Comments on: Inaudible ring tone?

Inaudible ring tone?

jfwlucy — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:39:24 -0800

NYT story about superhigh frequency ringtones. A new ringtone at a frequency of 17 Khz is supposedly inaudible to most adults, and so highschoolers and others are using it to sneak text messages in school, etc. BUT. An mp3 of the tone is included with the story and I can totally hear it, though it hurts my ears. And I am in my 40s. Can others hear it?

By: InfidelZombie

InfidelZombie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:43:26 -0800

Many does not equal all.

By: slapshot57

slapshot57 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:44:34 -0800

25....no

By: barnacles

barnacles — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:45:16 -0800

28, yes.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:45:43 -0800

i can hear it just fine, and i'm 30 years old and have been going to clubs regularly for 12 years. I think this is an urban myth.

By: armoured-ant

armoured-ant — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:46:09 -0800

23. Yes, and It's significantly lower than the noise a CRT makes, that gives me the mutant power to detect whether or not a TV or computer is on in my house.

By: apiaryist

apiaryist — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:46:17 -0800

32... Yes. Sounds kind of like bats. It was painful to hear, but didn't seem loud.

By: gurple

gurple — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:46:49 -0800

29... yes, but it'd be interesting to see if younger folks can hear it at lower volumes than I can.

By: Carbolic

Carbolic — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:46:51 -0800

46 and can't hear it. Turned up the volume on my PC at work and played it and no one else could hear it either.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:47:50 -0800

Weird, I could easily hear it, and my hearing is for shit.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:47:54 -0800

Since then, Mr. Morris said his company has received so much attention — none of it profit-making because the ring tone was in effect pirated They copyrighted a frequency?!

By: BackwardsHatClub

BackwardsHatClub — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:48:23 -0800

23, I can hear it. When I was a kid I could hear up to 24khz which is extremely high, but I imagine years of concerts have ruined that. Put the tone at 18-19khz though and a lot of people, especially older people could not hear it audibly.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:50:37 -0800

I could hear it (age 31), but I'm also wondering about the volume thing...Kids may be able to hear it at lower volumes. As far as unhearable tones being an urban legend, I can vouch for the fact that when I was a kid I could hear if a TV was on, but now I can't.

By: tristeza

tristeza — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:51:24 -0800

36, no.

By: jimmythefish

jimmythefish — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:51:36 -0800

31, yes I can hear it very clearly. I could go way higher than that, I think, and my hearing isn't perfect anymore due to concerts etc.

By: Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:51:36 -0800

33- yes, it's annoying; sets my teeth on edge

By: Sprocket

Sprocket — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:52:19 -0800

22, I can hear it really well, but my coworker could not hear it right next to the speaker with the volume all the way up, while my ears were about to start bleeding. I can also hear when the TV is left on, and when the microwave beeps from any room in the house when my roommates can't.

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:52:31 -0800

28, yeah. But primarily for the first few seconds. It's nauseating, though. One of those noises that despite barely hearing it, I can feel it.

By: afx237vi

afx237vi — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:52:55 -0800

23, and yeah I can easily hear it.

By: gnutron

gnutron — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:53:18 -0800

28. i can hear it, although i could see myself missing it if other people were talking or the room was noisy. and why can't they just use vibrate?

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:53:57 -0800

29... yes, but it'd be interesting to see if younger folks can hear it at lower volumes than I can. Me too: 32 and I could hear it, but I really had to crank the volume.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:54:51 -0800

23 - Yeah, I can hear it really clearly and I have terrible hearing. I can hear when a TV is left on.er Could someone explain to me why these kids would just use "vibrate" on their phones?

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:55:09 -0800

35. Can't hear it at all. Great ... now I'm worried about my hearing.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:55:26 -0800

would not use

By: Tryptophan-5ht

Tryptophan-5ht — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:55:50 -0800

it feels like the base of my brain is pasta and the tone is a fork winding it all up into a tight little ball of brain pasta. as soon as the tone stops, and the tension is released. really weird.

By: zabuni

zabuni — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:56:24 -0800

28. i can hear it, although i could see myself missing it if other people were talking or the room was noisy. and why can't they just use vibrate? If it vibrated, the teachers could hear it, and be able to confiscate the phones, which can't be used in class.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:56:25 -0800

Vibrate is pretty noisy.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:56:26 -0800

28, and I can hear it. I can actually whistle at this pitch, which really freaks out cats and dogs.

By: paxton

paxton — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:56:30 -0800

30 and can hear it just fine. Wasn't all that pleasant though. I can almost assure you if I heard this being used in public I would grab the phone it was coming from and throw it into the the nearest pond, busy intersection or sewer.

By: jouke

jouke — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:56:44 -0800

If I turn up the volume I can hear I perfectly clearly. I'm of the teachers age or older. Turn up the frequency you 'ung ones.

By: Elim

Elim — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:56:55 -0800

43 and I can hear it.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:57:27 -0800

30, shitty hearing, and I could hear it. It's totally annoying. Funny, I downloaded it and stuck it in iTunes, and it sounds much louder, and way more audible; much lower.

By: QuestionableSwami

QuestionableSwami — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:57:43 -0800

45 and I can hear it, with ears that have heard hundreds of live bands. It is obnoxious though; definitely something I could see being used to disperse people.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:57:46 -0800

The principle behind it is a biological reality that hearing experts refer to as presbycusis, or aging ear. While Miss Musorofiti (28) is not likely to have it, most adults over 40 or 50 seem to have some symptoms, scientists say. So what good is it if many of the kids' parents (under 40y/o) can hear it anyway?

By: BaxterG4

BaxterG4 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:58:15 -0800

This is just an FBI plot to find out the ages of all the MetaFilter members. < have to come up with conspiracy theories since WebSense blocks all MP3 downloads. :( >

By: YAMWAK

YAMWAK — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:58:17 -0800

31 can only hear it with volume up VERY high

By: TonyRobots

TonyRobots — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:58:38 -0800

32, and I can hear it loud and painfully clear. I can also hear when a TV is on, FWIW.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:58:48 -0800

I've come across this before, and remeber reading some speculation there was dependence on the quality of the speaker to get the effect. Cheaper, nastier speakers could make it otherwise audible because the specific frequencies involved 'leaked' into other frequencies or rattled the equipment. I am not a sound engineer however.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:59:44 -0800

Middle-aged, and I can hear 22KHz tones just fine.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:59:46 -0800

bugbread writes "As far as unhearable tones being an urban legend, I can vouch for the fact that when I was a kid I could hear if a TV was on, but now I can't." I don't think anyone's arguing that people don't tend to lose the ability to hear high frequencies as they age; that's a well established piece of medical science. The urban legend part is as to whether this phenomenon forms such a stark division between teenagers and adults so as to be useful. With the ring tone, for instance, a good percentage of teachers under 50 would be able to hear it easily, rendering it useless except for very selective application. With the "teenager deterrent", stores would also be driving away a good chunk of that desirable 18-35 demographic....

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:00:34 -0800

Also, it is well known among acousticians and hearing scientists that men lose high frequency hearing faster than women, so gender might be a relevant factor here.

By: eatyourlunch

eatyourlunch — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:00:40 -0800

37, listening on studio reference monitors...I hear it loud 'n clear. Maybe those of you who can't hear it are playing it through laptop speakers?

By: wsg

wsg — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:01:58 -0800

45 and I can't hear it, but my dog's ears went up and she started looking around like "What the hell is that?!"

