Teens Fight Back
May 25th, 2006Remember the Mosquito anti-teen device that was supposed to deter kids from hanging around by emmiting a high pitched sound that only folks under 20 can hear? Well students have turned lemons to lemonaide with the technology. According to a news article from Metro.co.uk students have highjacked the high-frequency sound out of adult hearing range and are using it as a ringtone in a defiant challenge against authority.
From the article:
Schoolchildren have recorded the sound, which they named Teen Buzz, and spread it from phone to phone via text messages and Bluetooth technology.
Now they can receive calls and texts during lessons without teachers having the faintest idea what is going on.
Clever. Here is a clip of the Mosquito Anti-teen device sound and a clip of just the ringtone—or so I’m told because I can’t hear anything.
(via Waxy)
Update: According to BoingBoing, using a 20hz sound as a cell phone ring is not possible. I suppose we are left to assume that the students have just pulled the wool over the teachers’ (and reporters’) collective eyes making them believe that there is something happening which they cannot hear.
Update: It’s now been pointed out that since new phones can play MP3’s and apparently people under 20 can hear the sound on the mp3’s it’s likely not a bogus story.
May 25th, 2006 at 11:47 am
According to the Manchester Evening News, the Mosquito creator has actually analyzed the ringtone, so the chances are it does exist.
manchestereveningnews.co.uk/[...]/213930_yob_alarm_hijacked_as_silent_ringtone.html?
May 25th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
They also had you going pretty good too. But I have to say that I spotted the hoax myself.
May 25th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
I’m actually not convinced it is a hoax. I think that Samh has a good point that the creator of the Mosquito wouldn’t have shown as much interest if it turned out to be nothing. He apparently verified it. Find someone under 20 to check if the files I linked to actually sound like anything.
May 25th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
im not sure, i can hear i,but i need my sound all teh way up to hear it, ill ask my dad next time i see him if he can hear it
May 25th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
Saw this on boingboing.com, my husband is a 32 year old opera singer, I am 29 and not musically trained. I can hear the mosquito sound very well, it is very annoying, however, he can’t hear it at all. Neither one of us can hear the ringtone - I have a hard time believing that there is anything on it. That’s my two cents!
May 25th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
When I was in junior high, I could hear the high pitched noise a comptuer moniter makes when it is turned on. Especially when the computers in a lab are all turned off and several moniters were still powered up.
I haven’t noticed the noise in a long time.
May 25th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
When I was in high school I wrote a program in Qbasic that played high frequency pitches well over the 20khz level and had no problem hearing them. My teacher, however, heard nothing.
May 26th, 2006 at 1:30 am
Ok this is definitely not a hoax. I downloaded your file Jeff and initially I couldn’t hear it. But when I cranked up the volume on my speakers, man, the sound that came out is this annoying whine that really hurts your ears. Just to test that I wasn’t deluding myself. I closed my eyes and pressed play. Then when I heard it stop, I opened my eyes and low and behold, the file had finished playing. You really have to turn up the volume on your speakers and then it will be extremely clear.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:56 am
Strange. I’m 34, and i can hear it, on both files.
I’m surprised, because I was sure my hearing would be damaged from my loud walkman!
May 26th, 2006 at 6:26 am
im 13 and i cannot hear it but my grandma is 60 and cannot hear it and she is not hard of hearing
May 26th, 2006 at 9:47 am
hey, i didn’t know how else to contact you, but me and a friend recently found a bit of backmasking in “machete” by “moby” he says, “I have to say goodbye”. just thought you might wanna know =D great site mate.
May 26th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
The sound is on both the clip and the ringtone. I heard it on the clip immediately and it was prety annoying, but I couldn’t hear it in the ringtone…
… untill I moved in my chair and now I *can* hear it. It’s so high pitched it almost makes me sick. Waaaaaaahhh!!!
This is mighty interesting though.
May 26th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Hey. Well im 13, and i cant hear it! But at my school, we do have a tone that the teachers cant hear, ill have to try and get it up on a site. x
May 26th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
i downloded the files and played them im 14 and i could hear it clearly but i showed my perants and turned up the volume loud they still couldnt here it so i guess it works.
May 27th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Have to say Jeff that I’m nearly 22 and I CAN hear a high pitched noise on normal music listening level. Of course… I’m wondering if it possibly have to do with ear training and playing a musical instrument that might make the difference because I did that for around 8 years learning how to hear particular notes and singing as well. It would be an interesting test to conduct for that.
