posted
My 27 year old brother can hear it too... I guess it really won't work for a ring tone for teens only. I'm really curious about the upper limit. Like I said, so far someone as old as 27 has heard it easily.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I can easily hear it, and even higher frequencies. I'm rather surprised that the "high frequency" that adults are s'poseta be unable to hear is actually that low. But then I've never shoved Walkman/iPod/etc speakers into my ears. And have always worn earplugs to loud concerts/movies/etc, and while working around loud/shrill/ringing noises.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I read about this somewhere else (on Usenet, maybe alt.callahans) and the upper limit seemed to be somewhere in the mid-thirties, though people in their late thirties often could only hear it faintly. There were exceptions, some in their forties reported hearing it fine.
I'm 49, and I can't hear it at all. Doesn't sound like I'm missing much.
Posts: 241 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm 30 too and hear it just fine. It's almost the same as that high pitched whine that at TV makes when it's turned on.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I hear it, although it's kind of soft. It's freaking annoying and gave me a headache. I agree, it sounds rather like the tv turning on. I'm 23.5.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Almost 33. It's soft, but yes, I can hear it. I can imagine me in class: "Hey! What's that noise? Do you hear that? How about you? Where's it coming from? Do you think the heater's not working? Maybe one of the computers is broken." (poke, poke) "Do you think something's about to explode? Let me call the main office."
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm 17, have played in a very loud band for 1 year of my life, and I can hear it fine. This seems familiar. Didn't we already have a thread like this, in which Bob said almost exactly the same thing?
Posts: 1594 | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm 21 and hear it just fine. It sounds to me almost like the high pitched sound some televisions can make when they get older (like mine is starting to). It's not a pleasant sound by any means.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm 21, and I can hear it, but it wouldn't work as a ringtone. I would just assume my ears were falling off.
Posts: 368 | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Telperion the Silver: I'm 30 too and hear it just fine. It's almost the same as that high pitched whine that at TV makes when it's turned on.
quote:Originally posted by Will B: blacwolve, maybe your speakers aren't up to it?
You know, I've been wondering how many "old" people who can't hear this tone have no problem with hearing at all, just crappy speakers and/or sound cards on their laptops. Posts: 241 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by SteveRogers: Almost everyone at my school has it as a ring tone. And it's so incredibly annoying.
And how do the teachers react? Can they hear it? Do they know it's a ring tone if they can? Doesn't it kind of defeat the point if they can hear it and know what it is?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
None of them seem to hear it. Most of the students can and react angrily. But the teachers don't do anything.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't see why this ringtone is preferable to having your phone on vibrate. Why does anybody use it? I've never actually heard anybody have it on a cell phone out here, although I've seen links to it on the Internet a lot.
(Also, my mom can hear it slightly, but my dad can't. Last summer when I was back at the family home I played it from the computer while everybody in the room, my brother and sisters all immediately started looking around for the source of the sound, and my parents didn't know why they were so agitated all of a sudden. When my mom was actively listening for it, she was able to hear it a little though.)
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well, marketing it as a ring tone that teachers can't hear appears to be complete B.S. since it seems that people well into their 30s can hear it, and there are plenty of teachers younger than that.
And I want to emphasize that whether or not you can hear it isn't supposed to be a matter of how badly you've abused your eardrums over the years. Supposedly we lose the ability to hear such high frequencies as we age, regardless.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm 16 and I hear it very faintly but my little sisters heard it loudly. My parents don't hear it at all.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
29 - I can hear it barely. I don't think I'd be aware of it as an external sound, if I heard it. I think it might register as a ringing of the ears.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Anybody know what the hearing range for cats is? I rather expected my cat to hear it even if I couldn't, but she didn't even twitch an ear. I thought I heard a very faint whine, but I couldn't tell if it was my imagination or if it was really there. And yes, I too wondered if my computer just couldn't play it.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Mike: I'm 26. I hear it, and it's annoying. Aww man, now my ears are ringing.
