Ringtones Adults Can't Hear

Posted on June 12, 2006

Students are now using a cellphone ringtone that adults can't hear. As humans age, they lose the ability to hear high frequency sounds. Students who want to hide their cellphone use in a classroom decided to use a ringtone that only they can hear. So, where did this weird ringtone come from, anyway?

It was originally developed as an annoying high-pitched sound to play outside retail stores to disperse groups of teens. The theory was that the sound would drive away the teens, but wouldn't bother the adult shoppers that the stores wanted to attract.

Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class � and many teachers can't even hear the ring. Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing.
As people age, many develop what's known as aging ear � a loss of the ability to hear higher-frequency sounds. The ring tone is a spin-off of technology that was originally meant to repel teenagers � not help them. A Welsh security company developed the tone to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected. The company called their product the "Mosquito."
Donna Lewis, a teacher in Manhattan, says her colleague played the ring for a classroom of first-graders � and all of them could hear it, while the adults couldn't hear anything.

The Mosquito Ringtone is becoming quite popular. Click here to see if you can hear the ringtone. If you can't (and it's a horrifying high-pitched screech to me), then it's either time to see the audiologist or simply breathe a sigh of relief -- because it's absolutely ghastly to listen to.