I am really sensative to hearing computer monitors and high-pitched screams that not a lot of people can hear that just bug the heck out of me, and I know some can hear them and others cannot so this theory makes sense.
May 28th, 2006 at 10:36 am
hi! im 14 years old and i have friends who have the ring tone, a friend sent me this site through myspace. When i clicked the links i was able to hear both of the sounds… they definatly work. ttyl
anna cat
May 28th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
My seven-year-old daughter can hear it. My wife and I cannot.
May 28th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
My five-year-old son cannot hear it.
May 29th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Isn’t that curious because Im positive this works in class because i read the uk article and rigged one up myself w/ NCH tone gen and transfered it to my razr via bluetooth… works like a chram; my friends can hear it from across the room but older adults (ie, teachers) really cant.
Runs on 14.4khz sine wav f(x) with 4000ms duration…
http://stanton7.googlepages.com/sweet
for more info and to download…
May 30th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Ah that’s neat. I’m 26 and I actually didn’t notice the sound in the Mosquito clip the first time I played it but I turned up the sound a little and listened more closely and I definitely hear it. The ringtone clip was easy to hear.
cool stuff
June 12th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
I can hear it loud and clear. I’m 13 and i can hear both perfectly. I even can use head phones take them off and walk several feet away and still hear it. This isn’t a hoax.
June 12th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Hi,
I will be 40 years old this September. I played both clips and could hear them very well, very annoying to say the least. But the MSN article was right, you would have to make sure your phone was in a position to transmit the sound clearly.
June 12th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
32, Can hear it barely. 32 yo BF hears nothing. and I have low tone hearing loss and tinnitus.
June 12th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Yuck, that sound is annoying. I’m 24 and I can hear it, even with the speakers down low. It sounds like the high pitched whining sound you hear when the tv is on mute, but in pulses.
I’m concerned, I know this sound is used as a deterrent for youth in England, but if adults can’t hear it, how do they know if they are playing it too lound? The sound is downright disturbing when it’s played really loudly, i can feel it in my stomach.
June 13th, 2006 at 10:41 am
I just heard about this tone over the radio today and from my mom. I had to find a clip to listen to.. I am 22 yrs old and I heard it loud and clear even with my speakers turned down…thinking about downloading it to use at work. My little bro also hears it but our parents can’t hear it.
June 13th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
it’s not a hoax, there is something there, and my head hurts from hearing it. maybe i’ll download it onto my cell phone…it’d be nasty if someone let it go off in the middle of a class room of college students…i did have to turn this link up high, but i’ve heard others where it was turned down really low and it sounded the same. it leaves a sickening feeling all over my body. its like a sound i’ll dread for the rest of my life now…
June 13th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
yeah im 14 and i hear it fine…..my mom has to be really really really close with no other noise to hear it and shes 41….but its not fake cause i can hear it
June 13th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
I hard to turn the volume way up but I can hear both. And my hearing is quite damaged from years of listening to loud music, I am asking people to repeat themselves all the time.
June 13th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
I’m 19 and I can hear both sound clips even at a very low volume: the Anti-teen device sound isn’t too bad, it sounds like it isn’t as high pitched as the ringtone, but the ringtone is EXTREMELY annoying. I had to turn my speakers off after a few seconds. I think the reason that some younger people don’t hear it could be simply the quality of their computer speakers. I wonder how well cellphones are able to play it.
June 16th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
I’m under 20 and I can hear the tone very clearly and it isn’t annoying in the least. It isn’t even that high. Going to play it pretty loud right now to see if my parents can notice it. LOL.
June 23rd, 2006 at 8:54 pm
I’m 21 years old and I heard the tone clearly even with my speakers low. It sounds like that high-pitched ringing you sometimes get in your ears. My 51 year old mom could only hear it after I turned the speakers up. And my 55 year old dad could not hear it at all, even with the speakers up all the way. The noise made me feel sick after I heard it the second or third time. The inside of my ears hurt and my body felt stiff and just…weird. I can’t describe it, but it worries me whether or not this noise can be harmful after a while.
September 12th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I’m 14. I can hear it but it doesn’t bother me. It sounds like a baby bird squeaking that’s the best way I can describe it. It’s a little annoying but not enough to keep crazy teens like me away. Nice try……stupid adults…
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I’m 39 and can hear the ringtone just fine, but can’t pick it up in the anti-teen clip.