If You're Old, You Can't Hear My Cellphone

Awesome - that sound some British company developed to repel teenagers from hanging outside convenience stores is now a cellphone ring tone that teens are using at school. Since many schools frown on cells in the classroom, this seems tp be a way for kids to get away with being connected. But the NY Times offered this lesson:

Recently, in classes at Trinity and elsewhere, some students have begun testing the boundaries of their new technology. One place was Michelle Musorofiti's freshman honors math class at Roslyn High School on Long Island.

At Roslyn, as at most schools, cellphones must be turned off during class. But one morning last week, a high-pitched ring tone went off that set teeth on edge for anyone who could hear it. To the students' surprise, that group included their teacher.

"Whose cellphone is that?" Miss Musorofiti demanded, demonstrating that at 28, her ears had not lost their sensitivity to strangely annoying, high-pitched, though virtually inaudible tones.

"You can hear that?" one of them asked.

"Adults are not supposed to be able to hear that," said another, according to the teacher's account.

She had indeed heard that, Miss Musorofiti said, adding, "Now turn it off."

Busted! And let that be a lesson to the kids - 28 might be an "adult" but it's not old! We wonder what the long term implications of hearing this noise are - imagine, your homeroom full of kids with that terrible ringtone. And we imagine the NYC Department of Education will try to station spot checks of these cellphones by randomly stationing younger teachers during cafeteria duty.

The company, Compoung Security, that invented the "Mosquito" sound now offers the "official Mosquito ringtone." The NY Times also has an MP3 of the ringtone. In a sad testament to our advancing years, Gothamist can sort of hear it - but barely.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on June 12, 2006 9:26 AM

Comments [rss]

Nichole

Heard it just fine. Sound like the old T.V.s use to when you turn them on or off. I am 32. My mother who is 54 could also hear it. We are both highschool teachers.

Toby

I heard it on a WNBC report at 11, and it sounded much different than the one on WABC at 5. Odd.

One other thing, WNBC had it playing while the reporter (Aimee Nuzzo, I think) did her stand up (well she was sitting in the live truck) so those who can hear it heard it throughout the 15 seconds or so she was talking. It was a tad annoying.

Dr. Strangehate

44 and can hear it faintly. But the mp3 sounds completely different from the test on the WABC video report, which is much lower pitched and easier to hear.

Neil Epstein

Cause this slacker fixed it. Now go back to knocking the grammar, or *gasp* 'doing something usefull'. ;)

Brightliner

Hey, how'd you get an apostrophe in there without the damn blog software sticking in a backslash? Everybody else has them, ever since Gothamist did another one of those software "upgrades" a few days ago.

john

There is no way this would damage your hearing unless you had prolonged exposure to it at high volumes (>80db). All televisions seems to emit a frequency in this range. Turn the volume all the way down and see if you can hear it. It bugs the hell out of me.

Also they use one of these teen-repellers at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center on broadway and Bedford. I heard it while walking with my parents who are in their 60s. They didn't hear it, I did.

em

I\'m young enough to hear this pitch but old enough to remember standing around all irritated, waiting for someone in front of me to get off the school pay phone.

simon

if you\'re worried about cell phone ring tones hurting your ears, make 50 cent ring tones illegal

Toby

I just caught a report on it on WABC. It had people of various ages \"testing\" the ring tone out. As expected they showed kids, their parents, some random passers by, senior citizens, and a hearing specialist. The report showed the kids were the only ones who heard it. They even played the ring tone, which was not that annoying and reminded me of something I heard when I had a hearing test.

Brightliner

Doesn\'t anyone bother reading the linked articles? The times says it\'s in the 17kHz range. Also, the Times does not say \"that its th 50-60 year olds who mostly cannot hear it.\" I have no idea where that came from. According to the graph accompanying the article, it\'s at about the upper limit for a young adult. But people in their 30s can barely hear 15kHz and those in their 40s can hear only to 13kHz. You just have to love these people who say, \"Baloney,\" though, just because they can hear it. It never occurs to them that individual hearing varies. I can hear a 15kHz flyback transformer cycling inside a TV set (very annoying sound), but nobody else I know can. Doesn\'t mean I\'m lying or they\'re dumb. And neither is it some recent phenomenon that hits only in your 30s. Some studies show babies can hear up to 20kHz, so if young adults can only hear 17kHz, they\'ve already lost some hearing in two decades. Then again, the way today\'s kids abuse their ears with iPods blasting at 110-120db, they\'re going to accelerate that damage something fierce. Expect their hearing to stop at 13kHz by the time they\'re 30.

cj

Not sure of the frequency, but it\'s a very high \'C.\'

richard

Baloney. I am 52 and hear this tone very well.

anon

Anybody know what freq. that tone is? Just curious.

Tim N.

What? What? Someone say something?

Toby

This story is a few weeks old. I seem to recall reading it in the British press a feew weeks back. Nice to see the Times is keeping up with the latest news. Now let me get back to this article in the Times about Mayor Koch\'s war on graffiti.

Queen

Kanye\'s trolling here, I see. Apparently public school is only for welfare queens.

Rocknrope

The article in the Times states that its th 50-60 year olds who mostly cannot hear it, so all you 30 somethings aren\'t that old.....yet.

Raf

Anyone ever remember those stupid hearing tests in elementary school, where they played stuff like this and you had to raise your hand as to which ear they were playing it in? Anyways, the science behind this ringtone is that people start losing the ability to hear higher frequency sound in their 40s. So, uh I think a 28yo would be able hear your ringtone dumbass.

Kanye West

I don\'t understand how these public school students have cellphones. Most of them are on welfare but can afford to pay 30-60 bucks a month on cellphones? Does not make sense.