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

Nichole

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:15:01 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 23:10:56 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:27:02 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:26:32 -0500

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

Brightliner

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:12:06 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:00:30 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:57:38 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:25:23 -0500

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

Toby

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:15:33 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:08:16 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:50:31 -0500

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

richard

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:49:56 -0500

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

anon

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:18:55 -0500

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

Tim N.

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:40:25 -0500

What? What? Someone say something?

Toby

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:31:10 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:26:11 -0500

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

Rocknrope

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:21:50 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:21:15 -0500

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

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:00:48 -0500

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.

tien

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:36:01 -0500

gah, that\'s an annoying sound.

Brightliner

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 11:11:56 -0500

There\'s nothing unusual with the 28-year old teacher being able to use it. If you read the CBS News article linked up top, it says most people over 30 can\'t hear it. Last I knew, 28 was below 30. Jen\'s 29, so it\'s normal that she can barely hear it. I spent way too much time riding the older, noiser subway all through the 60s and 70s so I know my hearing\'s damaged and I\'m exactly the kind of old fart who the company says shouldn\'t be able to hear it at all. Can hear about 55 decibels on my headphones. Putting it through my surround sound system at about 3x my usual listening volume, it\'s still not loud but definitely annoying, almost like a case of artificial tinnitus. I can understand kids not wanting to stick around any place running that sound at 80db.

Laura

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:39:36 -0500

I am 32 and I heard it quite well, even with my volume turned down.

Dave H.

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:31:25 -0500

I think any difficult in hearing that would have more to do with the hertz capabilities of your computer speakers than hearing loss, unless you actually have significant hearing loss. It\'s pretty audible (and annoying!) and I\'m a 32-year-old whose been abusing his ears for decades. Less audible in a classroom environment would be a ringtone of Ben Stein droning \"Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?\"

Vinny

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:29:31 -0500

I hear it perfectly fine and I\'m 30. I think it\'s hype.

closetocfan

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:24:31 -0500

ouch. that really does hurt at high volumes. but i put it on my phone (cingular slvr) and can\'t hear it unless i put the speaker to my ear. maybe i really am starting to lose my hearing? (@ 33 yrs)

bbbeorg

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:04:19 -0500

I can hear that. Could I ?

fact checkin\' cuz\'s cuz

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 10:02:20 -0500

oof. http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/24/kids_turn_teen_repel.html

oOoOoOo

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:54:47 -0500

Yeah, that\'s the life. Cruising and hassling shopkeepers.

J

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:53:10 -0500

I can hear it, but only by turning the volume way up... I\'m 31 but my ears have likely been ruined by years of excessive concert-going & playing rock music.

uhoh

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:50:32 -0500

i couldn\'t hear a darn thing but hopefully it\'s my computer! (i\'m 34) i will try it at home!

Jeff

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:49:06 -0500

im 31 and I heard it it all its annoying glory...Gothamist needs to get their hearing checked.

uhoh

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 09:47:50 -0500

fact checkin your link doesn\'t work.

I don\'t get it

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:57:40 -0500

I heard it just fine. I\'m 37.

santos

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:44:17 -0500

wtf is wrong with vibrate?

fact checkin\' cuz

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:41:47 -0500

Boingboing readers are questioning whether or not a cell phone speaker can accurately reproduce this frequency: here