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Phyrnna
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    What's my motto? Turning Dreams into Reality. That's my motto.

    Phyrnna @Phyrnna

    Age 36, Female

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    Mosquito Ringtone

    Posted by Phyrnna - December 15th, 2008


    I knew about this a while ago, but it wasn't until I happened upon DavidOrr's blog and read this blogpost that I was reminded of the Mosquito Ringtone. And now I want to bring it to you and make you aware of it too.

    What is this Mosquito Ringtone? Back in 2005, Howard Stapleton created a device that emitted a extremely high pitched sound. The sound was played at 17.4 kHz. The device was set up outside of a grocery store. The result? Teenage loitering dropped dramatically in the area.

    So how does it work? The human hearing range goes from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. As people age, their ears experience damage over time and the hearing range drops. The frequencies to drop out of the range are the higher frequencies as the ear gets less sensitive. By the time most adults are in their 40's, the highest they can hear has dropped down to 14 kHz. Most people under 25 can hear frequencies up to 17.4 khz. So what happens if it's out of your range? You just can't hear it. All the time, birds chirp in ultrasonic frequencies to communicate, yet we are unable to hear them. A dog whistle works in the same manner.

    This fact was utilized in creating the Mosquito Ringtone. The device, marketed as the Mosquito, is designed to help deter teenage loitering in public areas in curfew hours. Namely gang loitering that would disturb business. By using the device, the high frequency sound at 17.4 kHz and at a very loud 85 dB is heard by almost everyone of ages under 25, and not at all by those over that age. This was proven many times to deter people of the target age from congregating in the places where the Mosquito was located.

    Being marketed worldwide, it has met with opposition though. Some say that it infringes on the rights of people. Others cite the harmful effects of ultrasonic sounds. Namely, ultrasonic sounds disturb the equilibrium mechanism in our ears and can cause disorientation, dizziness, and headache. Also, adults who can't hear the frequencies wouldn't be able to protect their young children and infants who can hear the frequencies. Some cities have banned the use of the device.

    Of course, any thing like this can be turned around. Recently teens have figured out that with a sound that adults can hear, they could use it as a ringtone to bypass school disciplinary action. Being marketed as the Teen Buzz, it is a high pitched ringtone designed for teens to hear only. Sounds like fun to me. :3

    More information can be read about the Mosquito Ringtone here.

    You can tell your ear's "age" by the frequency that you can hear at. So come one come all and test your hearing!! :D Below are the listed frequencies and their corresponding "ages" and a video to test you out. Have fun, and post your hearing age! :D

    If the highest you can hear is....
    22 kHz - Superhuman. :D
    20 kHz - Your ears are as fresh as a baby's.
    18 kHz - You've got the ears of my grade school brother! *gasp*
    17.4 kHz - You're younger than 25. Majority of NG falls here. :P
    14 kHz - You're in your forties. Want to buy a Mosquito for your teenage kids? :3
    11 kHz - You're in your fifties. Retirement's around the corner. Might I suggest the Oldies section?
    8 kHz - Well.... your ears.... work. That's about it.

    .
    /* */
    Have fun everybody!

    -HFX ^_^
    P.S. I can hear up to 19.8 kHz! :D My hearing's nearly a newborn's hearing! :D


    Comments

    This isn't good. 19 and only 14.1 kHz.

    Try turning up the volume. It actually helps you hear some of the higher frequencies that you thought you couldn't hear. Try again and tell me the results! :D

    EeeeeYOUCH!

    That hurst my ears!

    I'm sorry. :(
    But goes to show that it works.

    I didn't turn up the volume, but I was able to use Audacity to get much better results. 19.5 kHz! Above that I have trouble telling if I'm hearing the tone or if it's just my ears ringing.

    See, you weren't as bad as you thought you were. XD
    If you can hear the tone, it comes out clear. The ear ringing is probably coming from things around you. It happens. I can tell when my washer or dryer is running because I can hear the high frequency sounds that come from their operation. Yesterday while I typed the note they were running, so I had ringing in my ears. Quiet, but noticable. Right now they're both off, so it's all silent in my head. :) I like it that way, Peaceful.

    Haha my ears suck :(

    :( Why do you say that? What was your frequency?

    Still, even though your ears may not be the best, your sense for music is great. :3

    12 kHz :(

    I remember it was higher the first time I read about it on Orr's website.

    That might explain why some of my songs sound too high pitched for many, while it takes ME a while to notice.

    :(
    Me sorry. I hope you can keep your hearing well. I'll probably have a note coming up about hearing loss.

    shit 14.1, my hearing is going and i'm only 18
    i knew those rock concerts without earplugs were a bad idea

    oh well, maybe i'll be the next beethoven ;D

    Perhaps so! Hey, just because you can't hear high frequencies doesn't mean you'lll necessarily have bad sense in music.

    You may want to stay posted for future posts. I'll be addressing hearing loss.

    Oh dear god, 15 and only 14.1khz.

    Will I be deaf when I turn 20? :S

    Well, stay posted for my future news posts where I address hearing loss.

