Saturday, November 15, 2008

Mosquito Hearing

Heard about mosquito ringtones? Free2surf.org says:
In medical science there is a condition called “presbycusis”, when most adults over the age of 24 lose the ability to hear high frequency sounds like the mosquito sounds. Some people know this fact and creating a mosquito ringtone so high schoolers and college students are able to receive cell phone calls and text messages even at the classroom.
Which means that a person loses the ability to hear high frequencies as he gets older. Therefore, a mosquito ringtone can be heard by the (young) student but not by the (old) teacher. But beware, I read that a story about a young teacher who reprimanded a student because the teacher, in her mid-twenties, heard the student's mosquito ringtone loud and clear. Needless to say, it was straight to detention for the student.
The technology is even used as an anti-vandal system to deter teens who like to hang out at malls.
I tried this out with my mom. When I played the mosquito ringtone, and she couldn't hear a thing. She thought I was pulling her leg. Only when she listened closely that she heard the high-frequency sound. Try it out for yourself.
You have great hearing and you are probably pretty young, rock on!





The highest frequency you can hear is: 18khz
Try the The Mosquito Ringtone and see how well you can hear
Photo: tanakawho, Flickr,Creative Commons

1 comment:

Susan Critelli said...

Wow, I figured this was a crock. But I went to the link with all the samples of the mosquito ringtone and I can't hear anything below the sound I am supposed to be able to hear (ugh) age 60 and under. My 17 year old son could hear up to 17.4.

Fun! Thanks for the post.