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:02:06 -0800

41, can't hear it over the tinnitus. Seriously.

By: lathrop

lathrop — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:02:22 -0800

50, can't hear a thing. Poor speakers or old ears?

By: NationalKato

NationalKato — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:02:29 -0800

Which ringtone has the frequency that makes people lose control of their bowels?

By: ninjew

ninjew — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:03:35 -0800

These phones... they don't vibrate?

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:03:52 -0800

29. That hurts. If a student in my class used that, I'd punch them.

By: Mapes

Mapes — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:04:29 -0800

32, M, yes, even at lower volumes. Here's hoping someone will chart this data after all the responses are in!

By: kika

kika — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:06:00 -0800

42, but what was the question? I can hear it loud and clear, even on the crappy speakers of my Powerbook.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:06:26 -0800

35, and yes I hear it -- and I've been in metal bands since I was 20. It's easy to hear it start, but hard to hear when it ends, however. It's probably quiet enough, though that I wouldn't notice it unless I knew to listen for it. Damn kids and their interweb ipods...

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:06:33 -0800

38, heard it.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:06:56 -0800

20, and I can hear it at loud volumes, while at low volumes it just makes my head hurt. I am using very cheap speakers right now, so the audible noise at loud volumes could be an effect of that. There definitely can be a huge difference between people even of the same age. We were building audio amplifiers and part of this involves putting sine waves through them - as frequency rose my hearing dropped off before other people's, and they would feel pain at frequencies where I noticed no effect. Interestingly, one guy I know who was very sensitive to the high frequency sound is also very sensitive to monitors with low refresh rates, whereas I can use 60 Hz with no problem.

By: bonehead

bonehead — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:07:26 -0800

39. Ow.

By: djseafood

djseafood — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:07:53 -0800

32, No. Drummer for years, not surprising.

By: agentmitten

agentmitten — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:08:27 -0800

40, yes I can hear it. Husband, 42, can't.

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:09:29 -0800

Yep. I'm 32 and probably have diminished hearing in both ears thanks to playing in bands, but I could hear the tone just fine. Much more pronounced than the telltale "is there a TV on somewhere?" frequency, which I've noticed doesn't register with me as often as it used to. Sometimes I swear I can hear either disk activity or maybe even the graphics chip on my Mac start working...

By: glider

glider — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:10:55 -0800

32, can hear it just fine.

By: Dreama

Dreama — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:00 -0800

39, and I heard something but I don't know if I'm hearing the tone, as much as I'm just hearing a noise that made me want to clench my jaw and grimace. I'm not in favor of wholesale bans of cell phones in schools (I think they serve a purpose, sadly, in a post-Columbine/post-9/11 world) but I think any kid found using this particular tone should receive some serious punishment because it serves no purpose but to allow the circumvention of rules regarding phone use in classes and other proscribed areas.

By: ijoshua

ijoshua — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:15 -0800

27. Painful in my right ear; audible but noticeably less so in the left, due to a physical deformity in the external canal. It sounds almost exactly the pitch of my tinnitus.

By: m@

m@ — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:22 -0800

38. I can hear the start of it but I lose it after about 1/2 a second. I have significant hearing loss (mostly in the mid-range).

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:26 -0800

HA!!!! I'm the oldest so far (strangely proud of that).... suffice it to say I beat everyone brave enough to state their age.. Couldn't hear it on the computer (powerbook) speakers...plugged it into the Klipsch speakers attached to the ipod dock and it hurt my ears..but had to crank it up a bit to hear it.

By: WinnipegDragon

WinnipegDragon — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:12:42 -0800

30, no problem hearing it at all, and I have bad hearing (according to my wife).

By: TBoneMcCool

TBoneMcCool — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:13:30 -0800

33. Yep. Hear it.

By: jann

jann — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:14:05 -0800

24, ouch turned it off. pain mostly in my right ear, don't know that says something about me or my speakers. yeesh, even if you can hear that, who wants to? let alone, several times a day...

By: matildaben

matildaben — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:14:08 -0800

40, female, can hear the first few seconds, more so I can feel it, like how you can tell when a TV is on when you walk by someone's house. This is just a ploy to find out how old we all are, isn't it?

By: seanmpuckett

seanmpuckett — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:14:36 -0800

39, can hear it. Different audio players do different things with high frequency sounds, too. Anti-aliasing filters, upsampling, etc. Don't like it, though.

By: sugarfish

sugarfish — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:14:41 -0800

26, can hear it. Whatever happened to vibrate or putting it on silent and, I don't know, looking at the phone? *shakes fists, ushers children off the lawn*

By: thefreek

thefreek — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:16:43 -0800

26 yes. If one were to pulsate the tone, would that allow more people to distinguish it from background noise?

By: virga

virga — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:17:19 -0800

22, can hear it, and it sucks.

By: signal

signal — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:18:02 -0800

35 - barely. Similar to the high pitched whining from my Palm's screen.

By: rand

rand — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:18:09 -0800

26, heard it. Make it go away now. I was under the impression that the speakers on cell phones couldn't generate frequencies that high...

By: pwb503

pwb503 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:18:16 -0800

I had no idea there were so many thirtysomethings here at metafilter.

By: smallerdemon

smallerdemon — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:18:55 -0800

40 - Nope. My wife is 33, and she constantly complains about the magnetic theft devices in most bookstores and such, so I'm guessing she will completely be able to hear it.

By: Raymond Marble

Raymond Marble — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:19:17 -0800

I kept hearing this story on my local news radio channel today, but couldn't hear the tone. So I found this post at work and cranked my speakers: Me, 45, and could barely hear it cranked. The 41 year old in the cube across from me couldn't hear it. The 22 year old across the room had to put her hands over her ears. Go figure.

By: NationalKato

NationalKato — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:21:45 -0800

33 - totally heard it. Not painful, but I would definitely know something was going on if my students kept receiving messages.

By: ga$money

ga$money — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:28:26 -0800

35 - didn't hear it at first, but after turning the volume all the way up, I could hear it fine. I don't think I would pick it out from the other background electrical hums in my office unless the volume was cranked up, but I'd probably be able to hear it in a classroom.

By: martinX's bellbottoms

martinX's bellbottoms — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:33:29 -0800

There are definitely better ways to know if you've gotten a text message during class. It seems like even if the teacher couldn't hear it, he or she would notice every time half the class cringed and then someone stole a look at a phone.

By: e40

e40 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:33:31 -0800

46, yes. Kinda hurt. Thanks, though.

By: weston

weston — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:34:01 -0800

One of the other coders here brought it up today, played it for the four of us in my group. He (early 30s) couldn't hear it at all, another guy (late 20s) could hear it if he got close to the speakers but not at a distance, and myself and one other (mid-30s) could hear it clearly.

By: ijoshua

ijoshua — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:35:29 -0800

If one were to pulsate the tone, would that allow more people to distinguish it from background noise? I first heard about this on NPR a couple of weeks back. They'd interviewed the inventor of the teenager-repellant "Mosquito" device. He said that the tone in his device did pulse in such a way that made it excruciating after a few moments of listening. (For those who could hear it, that is.)

By: nakedcodemonkey

nakedcodemonkey — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:36:08 -0800

35 - dead silence. However, my hearing is generally lousy so not really representative. Judging by the upthread comments about electronic hum, maybe bum ears are a blessing. I don't get why the little buggers would be excited about rendering their ringer silent to the over-30 crowd. Doesn't, uh, YAMMERING into their phones tend to give away their little secret anyway?

By: zaelic

zaelic — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:37:34 -0800

50 - didn't hear it at all, and I'm a musician (acoustic instruments....) But then, I don't hear my own cell phone from the other room or when it is in my bag, while my girlfriend does. On the other hand - when I play violin in the highest positions, I am less self-critical of my own tone, and play more fluidly than I used to.

By: Suparnova

Suparnova — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:38:01 -0800

13, and I can hear it. I often hear frequncies much higher than this in stores and in public, when most poeple can't hear anything.

By: queen zixi

queen zixi — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:38:08 -0800

Doesn't MP3 strip out everything above 15kHz? ... Yes, the peak on this is 15011Hz, not 17000.

By: Pliskie

Pliskie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:40:07 -0800

Those of you who hear, or used to hear, the TV on in another room even when the sound was off, were hearing flyback, the mechanism involved with tracing the raster image on the screen. ~15kHz. Not far off from this ringtone. When I listen to the mp3 of this ringtone, it strikes me as not pure, as if it might contain harmonics lower than 17kHz.

By: mmahaffie

mmahaffie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:42:47 -0800

43, and I didn't hear anything. My ten-year-old, in the next room, grabbed her ears and said "what's that beeping!?!?" I played it again and she did a spit take, all over my wife's jacket. She couldn't hear it either, but no she's annoyed at all of you for making me try to hear it!

By: ramix

ramix — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:42:56 -0800

32 - yes

By: danny the boy

danny the boy — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:43:36 -0800

26 - Yes and my head is killing me. It's been a few minutes and I still feel pressure behind my eyeballs and eardrums. Ow. I'm not in favor of wholesale bans of cell phones in schools (I think they serve a purpose, sadly, in a post-Columbine/post-9/11 world) but I think any kid found using this particular tone should receive some serious punishment because it serves no purpose but to allow the circumvention of rules regarding phone use in classes and other proscribed areas. posted by Dreama Narc!

By: jefbla

jefbla — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:44:21 -0800

30, and I can hear it. Can't these crafty little teenagers just set their phones on vibrate?

By: Mcable

Mcable — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:44:55 -0800

48, You damn kids get off my yard with your inaudible ringtones!!! My daughter, 15, complained about how loud and unpleasant it was. I played it three times and heard nothing the first two times but when I played it a third time I was farther from the computer and I could just hear it. Wife, 47, thinks we're nuts and making it all up.

By: casconed

casconed — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:45:24 -0800

shenanigans. boing boing offers this link in response, which points out that cellphone speakers cap out aroun 10khz. there is some ensuing discussion (warning: pdf) that suggests that the speakers can playback much higher frequencies, but my experience with audio content on cellphones is that the compression used in the ringtones bandlimits the frequency well below the 17khz that this dude is pushing.

By: jefbla

jefbla — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:45:54 -0800

sorry, didn't read all the comments up thread, ignore my vibrate comment

By: danny the boy

danny the boy — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:47:32 -0800

I don't get why the little buggers would be excited about rendering their ringer silent to the over-30 crowd. Doesn't, uh, YAMMERING into their phones tend to give away their little secret anyway? posted by nakedcodemonkey (According to the article) the kids these days are mostly using it as a text message alert, grandpa. Kidding!

By: Kloryne

Kloryne — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:47:39 -0800

33/f/L.A. Taurus

By: casconed

casconed — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:49:04 -0800

also: original bb post

By: rockabilly_pete

rockabilly_pete — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:51:02 -0800

25 - I can barely hear it, and only if I concentrate. Certainly wouldn't notice it in a classroom setting.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:51:13 -0800

40, can hear it just fine.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:51:52 -0800

39 with a lifetime of ear infections and I can hear it just fine. The funny part is I stopped noticing CRT whine a few years ago, so I'm wondering if my crappy laptop speakers are distorting things enough to make it audible. If I had to listen to it every time I got a msg I'd burn the phone.

By: Quiplash

Quiplash — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:51:56 -0800

42. Nope. *sigh*

By: ArkhanJG

ArkhanJG — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:54:11 -0800

30, and that was definitely 'ouch'. Then I realised the muted TV was making a similar tone (but quieter), and had to turn it off too. It used to drive me crazy as a kid that my parents couldn't hear that noise, and would get annoyed when I went round unplugging TV's until I found the one doing it. Do you guys get annoyed by CRT's at 60Hz too? The flickering on those gives me a headache very quickly, I don't know how people stand it. Oddly enough, I find I have much more trouble with lower frequencies, including voice. I really struggle on telephones sometimes.

By: Mcable

Mcable — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:54:21 -0800

Nakedcodemonkey:"I don't get why the little buggers would be excited about rendering their ringer silent to the over-30 crowd. Doesn't, uh, YAMMERING into their phones tend to give away their little secret anyway?" The little buggers are all into pulling one over on the over-30's. it doesn't matter if it's practical, it's all about screwing around with us old people.

By: Mapes

Mapes — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:55:03 -0800

OK, I did it: Now, don't let the observer effect bother you.

By: Electric Elf

Electric Elf — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:55:35 -0800

I can hear it, but I don't know if I'd be able to identify it as a ringtone; it's a similar noise to exceptionally noisy fluorescent bulbs, or TVs on the 'video' setting. In any case, it's annoying.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:56:00 -0800

Also, I also never knew there were so many 30something and 40something folks on MeFi. But, yeah, I'd guess this has to go up another 2 or 3 khz to actually circumvent the majority of teachers.

By: fungible

fungible — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:56:04 -0800

36, yes I can hear it. But I call bullshit. No phone can make a sound like that.

By: WhipSmart

WhipSmart — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:56:45 -0800

I can hear it and I am thrilled to learn that I'm not the only person in the world who can tell when a TV or monitor is on even when the sound is off... if I have my windows open, I can tell when my neighbors turn their TV's on too... And don't even get me started on flourescent lights...

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:57:43 -0800

Mapes, you rock.

By: WhipSmart

WhipSmart — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:58:10 -0800

and, oh yeah, I'm 33

By: mygothlaundry

mygothlaundry — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:02:48 -0800

43 - heard it & it made me about jump out of my skin. Yuck! My ears still hurt.

By: notreally

notreally — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:03:22 -0800

69-very hard of hearing both ears and I can hear it perfectly?????????At lowest possible volume level.????

By: jba

jba — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:03:44 -0800

my girlfriend, 28, could hear it quite clearly (i think via headphones). I, 29 could not hear it via the built-in speaker in my laptop (sony TR3A), but when i hooked a pair of generally crappy, but larger harman/kardon desktop PC speakers, i could hear it reasonably well (particularly at the beginning), but it just sounded like a high-pitched beep. It's interesting that the speakers in the average cell phone are better than the internal speaker in a less than 3 year old laptop. Speaker quality may be a major factor in who can and can-not hear the tone.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:04:40 -0800

43. Heard it at max volume through the laptop speakers - despite the evils of my misspent youth. When you play it backwards you can hear "John is Dead" loud and clear.

By: stenseng

stenseng — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:05:52 -0800

25, hear it, hurts like a bitch.

By: 3.2.3

3.2.3 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:06:07 -0800

48 - yes. hey, great way to get everybody to tell their ages.

