Mosquito: can you hear it?

[irishgrl]

I learned something tonight. My daughter told me that her college instructor talked about this ringtone that anyone over a certain age (for the most part) cant hear, but young people can. I didnt believe it so I did a search and found this article with links to the actual ringtone and similar pure sine waves.
I actually heard it! (but not the other 4)
Here's the article (and by the way, maybe you'd care to share what you DID hear!)

Alec Saunders .LOG

The Mosquito Ring Tone: This Adult Can Hear It!

The NY Times published a story on the Mosquito Ringtone this morning. Allegedly inaudible to adults, this 17Khz ringtone has become popular among teens looking to be able to send and receive text messages surreptitiously in class. They even included a sample (http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages/audio/nyregion/20060610_RINGTONE.mp3) of the ringtone, so you could determine for yourself whether it’s audible or not. Well, I had no trouble hearing it, and according to the convenient chart provided (reproduced at left), at the age of 42 most people my age can’t hear anything beyond 13Khz. Apparently, I am more youthful than I thought…

Wondering what I could hear, I took a quick trip to the NCH Swift Sound website, and downloaded the NCH Tone Generator application. This little tool is used by audio engineers to generate various different kinds of tones ranging from square waves to pink noise to sine waves, and a bunch more. I generated a four different sets of tones at 15Khz, 16Khz, 17Khz, and 18Khz and listened to them, comparing them with the mosquito. The mosquito is a very dirty tone, with lots of noise in it. Perhaps that’s because it’s been converted to MP3, or perhaps it’s not a pure sine wave. In any case, while the allegedly 17Khz mosquito tone is quite audible, I had difficulty hearing a true 17Khz sine wave. The 18Khz tone was inaudible.

You can listen to all four WAV files for yourself and do your own comparison. I recommend not turning the volume way up. Despite the fact that they are nearly inaudible, they are still very high energy sound, and my ears were sore after several listenings.

* 15102 Hz (http://www.saunderslog.com/wp-content/sounds/15102Hz.wav) pure sine wave
* 16000 Hz (http://www.saunderslog.com/wp-content/sounds/16000Hz.wav) pure sine wave
* 16961 Hz (http://www.saunderslog.com/wp-content/sounds/16961Hz.wav) pure sine wave
* 17959 Hz (http://www.saunderslog.com/wp-content/sounds/17959Hz.wav) pure sine wave

http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2006/06/12/nyregion/12ring-graphic.gif

[irishgrl]

Man, I goofed, I wish I could vote again, I actually DO hear the first listed sine wave tone, but none of the others. I had my ear up to the speaker but I DID hear it.........HUH!

both my daughter and my son could hear the others (my daughter couldnt hear the very last one, my son heard them ALL!)

[DrummerDeanna]

The did this story on NPR a while back as well:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5434687

[DrummerDeanna]

Wow! I heard them all :nod: The last one was the most difficult - but with my volume at the non-loud level I always keep it at - I did hear these...not pleasant sounds...but I heard 'em!

[markolas]

I heard the mosquito (which made my ears ring after a couple of listens), but none of the others. My boyfriend could hear the mosquito and the first two sine waves. :blob2:

[paleshadow]

The first two I heard with my volume at a normal level, but I didn't hear the 3rd or 4th. When I turned the volume up I herad them all. You were right, my ears are still ringing a little. My grandfather was tone deaf and certain ring tones on phones he couldn't hear at all. Either that or he just lied because he didn't want to get up to answer the phone.

[carrie721]

i heard the mosquito and the first three, but i couldn't hear the last one. my dogs could, tho! :laugh: