Mosquito Ringtone
 

A ringtone that emulates a high pitched noise, usually only audible to people aged less than 20. Teens have been using it in order to receive calls in front of adults!

Thought you guys woudl be interested in this. One of the most interesting things i've heard all year...
Anyone have it or try it? I'm gonna do it :)

http://news.com.com/A+ring+tone+mean...3-6082685.html

I wonder if the Kroger stores in Flint use this technology. I can never go there for much longer than it takes to buy a few items because of the nauseatingly painful effects it has on me. Interestingly enough, none of my other friends who go there can hear it, and they are about the same age as me (20).
The tone seems to be the same or similar pitch too.

I'm 18 and the noise made me cringe and made my ears spaz out. Ouchies. Stupid high sounds. .__________________. The thing is, it was like it was loud as well, because my hearing sorta went "whump" back to normal after the sound stopped.

I clicked on the sound sample. Damn! Not only could I hear it, but it felt like a horrible pressure on my ears.

This only goes to show you how decietful kids are these days.

Would kids actually use this? It's pretty unpleasant and imagine having this go off in class a number of times a day and even from multiple cell phones. I think kids would get annoyed with this pretty quickly.

That is SO freaky! I was scared to click on the sound sample after the last few comments. It reminds me of a dog whistle now that I've heard it. I can't possibly picture people using this as a cellphone ringer, since if multiple people used it, they'd probably be confused.

This actually explains why I hear a high pitch from my computer sometimes :S I was scared that I was going deaf.

It started out as being something unpleasant. Look up the origin of it, it's a box design to 'move on' groups of kids hanging around causing trouble, just crafty kids used the idea to create adult/teacher-proof ringtones.

I heard about this on the radio. Please explain this stupid logic to me.

What exactly does an inaudible (to adults) ringtone accomplish? Are you somehow going to pick up the phone and then TALK to this person without a nearby adult hearing you either? What the heck is the point?

And what exactly does this accomplish over vibrate mode?

You can hear vibrations.
The high pitch tones are merely a way for people to avoid having to turn off their phones. There are a lot of obsessive-compulsive people who hate it if they don't know that they missed a call or text message.

In other words, it doesn't accomplish jack squat, except feed the teenage compulsion to defy the rules merely for the purpose of defying the rules.

Supposedly, this can hlp u 2 txt msg some1 wo any1 hearing u. Or something like that.

But seriously, I think this is pretty stupid, and it's more a media darling story than it is actually significant to real life. Blame the press and the internet.

Well I'm just happy that at 25 I can still hear it. Although I'm not suprised because I can always tell when a TV is on even if the volume is off [which is probably the same effect].

The noise is INCREDIBLY annoying. The long burst that was on the page would only serve to kill your hearing. It'd make more sense to just have a quick *beep beep* because with a sound like that students' classmates would start to get pissed.

Curiously, I can detect television screens as soon as I enter a house, yet I'm unable to hear this mosquito noise. Evidently, the two modulate on somewhat different frequencies.

But I'm 30 and expected to hear empty space.

I was able to hear it. The sound was clear, but wasn't too irritating. Even if teachers may be unable to hear the ringtone, taking a call during class is more disruptive. Some of my college classes still don't allow that.

If only I had a few of my friends over. They routinely blast thier ears with loud music. Especially when they're wearing MP3 players. I bet they wouldn't be able to hear this. Which brings me to my point. Alot of kids blast thier ears every day with the volume too high. How many people at those ages can actually use this?

It was straight. Facing my speakers, I could hear it very well, but if I turned my ears towards the speakers, or turned away from the speakers, it dulled out a little.

Hmmm.....

Haha, both of my roommates hate me for that. I can hear when they've left the TV on (they never remember to turn off the TV after playing the PS2 and it just leaves a blank screen) when I'm still a floor away from our room (which is halfway down the hall from the staircase, too).

I can hear the sound pretty well (much easier than some of the sounds on those darned hearing tests) and I don't think it's that irritating. Not nearly as bad as the whine of a TV or old monitor.

Heh, I remember when people made a thread here about the Mosquito being tested in various stores and how terrible of an idea it was.

I'm over 20 and the sound made me cringe. I accidently threw my headphones too. Yuck. How can someone listen to this noise and call it a ringtone?

I think my ears bled a little. I hear a similar, but not so irritating, sound when everything is quiet. But it's not constant as the sample, it fades in and out if I try to focus on it.

Honestly, is there something so important that can't wait until after class? I mean, how hard is it to turn off your phone or put it on silent? It's just being considerate. With that being said, my phone is for the most part on silent.