By: disclaimer

disclaimer — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:07:24 -0800

43, I have a good strong case of tinnitus, and I can hear it. Damn whippersnappers won't be using no tones on MY lawn.

By: Foosnark

Foosnark — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:08:07 -0800

34, can hear it loud and clear.

By: disclaimer

disclaimer — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:08:30 -0800

but I don't own a lawn so its kind of a null anyway

By: rand

rand — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:09:27 -0800

Just moved the mp3 over to my phone and much to my suprise, that same damn noise came out of my phone as did my computer.

By: H-Bar

H-Bar — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:09:38 -0800

21, and I've been diagnosed with high-frequency hearing loss. I can still hear it.

By: ed

ed — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:09:55 -0800

31. I can hear it very clearly, but at a low volume. A few more years before it will give me a headache?

By: EarBucket

EarBucket — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:14:11 -0800

26, can hear it perfectly well. There's a (somewhat) related hearing test here that's interesting. Pliskie, didn't know that about flyback, thanks. It's always bugged me a little while I'm using the computer.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:14:42 -0800

Maybe those of you who can't hear it are playing it through laptop speakers? Yup: I listened to it again through my home PC with good external speakers and it was definitely much louder and clearer. Pissed my cat right off too.

By: Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:18:21 -0800

44 and can't hear a thing. I find this strangely disconcerting.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:20:49 -0800

> remeber reading some speculation there was dependence on the quality of the > speaker to get the effect. Cheaper, nastier speakers could make it otherwise audible > because the specific frequencies involved 'leaked' into other frequencies or rattled > the equipment. My soundcard audio out goes straight to my regular stereo line in. It's no $25K audiophile system but it ain't PC speakers either. Anyhow, I hear the little zeeeeeeee loud and clear. My ears are 56. P.S it looks very strange in Winamp's frequency analyzer plugin.

By: splatta

splatta — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:22:17 -0800

27 and I can hear it on my old Ti Powerbook, I can't hear it on my girlfriend's Macbook, and I can hear it on my Nokia 6682. This must have something to do with the speaker quality.

By: truex

truex — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:23:35 -0800

24, and the tone was clear as crystal. I can hear televisions that are on blank screens from other rooms though, so I'm probably an anomalous data point. My hearing is particularly sensitive to high frequencies. If I was teaching a class (which I might be diong soon), I'd probably just tell students that yes, I can hear it, and that they shouldn't assume everything they read is true. Maybe give an impromptu lesson on frequencies that can be detected by the human ear. Either that or just have a laptop blaring it at all times to keep everybody in a state of high-strung cat-like readiness.

By: delfuego

delfuego — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:26:33 -0800

33, can hear it fine.

By: delfuego

delfuego — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:26:58 -0800

(That's on three different computers, all with high-quality speakers that likely reproduce it faithfully.)

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:27:14 -0800

25. Hear it. It hurts. I've never been a big guy, but if anyone had used this when I was in high school there would've been an immediate beatdown. In NYC, where I live, and where the school cell phone ban has been a big issue of late, I can see this taking off. The funny thing is, most NYC teachers are in their early to mid-twenties, and all the ones I know are tech-savvy. I really don't see this working very well. Oh, and NationalKato is right. This would make a kick-ass ringtone, provided it didn't affect me personally.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:28:57 -0800

Oh, and if it actually worked. And was audible.

By: truex

truex — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:31:26 -0800

Navelgazer said... And was audible. You could just use the fact that everybody around you has either spontaneously evacuated their bowles or is running towards a restroom as a call indicator.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:34:51 -0800

What’s the frequency, Kenneth? Heard it fine. But I almost have to sleep in a sensory deprivation chamber. I hear grass growing. What’s the tone that can shatter glass?

By: fisherKing

fisherKing — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:35:29 -0800

my biz partner, 52, hears it just fine (when i played it over studio speakers, he got really annoyed). hurt my ears...

By: msali

msali — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:35:47 -0800

34, and I heard it. Still hear it. Damn thing made my ears ring!

By: Rashomon

Rashomon — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:37:03 -0800

Nice way to get our ages... I'm 39. I can hear it fine. Don't like it. Turn it off. Thank you.

By: everichon

everichon — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:37:10 -0800

33, and I had to gradually turn it up till I could hear it, and then (I think) only cos I was listening for it. But I have crap hearing and I know it.

By: OverlappingElvis

OverlappingElvis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:37:49 -0800

19, and even at the lowest volume it gives me this horrible sickening headache as soon it starts to play. Turned up louder, it was just about unbearable. See also this for the flip side of younger people generally being more sensitive to high-frequency tones.

By: unixrat

unixrat — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:37:55 -0800

31, could hear it, couldn't dance to it.

By: kjs3

kjs3 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:40:38 -0800

39, can sorta hear it, but it's more "wow...that gives me a headache". Seems to mildly annoy the cats as well.

By: Mr. Six

Mr. Six — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:48:36 -0800

30, could hear it fine, started barking and howling...

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:53:14 -0800

35, heard it. Gee, "ringtones" just get more and more annoying.

By: joeblough

joeblough — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:54:28 -0800

36 and yes, though some 40-somethings in the room could not hear it.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:55:16 -0800

For additional fun - here's a breakdown of different frequencies to try. I can't hear it properly above about 15khz - there's an indication something's playing I'm taking as speaker artificats, but I can't say it's a high pitched 'Squee' once I hit 16

By: Soliloquy

Soliloquy — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:55:44 -0800

31, don't hear it. (But I have some known neurological problems that can affect hearing, so I'm not surprised.)

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:56:09 -0800

Folks listening to this in Winamp: turn the EQ off. Mine, anyway, drops a lot of crap into lower freq ranges which might confuse the issue. After turning the EQ off and doing a quickie freq analysis (Winamp->WAV file->AnalFreq (heh heh heh) ) it looks like it's up about 60-65dB around 15kHz, with nothing else to speak of above 150Hz or so. So the file at least looks legit.* Of course, this totally evades the question of what the speakers are doing. *Assuming I'm using reasonably reliable tools here, which I really can't guarantee but whatever...

By: Sandor Clegane

Sandor Clegane — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:56:18 -0800

27, I have tinnitus in my right ear, I'm on my work laptop and I can still hear it with no problems. I always thought that humans could hear up to 20khz on average anyway (barring hearing damage or old age).

By: linux

linux — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:57:17 -0800

32 1/2. Eeeeeeeeeeee. Yes, I can hear the TV whine when left on with no feed.

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:57:25 -0800

27, I can hear it - in fact I can still hear it now it's finished, and it hurts.

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:57:47 -0800

27, I can hear it - in fact I can still hear it now it's finished, and it hurts. Didn't have to turn the volume up either.

By: aaronscool

aaronscool — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:58:40 -0800

33 and yes it hurt very much.

By: Malor

Malor — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:58:46 -0800

38: it is VERY loud and annoying. It has static or something in it, too.... it sort of crackles, for lack of a better word. Judging from memory, I'm not sure this ringtone is actually 17khz. I don't think it's high enough. I always used to be able to hear TVs as a young person, and can't anymore. I tested my hearing at the Exploratorium and could hear up to about 28.5 khz at age 18ish.... maybe I could have gone farther, but that was the max the machine would do. It wasn't loud, it was just a whisper by 28khz, but I could hear it. By age 25, I couldn't max the machine anymore. I believe my upper limit by then was about 24k. (I'm assuming the machine was still working properly: it had been there a long time by then.) This ringtone doesn't sound ANYTHING like the ultrasonic stuff I could hear as a kid... so I rather wonder if it's not knocked down a number of notches so we adults get an idea of what it sounds like?

