Free Mosquito Ringtone | Painful Warning!

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The discussion revolves around the ability to hear a specific high-frequency ringtone, often referred to as the "mosquito tone," which is designed to be inaudible to older individuals but audible to younger people. Participants share their experiences with hearing the tone, with some expressing surprise at their ability to hear it despite being close to 30 years old. Others report discomfort or pain when listening to the tone, indicating that it can be quite unpleasant. The conversation also touches on the use of this tone in retail settings to deter loitering teens and its potential application in classrooms to alert teachers to ringing cell phones. Several users mention hearing loss due to age or exposure to loud environments, affecting their ability to perceive high frequencies. Technical discussions about the frequency of the tone and its harmonics are included, with some participants conducting sound analysis to better understand the characteristics of the ringtone. Overall, the thread highlights the varied auditory experiences related to the mosquito tone and its implications in social contexts.
Math Is Hard
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Can you hear it? I can't. My ears are too old. :frown:

http://www.freemosquitoringtone.com/offer.asp?gclid=COHXudCry4UCFU1dDgodVAWW2w

*warning - just in case you don't read further than this post, a few people have mentioned later in this thread that this tone is actually painful*
 
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I can hear it (or a harmonic), and I'll turn 30 in November.
 
The only thing I hear is a tiny little pop in the sound file at the very end. I was surprised because I am really sensitive to noise, but I guess that tone is out of my range.
 
Math Is Hard said:
Can you hear it? I can't. My ears are too old. :frown:

http://www.freemosquitoringtone.com/offer.asp?gclid=COHXudCry4UCFU1dDgodVAWW2w

Nonsence, you are a spring chiken, i can not hear anything below a sonic boom so think yourself lucky young lady :smile:
 
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Can you hear the whining from (especially older) TV flyback transformers? That's around 15Khz.
 
wolram said:
Nonsence, you are a spring chiken, i can not hear anything below a sonic boom so think yourself lucky young lady :smile:

But you're a motorcycle rider, and, I'll guess, you ride without too much hearing protection.
 
Ouch! That hurts. Why would anyone want that as a ringtone?

Yeah, I can hear the TV whine also.
 
hmm.. I don't think I notice any noise around television sets, Nate.

Wolly, I think I did some damage to my hearing in my rock band days.

I bet someone will soon invent "The Mosquito Detector" to alert teachers to when those cell phones are ringing in class.
 
siddharth said:
Ouch! That hurts. Why would anyone want that as a ringtone?
What surprised me is that I heard this is the same tone shop-owners were playing in and around their stores to discourage loitering teens (I started a thread about this a few months back.). I figured it was just a very annoying whine.
 
  • #10
What a annoying noise!:eek:
 
  • #11
Math Is Hard said:
I bet someone will soon invent "The Mosquito Detector" to alert teachers to when those cell phones are ringing in class.

IIRC most schools don't allow cell phones or cell phone activity anyway.

If students were so inclined this could be used to, for example, morse.
 
  • #12
Math Is Hard said:
What surprised me is that I heard this is the same tone shop-owners were playing in and around their stores to discourage loitering teens (I started a thread about this a few months back.). I figured it was just a very annoying whine.

It's an effective idea, for sure. It's more than annoying, it's painful! It really hurts.
 
  • #13
Almost made my ears bleed
 
  • #14
NateTG said:
IIRC most schools don't allow cell phones or cell phone activity anyway.
They don't. So it's a little easier to sneak the phones in if the teachers and administrators can't hear them ringing.
Washington Post said:
The appeal of a kids-only technology quickly caught on: Teens around the world now use it to dodge cellphone restrictions in class.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301557.html
 
  • #15
They were very lenient about cell phone use in the Evo Childs school. I could call her while she was in class. Kids will usually SMS in class so they don't disrupt others.
 
  • #16
You know the most simple solution to this is? Leave your phone on vibrate.
 
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  • #17
God, that thing just shot my ears. Awful.
 
  • #18
Hootenanny said:
You know the most simple solution to this is? Leave your phone on vibrate.
You can still hear the vibration, especially in a silent classroom.
 
  • #19
I can easily hear it.

Flourescent lights and TVs can drive me nuts.
 
  • #20
Evo said:
They were very lenient about cell phone use in the Evo Childs school. I could call her while she was in class. Kids will usually SMS in class so they don't disrupt others.
That is naughty,you deserve a 100 lines.
 
