The last time I listened with my 9 year old cousin and he could hear it from quite a long distance whereas I could only hear closer to the computer. Maybe the symptoms have to do with the volume being fairly loud but the perceived volume seeming really low.
October 25th, 2006 at 9:01 am
i am 13 yrs old and can hear them all perfectly, but my friend who is the same age as me cant hear the mosquito one (someone was testing it at school) and most people could hear it) and by younger brother could hear them all but not the 17959 Hz pure sine wave one. …..
October 28th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
I’m 40, could hear all of them and they didn’t hurt. This surprised me as I worked with a rock band for many years and figured I wouldn’t be able to hear much.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
I’m 45. When I retired from the military six yeras ago I was told I had some high frequency hearing loss. Yet, I heard all the ringtones including the “mosquito”, even with the volume turned down. Guess I’m either young at heart or this is an awesome urban legend designed to fake out the kiddies in school.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
I’m 45. When I retired from the military six years ago I was told I had some high frequency hearing loss. Yet, I heard all the ringtones including the “mosquito”, even with the volume turned down. Guess I’m either young at heart or this is an awesome urban legend designed to fake out the kiddies in school.
October 29th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I remember my mom calling me into the kitchen one day so she could play the Mosquito tone for me. She and my dad couldn’t hear it, but both of my brothers and I could hear it perfectly. I can hear all of them, though I have to admit they do get progressively harder to hear. The Mosquito one sounds low now that I’ve heard the other ones. It’s interesting, I thought the Mosquito was too high at first, but now that I’ve heard the others it doesn’t bug me as much.
October 29th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I just realized I didn’t give my age. 16, by the way. And I apologize for the double post.
October 30th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
I’m 17 and I can hear all of them, but most of my friends cannot.
October 30th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
this is insane guys me and my sister cold here it but both of my parents couln’t this is sssssoooooo kkkkooooooolll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 1st, 2006 at 5:49 pm
I’m 17 and I could hear all of them, but the 18 hZ was almost inaudible… almost.
I have an awful headache now from repeating them haha.
November 1st, 2006 at 11:56 pm
I heard everything. My ears are really sore! >.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:40 am
Im 16 and could hear all of them. I thought I couldn’t hear the 18hZ one, so I played it several times….after about 5 times of playing it I could finally hear it and my head is hurting very bad….>.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:48 am
very loud, my dad cant hear it though :)
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:41 pm
We (my sister and I) could hear up to 20KHz. She’s 12 and I’m 15. My 46- and 44-year old parents couldn’t hear the ringtones. The former heard up to 13KHz, the latter 15KHz. We could hear up to 19 downstairs, but my parents could hear up to 12 KHz downstairs.
November 5th, 2006 at 3:22 am
Ha! awsome… how do i get this on my phone?
November 5th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Depends on your phone Eddie. For a lot of phones you can just download the ringtone if you have a data cable. I do it all the time with my Nokia, RIM, and Microsoft Smartphone phones.
November 7th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
I tried out the NCH tone generator. I could hear everything up to 20,000Hz. Yay for being average? The mosquito tone is REALLY loud to me. However, my dad couldn’t hear it. He claims to be able to hear the sound a TV emits when it’s on though, which is a bit odd (and the mosquito is like that times 1000).
November 9th, 2006 at 1:33 am
I’m .., so what? I could hear them all! :)
November 10th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
I can definately hear them and I am 40 and a teacher. I can hear the phones in class if there is not a lot of noise from the AC, student movement, talking etc. I am a science teacher, so I am going to develop a lab activity for this. Other teachers in my school cannot hear these tones.
I will say the phone speaker and computer speaker makes a huge difference in whether I can hear the sounds. We tested the sounds on several phones and computers and I could hear all with good speakers, students could hear all on any quality speaker.
Some tones are definately more annoying than others.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I COULD HEAR EVERY ON MY MOM COULD NOT AND NEATHER COULD MY DADDY THERE IN THERE 30S BUT THEY DID SAY THAT THERE EARS WERE RINGING AFTER IT MADE ME FILL LIKE MY EARS WOULD BLEED IT SOUNDED TERRIBLE WELL I NOW HAVE THE RING TONE AND NONE OF MY TEACHERS COULD HEAR IT SCORE!*!*!*!!* THINKS FOR THE PREVIEW
November 10th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
PS IM 15
November 10th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Well im 14 years old and I can hear all the tones just fine and all my life I have kept my music loud whether in my ear buds or stereo speakers Just thought I share that what I just dont understand is why we are buying these tones when vibrate works just as good heck thats what I use in class and I can feel when I have a txt or call coming in well anyways keep up the good work! (:
Its no suprise that a 9 year old has a phone my neighbor’s son’s have phones and one is like around 9 years old and his brother is like 5 no joke maybe it because there dad works for Cingular
November 12th, 2006 at 6:55 am
I’m 19, could hear all except the last one. My head feels weird now though…
November 13th, 2006 at 12:38 am
I could hear the 16Hz faintly on my crappy laptop speakers, and the 15 and the mosquito one were quite loud and irritating. I’m about to turn 30. The 18Hz one sure agitates my cats though. I played it and one cat, which was sound asleep, freaked out. The other one came running from the other room and paces whenever I play it.
November 13th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
I’m a 46 year old teacher and I can’t hear any of them - I think working with crowds of children on a daily basis (playground and corridor decibels) pretty well wipes out your hearing..
November 14th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
I am 45. I can hear all but the 16000. May be my laptop speaker limitations at that certain freq.
November 15th, 2006