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 15:59:39 -0800

damnit

By: smitt

smitt — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:01:01 -0800

23 and it's almost a painful noise for me... Even at low volume.

By: Malor

Malor — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:02:04 -0800

Ok, after testing those links... the ring tone in the original article is not 17khz. I can just barely kinda hear 16khz from Sparkx's link. I think the original article's frequency is probably about 14k.

By: ob

ob — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:02:56 -0800

30, I can hear it and it's very irritating indeed. My wife is 26 and she can hear it but she doesn't think it's that bad...

By: smitt

smitt — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:03:58 -0800

Can anyone make an audio file (WAV?) that actually is 17khz so we can see what that really sounds like?

By: gnomeloaf

gnomeloaf — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:04:03 -0800

37, 36, 5, and 10 year old cat. We can all hear it at full volume on my laptop speakers. Everyone except the 36 year old can hear it at half volume.

By: synapse

synapse — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:04:41 -0800

29. Mother of god that was painful. Ripped the headphones off immediately.

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:05:30 -0800

Through the midget speaker in my laptop - nada. However, when plugged into a Tivoli radio - oooohhhh, that is an annoying whine. I am significantly older than 18, but I bet the tone is a lot louder for a teen than it is for me.

By: maryh

maryh — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:07:13 -0800

40. Heard it only after I turned my speakers waaay up. Made my sinuses ache, thank you. My four yr old heard it easily with the volume set very low.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:08:51 -0800

Malor, You're close (do you have a trained ear?) I'm measuring a very sharp peak centered at 15kHz, down about 60dB when you go up and down about 300Hz (eyeballing here, thus the "abouts.")

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:09:07 -0800

smitt - try the link to ochenk posted by Sparx, above. I could hear everything up to (and not including) 19000.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:10:00 -0800

An mp3 is not the right way to evaluate a 17 kHz tone - mp3's don't put out much above 14 kHz. The speakers you're using matter a lot, too. Not all speakers will reproduce such a tone with fidelity.

By: pointilist

pointilist — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:11:01 -0800

52, hear it, it fades, notice it going off. I just didn't think it was good for my ears.

By: Goblindegook

Goblindegook — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:13:30 -0800

27 here. I can hear it clearly and find it extremely unpleasant.

By: Malor

Malor — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:14:22 -0800

From quick testing with Foobar and its (limited) frequency visualizer, the test sound in the article is only about 13.5Khz. It definitely sounds lower to me than the 14khz test tone from Sparx's link does. Visually, it's centered somewhat lower as well. Opposite George's testing may be better than mine. I'm assuming that Sparx's test tones are accurate... I'm not using real equipment or anything. But based on his test tones, the one in the original article looks to be about 13.5Khz. OG: no training, just genetics. :)

By: briank

briank — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:15:29 -0800

42, heard it with the volume turned up, but I am in a small room with a loud computer and a window fan. In a quieter surrounding, I would have heard it at normal volume. Don't know if I'd catch it if I were in a loud, busy public space, but I'd hear it in a mostly silent classroom.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:19:04 -0800

22, I can hear it, and no pain or anything. I can hear CRTs, too. I have ridiculously crappy headphones, but later on I'll try Sparx's link again and see if I can hear all the way up to 20khz.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:23:07 -0800

Opposite George's testing may be better than mine. No clue. I'm working with a program (AnalFreq) that I hadn't heard of more than an hour ago, whose main selling point was its freeosity. On top of that I'm doing a conversion step in between. The results smelled good since the graph I get peaks exactly at 15k and its down 60dB or so everywhere else, but I really can't stand behind any of this.

By: special-k

special-k — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:23:11 -0800

28 - I can hear it just fine.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:23:59 -0800

er, it's, dammit.

By: darksmiler

darksmiler — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:28:36 -0800

41 and could hear nothing on my crappy desktop speakers. I loaded it on to my phone and could just about hear it. I can see some fun coming though on the tube during school kicking out time...

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:35:41 -0800

41 and hear it clearly at medium volume on the iMac speakers. When my hearing was tested as a teen I had extremely high hearing -- well above 20kHz but I don't remember exactly how much -- I could hear higher freqs than anyone else in my radio broadcasting class, though. About 5 years ago I was tested again and while I don't remember the kHz reading, I supposedly tested pretty high again despite all the years of loud rock music. Now I think I have finally started to lose the high end, but this doesn't sound all that high to me.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:35:47 -0800

Pardon? Sue per huge frog Quincey binge foam? (29, couldn't hear a thing. But then I do spend most conversations saying 'Sorrywhatdidyousay?' Bloody nightclubs.)

By: jb

jb — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:36:14 -0800

28, I heard it, but my husband (26) and friend (25) seemed to hear it more strongly. Or at least have less patience of for listening to it than I do. It is faint, and somewhat white noise like. I might hear it and not even realise if I weren't listening for it. As for the vibrate issue: back pocket, sit on it, no one else can hear it. Not that I would be sending text messages in silent libraries to test this or anything. Place with white noise is better than truely quiet stacks. In a classroom, a phone on vibrate would not be heard, provided it's under your bum.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:37:41 -0800

The equipment being used will have a huge effect on whether you can hear it. Speakers, amplifier, sound card, could start to roll off anywhere between 10kHz and 20kHz - only fairly serious equipment would go higher. Some important things to consider:

The frequencies you see listed in specifications are where the roll off begins. If a device is specified at 15kHz there will normally be at least some discernable signal left at 30kHz. It depends on a lot of things though..
High frequencies are highly directional, they roll off quickly in air, and they reflect off almost everything. In practice, I find that these factors mean that very minor head motion (pointing direction or position) will change the perceived volume radically. I also find that such very high pitched sounds can be very hard to localise (which may appear to contradict the claim of directionality, but I don't think it actually does, for all kinds of reasons).
Hearing is logarithmic in frequency and amplitude. There is very little difference between 15kHz and 17kHz (two notes?).

By: obeetaybee

obeetaybee — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:31 -0800

33, and only when the volume of my laptop was up all the way. I've got a 30% hearing loss in my left ear, so I don't think I would normally hear it. It make something in the back of my throat hurt though. Weird.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:50:52 -0800

24 and HOLY DOG, if someone played that near me, I'd smack them into next week.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:50:58 -0800

Malor, I just ran an analysis on Sparx's 15kHz tone. The spectrum is different enough to the Times' file that I could understand if a set of good ears hears them as different pitches. BTW, my ears are bad enough that all I get out of either file is "squee." Also, IANA acoustician, so maybe I'm completely full of crap. Anyway, Sparx's tone seems to have a richer, more regular (eyballing again) distribution of lower freqs. The Times' file has a more random, spiky distribution, with the bumps less well defined over the floor.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:51:53 -0800

By playing a test tone along with the mp3 you can match the frequency very closely. Once you are in the ball park listen for volume fluctuation (the beat frequency). When the fluctuation becomes very slow or stops, you have a match. For me, that occurs at 14993kHz+/- 1kHz.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:52:36 -0800

38, hearing damaged in the high frequencies thanks to an industrial accident, and I can still hear it. Not only can I hear it, but it makes my head feel like it's splitting in half.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:53:38 -0800

Also, both sharply centered at 15kHz.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:54:38 -0800

Oh, and I forgot to mention, now I have a headache.. I should have fired up MATLAB, ala grapefruitmoon

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:54:48 -0800

I also find that such very high pitched sounds can be very hard to localise (which may appear to contradict the claim of directionality, but I don't think it actually does, for all kinds of reasons). Indeed. Locating the source of a high-pitched pure-ish tone can be maddening. I once spent a long fifteen minutes trying to figure out just what piece of equipment in an unfamiliar 10'x10' video room was uttering a horrific ~12kHz sine wave. Ick. A small battery powered device blasting this sort of tone would be a great (that is, terrible) way to torture a cubedweller/homeowner/cardriver you dislike.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:04:22 -0800

33, heard it in headphones, am now going to kill the neighbors' dog as per the underlying messages encoded in that hell-tone.