Did you know the sound you hear when your ears are ringing is actually those cells dying, and after the ringing stops you'll never hear those frequencies again.
I heard it in some movie but have been unable to corroborate it with anything more concrete, kind of like that ‘rule of thumb’ thing from Boondock Saints; interesting, but dubious.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Mike: I'm 26. I hear it, and it's annoying. Aww man, now my ears are ringing.
Did you know the sound you hear when your ears are ringing is actually those cells dying, and after the ringing stops you'll never hear those frequencies again.
I heard it in some movie but have been unable to corroborate it with anything more concrete, kind of like that ‘rule of thumb’ thing from Boondock Saints; interesting, but dubious.
That would have been Children of Men, I believe. No idea if it's true.
I'm 28 and can barely hear it, although my ear now hurts from it.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Mike: I'm 26. I hear it, and it's annoying. Aww man, now my ears are ringing.
Did you know the sound you hear when your ears are ringing is actually those cells dying, and after the ringing stops you'll never hear those frequencies again.
I heard it in some movie but have been unable to corroborate it with anything more concrete, kind of like that ‘rule of thumb’ thing from Boondock Saints; interesting, but dubious.
Physiologically, this makes no sense. I suppose with an intense enough sound you could damage specific nerve cells, but I'd want to see some hard data on that.
It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
However, I do have a theory on why people stop responding to their spouse over years. I think the nerve cells that respond to the modal frequency of the spouse's voice become less and less sensitive until finally it's actually like selective deafness at those sound frequencies.
Posts: 300 | Registered: Dec 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'll be 44 in April. It actually hurt the corner of my jaw. But it's easily audible. It's hard to believe that anyone not hard of hearing would have a problem with it. I've heard much higher pitches.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Painfully audible. (I'm 32.) Several minutes later, it's still painful. You'd think I'd have learned from the last few times we discussed the Mosquito.
posted
I'm 22 and I can hear it if I face my speakers head-on. If I turn my head to either side, I can't hear it at all. Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Mike: I'm 26. I hear it, and it's annoying. Aww man, now my ears are ringing.
Did you know the sound you hear when your ears are ringing is actually those cells dying, and after the ringing stops you'll never hear those frequencies again.
I heard it in some movie but have been unable to corroborate it with anything more concrete, kind of like that ‘rule of thumb’ thing from Boondock Saints; interesting, but dubious.
It's true. My dad has been teaching beginning band for over 20 years and is now going deaf. He has a constant ringing in his ears (which the doctor explained was the cells dying) and can no longer hear high pitched frequencies. Sometimes he won't hear his phone ringing, and he can't hear "s" any more. A lot of words he just gets from context now. (I don't know that short term ringing means the same thing, though.)
Oh, and like TL I'm 29 and can feel it more than hear it.
Posts: 364 | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
So maybe age is just one of many factors after all. It seems that some people as young as their 20s can't hear it, and some people in their 40s can. One of my friends who's also a pre-service teacher like myself said that she tried it out at the school she was student-teaching at. Indeed, all of the students who tried could hear it, but only a few of the younger teachers could. I guess all that can be said is that the older you are the less likely you are to be able to hear it.
You know, if I was in the 7th grade I would make a kick-ass science fair project out of this...
*recently judged a 7th grade science fair*.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I can hear it probably more than anyone else I know. It is painfully discomforting. It will give me headaches.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
I was watching an episode of Monk the other day and there was this pesky whining that came on every once in a while. I asked if anyone else could hear it. My younger sibs nodded while my parents shook their heads. Annoying as it was, we were still happy that we could hear it and they couldn't. They were annoyed that they couldn't hear it. Posts: 1215 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I just played it on my laptop in a coffee shop full of youngsters and oldsters. Nobody seemed to notice. (I could hear it...actually it was a LOT louder on my laptop then when I listened to it on my desktop.)
Posts: 834 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
You'd think I'd have learned from the last few times we discussed the Mosquito. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
