By now, most folks have heard of the “mosquito” ringtone, so prized by teenagers as a way to keep adults (teachers, etc.) from knowing when they are using their cell phones (like, what? for texting during class, eh?)
Well, I decided to finally check it out, although I had a suspiscion it wouldn’t be all that stunning, so I found the 17Khz tone for download (this is a higher-quality wav file) and played it back with some better than fair speakers and an old 9but good) Roland sound card that it just edged toward the top of the envelope on.
Supposedly, the 17kHz tone is too high for “old ears”—presbycusis—to hear. After all, the theoretical limit for human hearing most often bruited about is 20kHz.
As I figured. The 17kHz tone is just a tad lower-pitched (less than 2%) than my typical tinitus. So I can understand how most adults—especially Boomers and Busters who grew up listening to music that was too loud for their hearing to take w/o damage—wouldn’t be able to hear it. But I’m in my 50s, so why can I? I dunno. My wonder Woman’s just a year younger than I, but she couldn’t hear the tone until I lowered the pitch to ~16.4kHz.
Maybe it’s the last few years I’ve spent hearing a buzz that’s higher-pitched than the “mosquito ringtone” that has kept my ears atuned to high pitches.
But kids, don’t ya be playing that ringtone around me and expect me not to hear it, eh?