By: Sangermaine

Sangermaine — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:05:21 -0800

Here is a quick frequency analysis of the ringtone:

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:31:50 -0800

cortex : "I once spent a long fifteen minutes trying to figure out just what piece of equipment in an unfamiliar 10'x10' video room was uttering a horrific ~12kHz sine wave. Ick." I'm in a 50' by 50' or so room (maybe more) with I estimate 100 computers or more, all of different makes and models, pointing in different directions. Welcome to my high pitched, impossible to locate, squee-ing hell.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:40:36 -0800

25 and could hear up to the 18kHz tone in Sparx's link. I wouldn't think the fact that it's an mp3 should be too much of an issue since it is only a single tone being encoded. However, for regular (music) audio mp3's you wouldn't tend to get much output above 16kHz. This is because the mp3 algorithm essentially discards frequencies if they are masked by louder frequencies in close proximity. This is what's known as the ear's critical band response. As noted by chuckles, hearing is logarithmic in nature and therefore the higher critical bands cover much greater ranges of frequency and therefore tend to get masked more. (Oh and while we can't discern actual pitch above about 4000 Hz the difference between 15kHz and 17kHz would be equivalent to between 2 and 3 semitones)

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:49:37 -0800

34, yes, happily - b/c I thought my hearing was getting worse, I guess it is, but not that frequency range yet. It's now my ringtone. :P

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:56:29 -0800

I think my sound card or speakers must be broken on this computer. I can hear the 25,000 hz frequency better than the 15,000 hz, and it seems like a lower frequency. Why is this? I will have to get out the headphones and try again.

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:06:33 -0800

It's the sound card distorting. I had the help of a thirteen year old and some high fidelity headphones to confirm that the sounds started getting lower in frequency after about 16-17,000 hz. That can only be harmonics or other distortion coming from the sound card. In other words, just because you can hear the tone does not mean you are hearing the frequency.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:07:22 -0800

32, decent but not great speakers on a desktop system, and that was fairly obnoxious. But I don't know how faithful the speakers are – I tested Sparx's links, and I can hear up to 19kHz if the speakers were right.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:15:17 -0800

Actually the tones in that link are sampled at 44.1kHz (they were probably generated at higher sampling rates but most likely encoded for mp3 at 44.1kHz) and therefore couldn't present tones any higher than 22050 Hz (known as the Nyquist rate). What you are probably getting caddis is aliasing, which essentially is distortion caused by the Digital to Analogue conversion, trying to recreate frequencies that weren't there originally, but that it thinks are there due to sampling at too low a frequency

By: MythMaker

MythMaker — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:20:17 -0800

I'm 34, and I can definitely hear it. It does remind me of a TV left on in the next room...

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:23:58 -0800

Frequency analysis of the supposed 25kHz tone

By: Capt. Bligh

Capt. Bligh — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:34:14 -0800

Here is a good tone generator to test your hearing. NCH Tone Generator

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:36:10 -0800

42, just barely (on a notebook)

By: helcat

helcat — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:36:25 -0800

39 and I heard it. And I'm not happy about it either.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:36:43 -0800

I can only hear it in my left ear, oddly enough.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:43:03 -0800

35. Can't hear it at all. Great ... now I'm worried about my hearing. posted by pardonyou? at 4:55 PM EST on June 12 [+fave] [!] That was at work. I just tried it at home and could hear it.

By: Jerub

Jerub — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:50:59 -0800

23, male, Ow Ow Ow, make it stop. I have the aforementioned mutant ability to walk into a house and know if TVs or CRT monitors are on. Sparx gave a link to a series of mp3s, and it seems my hearing caps out at 20kHz.

By: black8

black8 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:51:43 -0800

I'm 38, a musician and total music fiend and I could hear it... It was was really annoying though. Kooky kidz...

By: Penks

Penks — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:51:46 -0800

30. I can hear it perfectly on my laptop, but it didn't bother me at all or give me a headache.

By: sixpack

sixpack — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:57:58 -0800

50. I can't hear it, but I can feel my right ear drum vibrate about halfway through the tone.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:58:20 -0800

45. I only hear a very quiet hmmmm, with the speakers turned up to 11. I assume that's not what I'm supposed to be hearing.

By: Penks

Penks — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:00:19 -0800

Weird, I tried Sparx's link, and with the volume all the way up I could hear 21kHz, but not 19 kHz. 17 kHz I could hear just fine at lower volumes.

By: unrepentanthippie

unrepentanthippie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:05:54 -0800

60, volume up, desktop crappy speakers. Blown eardrum, years back, and some sound on noise problems ever since. A lot of tinnitus. Had to crank it, but I can hear it, and these speakers don't have a lot of power.

By: smallerdemon

smallerdemon — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:12:43 -0800

Ok, so I tried the one on the actual link, and I could hear it. Hunh. I couldn't hear a couple of other samples that I found earlier. I'm 40, btw. (I mentioned earlier that I couldn't hear it, but it does depend.)

By: knave

knave — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:14:57 -0800

26, loud and clear.

By: Karmakaze

Karmakaze — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:21:03 -0800

34, yes

By: area45

area45 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:29:32 -0800

42, Yup, loud and annoyingly clear

By: photoslob

photoslob — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:33:53 -0800

35, I can hear it in my right ear but not my left. I have chronic ear wax issues that probably explain the left ear - TMI I'm sure.

By: UseyurBrain

UseyurBrain — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:37:45 -0800

39, and nothing. Tried it all the way up too and put the speaker right up to my ear.

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:38:09 -0800

33, just barely at mid-volume, clearly at max volume.

By: Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson

Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:38:25 -0800

24... could hear no higher than 17kHz on Sparx's link. It's weird how they were all coming in loud and clear-- maybe a tiny dip in volume between 16 and 17kHz -- then, at 18, silence. Blissful, blissful silence.

By: selfmedicating

selfmedicating — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:38:57 -0800

36, sounds like a faint annoying buzz to me, with my laptop sound cranked all the way up. There is no way I would hear this if I were teaching in a classroom. Apparently my hearing sucks, since I had no clue people could hear a TV without the sound on.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:48:49 -0800

33. Jeepers, that was awful!

By: janicea

janicea — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:52:34 -0800

I couldn't hear it on my ibook, but it got my dog disgruntled and made her woof from 2 rooms away. Sigh. 47.

By: ztdavis

ztdavis — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:54:55 -0800

And just because we need a few more comments: 21, and yes.

