Have you heard of the mosquito ringtone?

[sami0201]

The war between teens and authority figures has a new -- or old -- front: ears. British shopkeepers tired of teenage loiterers have turned to the Mosquito teen repellent, which emits a high-pitch frequency that most teenagers can hear -- but not most adults.

But now teens have struck back against the Mosquito: They are using the same sound to communicate without adults' knowledge.

At issue is a text-message ringtone that emits the same pitch as the Mosquito. Using it, students can learn about a new message while they're in class -- where they're not supposed to be using their cellphones. Most of their teachers can't hear the alert.

Inventor Howard Stapleton, creator of the Mosquito teen repellent, says only a few people over age 30 can hear the Mosquito's sound. He and his 16-year-old daughter Isabel talk to Melissa Block about the sound, which has been dubbed "Teen Buzz."

I'd be interested to see how many adults on here can hear it!! My mom can't hear it. All day today all of my teachers were playing it to annoy us because most of them couldn't hear it! Only one was able to.

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

 

[the rockin edge]

excuse me can i swat your cellphone pls?

 

[Vincent Vega]

That's a noisy bastard.

Must be really annoying since it's such a frequency that starts to hurt in the ears.

But I can hear it

 

[Sicy]

I hear a very FAINT high pitched sound but there is no way I'd be able to hear that if the phone was in my purse or pocket or something

 

[Dalton]

I hear a very FAINT high pitched sound but there is no way I'd be able to hear that if the phone was in my purse or pocket or something

You're old.

 

[UberBeaver]

I didn't hear anything.

 

[Sicy]

You're old.

 

[Chizip]

i can hear it, im not old yet!!!

 

[sami0201]

 

[Thora]

I couldn't hear a thing either. But I'm not surprised. My hearing is pretty craptastic.

 

[Dalton]

Don't cry .....





at your age you are in danger of dehydrating!

 

[redkat]

I can hear it. Annoying as hell

 

[Chizip]

I can hear it. Annoying as hell

sounds like U2man

 

[xaviMF22]

sounds like U2man

 

[U2Man]

 

[yolland]

I turned the little speakers on my computer up, figuring I probably wouldn't be able to hear it anyhow (I'm 35 and also hearing-disabled, but only some kinds of sound are affected and I wasn't sure if this would be or not) and wound up spilling my coffee in my haste to turn it down! It was still very unpleasant at normal volume, though. So yeah--that's a truly annoying sound!

 

[bono_212]

why don't people just put their phone on vibe? I mean...there's no risk in anyone hearing it that way

 

[love_u2_adam]

i didn't hear it

 

[Tiger Edge]

why don't people just put their phone on vibe? I mean...there's no risk in anyone hearing it that way

Vibrate is always loud. I can hear someone's phone vibrating from across a lecture hall.

Anyway, I didn't hear crap. I feel inferior.

 

[xaviMF22]

Vibrate is always loud. I can hear someone's phone vibrating from across a lecture hall.

Anyway, I didn't hear crap. I feel inferior.

vibration

 

[Cleasai]

I can hear deep inside my head. In fact it's almost like I can feel it in my neck (just below the ears)

 

[Dulce de Leche]

My brother has this on his phone. I can hear it; it's annoying as hell.

 

[redhotswami]

the sound itself is annoying, but i wanna know why is it so LONG?

 

[Carek1230]

I don't hear it.

 

[Bono's Betty]

^ trust me ya don't want to.

 

[HeartlandGirl]

I don't hear it either. Then again, I turned 30 today, so maybe I just missed it.

 

[Zoomerang96]

don't almost all mobile phones have blinking lights on the exterior indicating either a voicemail or text?

in situations where i don't want my mobile to be noticed, i turn the sound and vibrate off and just check periodically to see if i have a blinking red light or not.

seeing it blink red is always so exciting!

"who could it be???"

 

[lmjhitman]

it's me, bear.

 

[~BrightestStar~]

I saw something on the news about this awhile back.
They went to the mall to test it.

Pretty interesting....


Except, I could hear it when they played it on the tv...now I can't.

OMG I must be old now!!!

 

[LyricalDrug]

I'm 32 and I can hear it. Sweet, I am immature...