  • #21
dav2008 said:
You can still hear the vibration, especially in a silent classroom.
I've got a motorola v3 razor and its quite quiet aslong as you leave it in your pocket and not on a hard surface :-p
 
  • #22
sounds like the emergency broadcast tone to me. I only turned the volume up a little, so it wasn't too painful.
 
  • #23
Okay, weird...I don't hear it, but when I played it, my ears started hurting, and they stopped hurting when it stopped playing, as if I can detect something, but not sound. It doesn't surprise me that I have some hearing loss in those higher ranges since I've spent a lot of time in loud places.

Edit: Nope, apparently I'm susceptible to a placebo effect when playing things people say will hurt their ears. :smile: I didn't have the computer playing to the right set of speakers. :smile: Yep, definitely can hear it. It's the same annoying sound that electronic equipment sometimes makes that drives me nuts.
 
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  • #24
Oh boy, I know how to torture MB! :-p

Edit: oh drat! I can only torture her with the placebo effect.
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
Oh boy, I know how to torture MB! :-p

Edit: oh drat! I can only torture her with the placebo effect.
:smile: That would be a new one, torture using the placebo effect. :smile:
 
  • #26
Math Is Hard said:
Can you hear it? I can't. My ears are too old. :frown:

http://www.freemosquitoringtone.com/offer.asp?gclid=COHXudCry4UCFU1dDgodVAWW2w

*warning - just in case you don't read further than this post, a few people have mentioned later in this thread that this tone is actually painful*

I can hear it. Ouch it hurts! Made my cats disappear too!
I was surprised I could hear it at my age...
 
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  • #27
Yep, many switching power supplies operate at about 20KHz. The good news is that ~20K is the upper limit for most people, and much of the newer stuff runs at higher frequencies. I saw recently that most flourescent lights are now running at 35K and higher.
 
  • #28
ooh! ow! I just played this at home on my laptop and I heard it.
 
  • #29
Well sooner or later you are bound to get a technical reply, so I might as well do it.

The signal (mostquito ring tone) is weak but i can hear it when I put my ear close to my speaker. The pitch sounds between an F# and G. (Perhaps a Sitar has this pitch. I can approximate with a "bend" on my guitar :smile:)

I imported the mp3 into a sound editing program and did a little
visual spectral analysis. It appears as a digitized sine wave, ~15.2KHz (I see a weak 1st (sub)harmonic1 at ~9.2KHz and stronger 2nd (sub)harmonic1 at ~3.2KHz.

NateTG was close on the fundamental. Nate, how did you figure?

Also when I kicked it up another 9dB, it is much easier to hear (if your ears are responsive at that frequency).

I am attaching this edited version. I made it a zip since we are not set up to receive mp3s on PF. For those who heard it before, let me know if this is the same sound (pitch).:smile:

1Ivan Seeking, correctly pointed out, these are not harmonics. (I would more accurately describe them as subharmonics).
 

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  • #30
I heard absolutely nothing. I don't count, though, even if I am old. I have tinnitus in both ears so there are all sorts of sounds, both high and low-pitched that I can't hear at all.
 
  • #31
Being male and 54 years old, there's no way I could hear 17khz. According to charts, my limit at 60dbl should be 11khz, which sounds about right. At a higher dbl, I can hear 14khz, but not 16khz.
 
  • #32
Ouabache said:
It appears as a digitized sine wave, ~15.2KHz (I see a weak 1st harmonic at ~9.2KHz and stronger 2nd harmonic at ~3.2KHz.

The harmonics would have a higher frequency than the fundamental [first harmonic], not lower.
 
  • #33
Ivan Seeking said:
The harmonics would have a higher frequency than the fundamental [first harmonic], not lower.
Thanks for pointing that out. The spectral analysis does indicate two peaks lower in frequency from the fundamental. They should be called subharmonics

(I am going to add your edition to my previous post)
 
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  • #34
I agree with other posters, that sound was on the edge of painful!

I had no trouble hearing it and I'm almost 48.
 
  • #35
Janus said:
I agree with other posters, that sound was on the edge of painful!

I had no trouble hearing it and I'm almost 48.

I wonder what is your setup.

My speakers on my desktop PC are on the shelf below my PC, (the PC itself being on the top shelf along with the monitor) the volume of the original mp3 to me, sounds considerably below my background noise (mostly from cooling fans in PC). But as mentioned earlier, I could hear it fine when I turned up the volume and put my ear closer to the speakers.
 
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  • #36
I had to turn the volume up all the way, but had no problem hearing the frequency. It wasn't unpleasant at all.
 

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