Well, I could hear that I'm on the borderline age. I even brought my mum upstairs to see if she could hear it, which she could. So I guess it doesn't really work then?

Hey, I'm able to hear that tone. Aren't tones like that the tones which are used in ear diagnostics tests?

From all the reactions here, I'd say the sound sample isn't the actual mosquito noise or frequency. There's a couple of shops in town that have the devices and it's fucking funny when they turn them on. The off-licence use it almost constantly and you see kids having to cross the road to get past it whilst people my age are blissfully unaware. We're thinking about getting one for the pub.

Here's the direct link to the ring tone:

http://download.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3...c_teenbuzz.mp3

And....GO!!

lol sounded like my Tinnitus. not that bad really.

dear god, when i play it and then stop it... it continues to echo in my ears. I can still hear it...

I'm 23 and it nearly made me punch myself in the head.

I've always been able to hear really high and low pitched sounds and I can also detect whether or not a tv is on in a house just by the horrible noise.

I totally won the hearing test we had in class for the pitch generator that kept pushing up and down to extreme ranges. The professor guy that was operating it said he wasn't surprised when I explained that I could hear a lot of dog whistles loud and clear.

That was very loud ;_;

I'm 21 and it wasnt any more annoying than any ambient noise in my house (in fact, the sound reminded me of hearing tests).

It would come down to kids dispersing the sound with some kind of ear plugs and text messaging on phones, or donning Ipod headphones.

All some nerd kind would have to do is broadcast some counter frequency, but I'm no genius in that field

I heard about this yesterday and people in my school already have it. We were writing a test then all the students hear the high pitch noise and we're like turn it off! and the teacher doesnt even know whats going on. I don't think it would be that useful to students, it gets really annoying.

I've played it to a load of people over 40 and they can all hear it.

Maybe I just suck.

Did anyone else's speakers sound like they had to shift from their usual sound to play that... I played an .mp3 moments later and my speaker popped for a second then started playing it.

Haha, my thoughts exactly. I have noises like that in both ears all the fucking time.

I was afraid it might have been an indication that my earing was somehow getting worse at a faster pace than it should, so I went and had it checked. Turns out I have exceptional hearing, and I only hear that tinnitus because I'm good with high frequencies (plenty of people have high-pitched tinnitus and aren't aware of it, so to speak). So I guess it will go away with age.

For now, I'm 21 and it sounds like I can still play with the teens.

I can't hear it. Guess I'm a Real Adult now. ( :savepoint: )

Oh god, no.

Here's a link to the actual ringtones one site is selling. If you click on "Mosquito Tones" you can preview the different frequencies they offer. 17,000Hz is what the mosquito devices in stores use. I'm happy that at 27, I can still hear these, although I couldn't hear them at work earlier with headphones on.

Hey, I've also noticed that my brain (because I don't think it's an ear issue) makes me "hear" constantly a high-pitched sound, of the likes of a 15-17kHz tone. Though, I'm so used to it that I end up ignoring it.

I can hear it, but it doesn't bug me. I have incredibly good hearing, and am subject to these high pitch sounds on things quite often. Like Crash mentioned earlier being able to sense TV's -- I can do the same thing.

I hear allllll sortsa stuff that makes high-pitch ringing like this. It is the norm for me, pract near. Don't know why everyone is so annoyed by it =( Ah well.

oh god i'm almost 20 and I can really hear and it would drive me crazy if it was my ringtone or the one of another classmate.

god I really doN,t like it, you it's like the sound of nail on a chalk board >_<

on the website nutty posted, there's only the 20 000hz that I can,t hear, all the other and hear them very clearly >.<

That noise accelerated my tinnitus attack for tonight... damnit.

As I was reading this thread, the Pepsi ad about the Mariah Carey
ringtones was playing. Coincidence?

Well, my parents must have mighty good hearing, because they both can hear it :/. My mom's 50 and my dad's 56.

It also scared the crap out of my cats. I personally think it's annoying...if that were my ringtone, I would make too much noise in class trying to find it to turn off.

I was expecting a mosquito sound not a shrill pitch lol. Had to turn the volume down on that one.

My sister got this rington on her phone yesterday, it's really annoying. ALmost as annoying as her crazy frog ringtone.

I downloaded the sample. I listened to it with headphones on. It was very annoying! I think it broke my eyes more than my ears, though. Man I'd sure love this as my ringtone.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
"JESUS CHRIST"

Then I'd turn my phone off.

Jesus, my ears.... It won't go away...
I'm glad my town is too small and insignificant to bother with odd devices such as these