    14.1... but my hearing used to be so good! O___O what happened? Over the course of one summer-- and I don't even use earbuds, and I protect my hearing like mad-- usually-- Okay, no more loud concerts. ;_; Didn't think one-time things would destroy my hearing like that.

    But yes, my throat is much better, thank you! :D As of yesterday, I've gotten all my vocal control back, and after I finish writing this paper, I'm going to start tackling the massive to-record list I have. If you need a Little June a cappella... :P I don't mind recording covers of existing songs, especially if I like them. Otherwise I'd long since have chewed out Kazmo for the rerecording he wants me to do next. ;D

    Oh dear. I'm sorry for scaring you! O_O I seriously thought I had embedded the HQ version of the video. I guess not.... >_>;

    Anyways, it's alright if you're too busy. Of course, I'd love them too if you are able to get to them. ^__^
    Chewed out Kaz for asking you to rerecord? XD I wonder how that went. XD Must've been fun. :P

    ...Oh wait, if you watch it in HQ, you can hear things a lot more clearly, guys:

    <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=9g0yThhJcxY&fmt=18">http://youtube.com/watch?v=9g0yThhJcx Y&fmt=18</a>

    I could hear up to 19.8 /barely/, I think, and the first one I heard the most clearly was 17.7. Whew, that's a relief! :D

    Alright, I was pretty shocked this morning by the results of that test, so I went and asked around a bit.

    I doubt any of us are actually only able to hear 14.1kHz. It has a lot to do with the way you listen to music, or sound in general. A lot of loud music doesn't necesarily affect your hearing THAT badly in such a short amount of time, but it does affect the way your ears work temporarily. For example, should you travel into the woods and camp there for a week, and you take your ipod with you and only play songs at minimal sound, your ears will be more sensitive when you get back and you should be able to pick up higher frequencies. The results of this test don't really show how good you're able to hear in general, but only how you're listening to sound at the moment.

    Although I listen very varied, my preferrance goes out to metal, which is louder than say classical music. That is probably why Halcyonic can hear up to 19.8kHz, and a lot of us can only hear <15kHz.

    ...or you can watch the movie in high quality, lol.

    Can hear 19.8kHz now aswell. Woohoo, now I look like a fool. XD

    Hahaha... sorry for scaring you too. >_<;

    But yeah, I probably can hear things better since I've always kept my music quiet. That is, I can hear them fine at a quiet level.

    Either way... I'm just trying to save my ears for when I'm 80. XD

    Ha, nevermind. I could hear over 16 Khz on my laptop with it's crappy speakers.

    Wow, I tried the first one an I could only hear at 14.1k, but with the HQ one I can hear stuff a lot better - probably just cause the lower quality encode was filter out some of the extreme frequencies. I'm a bit confused to how this works actually, as for the HQ version, I can hear "something" from 19.8k downwards, but it's like a secondary lower frequency. I don't know if I should call it an overtone since it's below the fundamental, but it does seem to be related to it (maybe an "undertone", if such a thing exists). It sorts of obscures the higher pitched frequency - rather, I don't think I hear a clear "ringing" sound until about 16.7-15.8k. Then again, maybe I simply can't hear it cause my ears are fudged - do certainly get that ringing/loss-of-hearing sensation not unoccasionally :(.

    Yeah, I do think that the low quality version has filtered out the extreme frequencies. However, the lower frequency isn't what you're supposed to be hearing. If you're hearing only that, then you're not hearing that frequency. It's quite clear when you hear it because it's a sharp high pitched sound that can get uncomfortable.

    YES!!! I can hear up to 19.8 Khz! It only worked in the high quality video, when I watched the low quality one it scared the shit out of me because i could only hear up to 14.1 Khz :S Ironically the higher the pitch, the lower it sounded :P Must be harmonics or something. I often put my high cut filters on my high hats and things in the 10 Khz - 16 Khz range, and I was worrying that I was missing shrill high frequencies mixing, or that I'd experienced some mild hearing loss over time but this is a huge ego boost :D

    I know! :D Big ego boost right? :D

    i can only hear 14 :(

    I'm kinda worried now xD

    You had me worried 'til I tried the high quality one like the comments said.

    The embedded video makes everyone think they've got a 40 year old's ears haha. :P

    It's subliminal messaging I tell you! :P

    I can hear 21.7 or w/e the 2nd is, just the flick =D

    Amazing!! But weird at the same time.....

    I can hear up to 21.1 but then at 17.7 I cant hear anything.....Im a freak0 XD

    Thanks for sharing this video with us btw, very interesting ; )

    I'm glad you learned some things.

    I don't think you're a freak. Maybe it's just your speakers or headphones.

    it also depends on speaker frequency response and the fact that the video is in a compressed format. since it's compressed some supersonic frequencies are reduced and taken away. LOOK AT ME IM TECHNICAL

    i faintly hear 19.8 :3

    Technical indeed. But agreed. Some speakers probably wouldn't even play the higher frequencies. I know my headphones have a frequency capacity that only goes up to 20khz. So I wouldn't know anything about how the higher ones sounded.

    I should probably get better speakers and headphones. >_>;

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