By: BlueMetal

BlueMetal — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:23:48 -0800

Yes, makes me wish I couldn't. At one time I could also hear part of the alarm system at the Metroplitan, though only in some rooms ... it made an even more annoying sound than the ringtone.

By: docpops

docpops — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:25:31 -0800

39 Voices of Civil War generals urging abstinence are clearly audible.

By: Mayor West

Mayor West — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:01:19 -0800

22, can hear it just fine. Capt. Bligh's tone generator seems to do a better job with higher frequencies than do the MP3 links, and my hearing seems to crap out between 21 and 22K. Also, I am now convinced that I have tinnitus, since acutely listening for high-pitched sounds has led me to continue hearing high pitched sounds after the fact. You kids, my lawn, etc. etc.

By: AsYouKnow Bob

AsYouKnow Bob — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:23:26 -0800

50, and I can just hear it on the crap speakers on my iBook. (Cranked.) (It's not as loud as the voices in my head, though....) I used to be really annoyed by the flyback tone on tv sets; in recent years, not so much, although I still hear enough of it that I can still tell as soon as I enter a room if a tv is on or not.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:30:08 -0800

48, heard it

By: intermod

intermod — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:30:09 -0800

This is silly. I'm not about to read 222 comments to see if someone else has already said this, but chances are that the 17 kHz audio being played back is being distorted by A) the mp3 compression process and B) the audio circuitry in your crappy ass sound card and peecee speakers, and so what you're hearing in your speakers is not at all pure 17 kHz -- it's 17 kHz plus lots of harmonics and other distortions, at least that's what I'm hearing. In short, hardly a real test. Meh. Oh and damn teenagers, collapse of civilized society, public education woes, et cetera.

By: cellphone

cellphone — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:44:26 -0800

24 - Can hear it clear as hell.

By: cellphone

cellphone — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:45:53 -0800

There sounds like there's a few distinct tones here, not just one. One that's definitely lower than the 17khz, and others that I can't guess off the top of my head, that are definitely higher.

By: cellphone

cellphone — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:47:21 -0800

Ok, from Sparx's link, I can just barely hear 17khz. And that's it. THANKS A LOT SUNNO)))

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:57:38 -0800

intermod, a) yes b) no (sound chips) c) yes (speakers) Anyone want to try a 16 Hz tone :)

By: dougunderscorenelso

dougunderscorenelso — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:07:35 -0800

24, yes, and loudly.

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:19:40 -0800

Yes, 33. Sounds like that occur pretty frequently in my music.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:35:59 -0800

Intermod speaks truth. When I played sparx's link with xmms, I could hear them all with perfect clarity... but the fact is, they didn't even sound particularlly high-pitched. Clearly an issue with the alsa driver support for my sound card; they were giving me some low-end harmonic rather than the actual tones. On a mac with quicktime the results were more credible. The thing is, PC sound cards, speakers and MP3 decoding software aren't going to perform to any standard at these frequencies. (Or any other, really.) I wonder how many of the above are really hearing what they think they are.

By: StrasbourgSecaucus

StrasbourgSecaucus — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 23:03:30 -0800

28, jesus christ that hurt

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 23:45:12 -0800

I heard it and I'm as old as the hills.

By: Asparagirl

Asparagirl — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 23:50:17 -0800

27, female, with mild congenital low frequency hearing loss (believed to be due to bone conductivity issues, not nerve damage issues). Could hear it okay, didn't like it. Husband (27) and cat (4) sitting in the next room heard it loud and clear and didn't like that racket one bit, no sir.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:44:28 -0800

31, female, heard the mp3 linked in the article clearly. On Sparx's link I could hear everything up to 20,000Hz but nothing above.

By: honeydew

honeydew — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:43:30 -0800

Huh. 22 and thus far I'm the youngest of this crowd that can't hear it. And a music teacher, at that. Well, this is definitely unnerving.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:02:13 -0800

33, I heard it but pretty faintly. Very annoying, it truly felt like my brain was twitching.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:05:16 -0800

...and it was quite staticy. Anyone else hear background noise or is it just me? Or just my crappy speakers?

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:03:26 -0800

26, heard it on both the speaker sets and all four headphones in our living room. I'm probably in the the lowest ten percent in terms of lifetime exposure to loud sounds here. Wife, 34, couldn't hear it at all, and is probably in the highest. Gerbils went fucking bezerk, and TVs drive me insane. Hooked up some high-end Sennheiser cans to a good amp, and got 23KHz on Sparx test.

By: antifuse

antifuse — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 03:44:29 -0800

Boing Boing had this story 3 weeks ago. I thought about posting it, but I'm 28 and I can hear the sound just fine, so it seemed kind of dumb. Why would kids risk using this ringtone, which some adults CAN hear, when they could just put it on silent and look at the phone every once in a while? I call shenanigans on this whole story!

By: kudzu

kudzu — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:52:22 -0800

33, it hurts but I can hear it

By: Sprout the Vulgarian

Sprout the Vulgarian — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:05:41 -0800

I assume that the whole reason for sneaking a ringtone into a classroom in the first place is so one can read one's messages. Otherwise, you're still waiting until class is over. If all the kids have the same ringtone, wouldn't they ALL try to sneak a look at their phones at the same time when the tone goes off? That would end up pretty obvious. If I were a teacher, I think I'd institute a "phone-bucket" for voluntary surrrender during the class period.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:18:15 -0800

Mayor West : "Also, I am now convinced that I have tinnitus, since acutely listening for high-pitched sounds has led me to continue hearing high pitched sounds after the fact." Ah, it's not just me, then. I could hear when it started clear as a bell, but the sound continued even after I hit the "stop" button. antifuse : "Why would kids risk using this ringtone, which some adults CAN hear, when they could just put it on silent and look at the phone every once in a while?" Because kids are dumb (apologies to any kids on here. Adults are dumb, too). Which is why I really, really hope this catches on, as kid after dumbfounded kid gets busted by teachers even though, "hey, you're not supposed to be able to hear that, you're an adult!"

By: quite unimportant

quite unimportant — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:31:03 -0800

27. Strapped into a signal generator at work and got as far as 16250 Hz with headphones on. I CRANKED the volume at 17 kHz and it felt like my zygomatic arches were being crushed. While I couldn't hear the tone, my ears definitely knew something LOUD and possibly damaging was going on. If I couldn't hear 17 kHz before, I sure as hell can't now.

By: ninthart

ninthart — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:31:10 -0800

39, and yes, I heard it. And it was horrible. Ow, ow, ow, indeed.

By: Mapes

Mapes — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:38:35 -0800

So far (finer lines indicate results from each additional forty responses):

By: the cydonian

the cydonian — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:56:44 -0800

24, and I can clearly hear it, although I'm wondering if I can if I put this as my ringtone and I walk into a crowded place. Heck, I can't hear my phone going off half the time, and I have a Fort Minor mp3 as my ringtone.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 06:17:28 -0800

38, faint electronic whine. Had to crank the speakers up halfway, though full volume, it was somewhat irritating. I wouldn't have noticed it at all if I were outdoors or in a busy area.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 06:36:57 -0800

The sound I get matches the 3 kHz tone from the hearing test linked by EarBucket. On that test, the 16kHz tone sounds lower than the 12 kHz tone, at the loud end. I have a new Logitech speaker set (their top surround system) playing on a Soundblaster Audigy 2zs. Isn't this supposed to be 'good'? Clearly, the sound isn't reproduced with any faith. I'd plug in my Fostex headphones, but I'm lazy.

