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Last 15 Articles

29-9-2006 - The Latest BUZZ

I must say I was a bit dubious when I read an article about a tone only those under 25 can hear, which was first used in shopping malls all over the world to prevent teenagers from hanging out. Only those under 25?? That didn't make sense even though it was reported over and over that one's hearing loses the ability to hear certain frequencies after the age 25. I took umbrage to that because I have super hearing to the point there are some tones and noises that affect me like super high tones do a dog and I'm well over 25.

I began investigating and was enjoying a silent laugh when I discovered teenagers, the original target of the 'Mosquito', were using it as a ringtone because teachers and parents couldn't hear it. That's when it got good. People of all ages were sounding off on different sites. There were many adults who said they could hear it as well as teenagers who couldn't. I downloaded a few examples and could faintly hear it on all but one which was provided for listen by BBC Wiltshire in one of two articles. The first is "The sound that repels troublemakers" with the subhead:

A device emitting a soundwave which is designed to drive young troublemakers away from a problem area of Swindon has been hailed as a success. Listen to the sound online.

This is outrageous. Imagine going shopping and having to flee because of a ultra sonic tone designed to keep teens away. The other article from BBC -- "Secret alarm becomes dance track":

A high-pitched alarm designed to repel youngsters from shops is being used for the melody of a dance track after the success of a mobile phone ringtone.

Odd, this one was written 2 days before the one that was exclusively about the tone being used as a deterrent. It goes on how the Mosquito tone was released as a ringtone and how it's been turned into a dance track "Buzzin' with secret melodies only young ears can hear". I'm still dubious. It's revealed there are 2 tracks -- one everyone can hear and one only the young can. Here's how it's explained:

A condition called presbycusis, or ageing ear, means that by the time most people reach the age of 25, they cannot hear much above a frequency of 13 or 14 kilohertz.

I kept going and wound up on the UK's Metro and reading under "Weird", "Pupils perform 'alarming' feat'. This predated the other two by 4 months. It went on how students were using it in class to receive text messages without the teacher knowing. This elicited a whopping 321 comments. Some of them provided URL's where the Mozzy could be downloaded or heard.

I went to one, but I wasn't about to jump through the site owner's hoops to get it, but did click a link to one of the sites who've written about it, one being the NY Times in a June article, "A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears" and it, too, goes on about how teens have turned the tables on adults and are using it in class. It reported about one teacher who played it for here kindergarten class and only the kids could hear it. She and another teacher couldn't. Then it gets into a teacher demanding, "whose cellphone is that" and the class was shocked she heard it. She was 28. Some articles say the age is 20, not 25.

The Times provided not only a chart illustrating different frequencies as well as a downloadable mp3. It kills me to say this, but I could only hear it when I cranked the headphones and then barely at all. I only heard background noise on the one from BBC and a faint high pitch on the one provided by Slashtone. It's getting to me. I can't hear what the kids are saying they hear very well and some have said it makes them sick. I'm sick now! I asked Mr. S, 37, to see if he could hear it and he let out a yell and said it hurt his ears. I heard nothing. He said it was like it entered his ear and was akin to tinnitus. Aha, new information is making me feel better.

JetCityOrange, in an article "Mosquito Ringtone For Your Cell Phone", the author provided a 17khz wav file for download and explained, "MP3 files use lossey compression unlike WAV files. Your cell phone's frequency response may not reproduce 17000 Hz. Always go for quality." Mr. S. couldn't hear this one and did an experiment of his own creating a tone in that frequency and it also could not be heard. This is most baffling.

Mozzy was developed by CompoundSecurity in the UK. I checked the list of distributors and almost fell off my chair. Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Portugal, Germany, France, Iceland, Norway and too many others to list. Someone's getting rich off this.

The comments on several sites were varied -- many saying their ears hurt, they got a headache, they couldn't hear it, their mom could and on and on they went. Many asked why the phones weren't put on vibrate, others pointed out a vibrating phone can be heard. One said the tone was like biological warfare used on teens if used in malls. Score one for the kids. Something that was used against them is now being used against adults. I find that very cool, but not the fact I can't hear the bloody thing. Try FreeMosquitoRingtone for another mp3 download.

This tone is very hard to properly reproduce, most media players amplify or change the noise to produce "better sound quality". Therefore it is extremely difficult to reproduce this noise and the consequent effect.
--forum comment

Brenda Stardom
Portugal - 7h12 GMT