By: Seabird

Seabird — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 06:41:30 -0800

50. Didn't hear it played through Zinf. I opened it in Magix Audio Cleaning Lab, didn't change a thing, and heard it loud and clear. Saved it without changing, and could hear the new mp3 in Zinf; original still inaudible. Something screwy here. Used another program to convert the mp3 to wav, and heard that loud and clear as well. I don't know which disturbs me more: That I can't hear the original squeal, or that my own software seems to be converting the frequency when I run the tone through it. It makes me wonder what it's doing to the music I thought I was preserving!

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:05:48 -0800

And just as an idea, this should be easily defeated using the same technology used to detect high frequency bat calls.

By: cccorlew

cccorlew — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:29:12 -0800

Me-->52: not a thing on my laptop Daughter --> 16: "What's that noise?"

By: grubi

grubi — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:03:47 -0800

32 and OUCH. Yes, I can hear it. And now my coworkers know I am susceptible to higher frequencies and are torturing me with it.

By: duality

duality — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:05:44 -0800

in my 30's and i can hear it; i have always been able to hear a TV being turned on and such so i suppose this just confirms that not only is TV my friend but i am still stuck at 15 as all my friends and co-workers keep telling me now back to fart jokes and beer bongs.

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:36:44 -0800

I just moved the file over to my phone. The sound the phone makes is completely different from that my computer made. On the phone, it sounds pretty much just like a CRT or mosquito on speed. On the computer, it was much lower and "dirty" -- not a pure tone. I was skeptical at first, but after hearing it on the phone I can totally see how this could work. Oh, and I'm 34.

By: lester

lester — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:40:56 -0800

damn. 44, can't hear a thing.

By: taosbat

taosbat — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:42:45 -0800

51 - Heard it through (pretty good) built-in laptop speakers. It didn't bother me at all so I plugged in my head phones: heard it much better and it still didn't bother me. I haven't owned a TV in years. 2 cats, ages 5 and 2, can hear it.

By: ObscureReferenceMan

ObscureReferenceMan — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 09:44:47 -0800

45 here. Couldn't hear it. And for those of you scoring at home, on Sparx's link, I could hear up to 13K. Then at 14K, could hear it in my right ear, but not the left, then 15K, nothing.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 10:25:59 -0800

35, male. I hear it fine even on low volumes, but don't find it annoying. On Sparx's link, I could hear up to 15K even at low volumes. 16K I could hear only with the volume all the way up, and even then only in my right ear, and only faintly. (No surprise there, as I've previously been diagnosed with a bit of high-frequency hearing loss in my left ear.) 17K I couldn't hear at all.

By: nlindstrom

nlindstrom — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 10:41:19 -0800

163 years old, male. I could hear it in my right ear, despite the immense forest of hair growing there. Lost my left ear in a sword fight years ago, so I couldn't hear it on that side.

By: taosbat

taosbat — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:27:13 -0800

And for those of you scoring at home, on Sparx's link, I could hear up to 13K. Then at 14K, could hear it in my right ear, but not the left, then 15K, nothing. posted by ObscureReferenceMan Thanks, I'd missed that link. I can hear the demos fine up to 15,000 Hz but nothing at 16K & beyond.

By: ryran

ryran — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 11:59:19 -0800

Fantastically interesting. At least, for the fantastically bored and procrastinating. Of course, I'm talking about age distribution of mefites here. Anyway, I'm thinking that the majority of people that reported they can't hear it actually would be able to with the right setup. On this work computer for example: Quicktime has made itself the the default handler of mp3s, so when I initially clicked on it, it went to a blank page with a little embedded Quicktime player and played it... with just a hiss of noise. After seeing the comments I figured there had to be something wrong, so I opened it up in Winamp and fb2k and of course immediately got the earsplitting pain that so many people reported. <-- That's just the software side; as is probably obvious and lots have mentioned, speakers can make all the difference in the world when trying to reproduce frequencies outside the popular range. From using both the files on the blog link and the software link I figure my hearing tops off somewhere between 19.5-20KHz. Oh yeah--almost forgot. male/22/scorpio

By: 1f2frfbf

1f2frfbf — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 12:33:52 -0800

29. I hear it clear as a bell. A bell that marks the passing of the flight of supersonic demons and makes eyeballs bleed and ears rupture. The forty-somethings in my office can't hear it. My old office mates used to annoy me by bouncing hard drive platters off each other, I was the only one who could hear it, and it gave me piercing headaches.

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:38:00 -0800

I can't hear a single, solitary thing. Rats. female/39/virgo

By: krakedhalo

krakedhalo — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:04:28 -0800

I heard this just fine. Count me with the TV In The Other Room crowd too. I wouldn't mind one of my kids using this in class. I'm not saying it's not annoying, but at my school the kids have no shame about their phones ringing as loud as they go. This at least you could teach over. If I hear that damn Peanut Butter Jelly Time ringtone one more time....

By: quin

quin — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:06:12 -0800

35, can hear it just fine. Since i was bored on my lunch break i decided to have some fun. Using Audacity, i generated a series of tones, i started at 19k then dropped the frequency by 1k every five seconds till i got to 14k. i then played said file for my co-workers. It was easy to spot who could hear it as it crossed from 18k (no one could hear it) to 17k many could hear it and flinched. Played from a G3 iBook, office mate ages ranged from early twenties to mid-thirties. Only two people couldn't hear the range at all, one is 21 (and boy was he pissed that we were all able to hear it and he wasn't) the other was an older guy who 'wrecked his hearing in a misspent youth'.

By: ryran

ryran — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:53:39 -0800

it's peanut butter jelly time!!!!!

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:05:10 -0800

32 and I heard it. It's very annoying!

By: AsYouKnow Bob

AsYouKnow Bob — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:04:17 -0800

By: antifuse

antifuse — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:34:39 -0800

Hrmm, interesting - with sparx's link, I could hear 17000 fine (although quiet) and then 18000, nothing. I'm convinced that I have tinnitus though - I've got a pretty fierce ring going in my ears right now.

By: etoile

etoile — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 10:32:15 -0800

I'm 25 years old, and I heard about this story on NPR a couple of weeks ago. It made me curious, so I started playing around with Audacity (which lets you produce pure tones). Sure enough, I couldn't hear above about 11kHz, although my wife (mid-30's) could. This made me nervous, because I'm a sign language interpreter and my hearing is important to me. So I made an appointment, and just this very morning I got a hearing test. While my hearing is "borderline normal" (up to 25dB loss is "normal") in the areas where speech is produced, there is a significant drop at 6kHz and above, where my hearing loss is about 70dB (between "moderate" and "severe"). Fortunately speech is not included in that area, but it's amazing to find out that I might be missing things.

By: willlangford

willlangford — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:17:05 -0800

Totally cool idea, im 20 can't hear it. Might help if I had better speakers idk. :|

By: jaruwaan

jaruwaan — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 01:31:25 -0800

48. I took the precaution of turning volume on my laptop to 50% AND setting the volume on my jukebox at 50. YOW. I will not turn the volume up! I could bring the volume down to where I no longer heard it, shifting the Jukebox only - to below 30. If somebody used that in my classroom I would not have identified it as a ring tone, but I probably would have interrupted to ask if anybody else could hear the sound that was making me crazy.

By: Amanda B

Amanda B — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:48:26 -0800

19 and I can only hear it on full volume. SHAMED.