Can you hear how old you are?
Can you hear this? If you can, you must be a teenager. As we grow older, we are supposed to lose the ability to hear high-pitched sounds.
I was pretty sure I wasn’t that old, and as it turns out I am. I had a few below 15 kids listen to this sound, and they all could hear it. I tried a few over 25 old farts, and only one could hear it. I’m jealous, though apparently it’s a very annoying sound, so maybe evolution is working just fine.
This sound is now being used as ring tone by kids who want to use their cell phone in class. What’s cute is that the sound was being used by shopkeepers to keep teenagers at bay, since it annoys the hell out those who can hear it. While grown-ups don’t even know there’s a sound being played.
Good for the kids, they get their revenge.
The New York Times reported this here and there’s an older pre-ring tone story here.
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Edit: Someone lazy less than me has blogged about this here. You can listen to sounds (or try to listen) between 10 KHz and 25 KHz. I can only hear up to 15 KHz. I guess too much loud heavy metal isn’t good for you after all. That and age.
Luke said,
June 13, 2006 @ 6:40 am
I’m 25 and I could hear it just fine. The girls at the office were playing it really loud the other day and I could hear the damn thing across the whole room, over the noise of 2 printers churning out reports.
It was really annoying too. It kinda sounds like that whistling TV static. If you watch The Ring some of the static sound effects will sound a little bit like this thing. Just listen for the high pitched whistling sounds, and imagine them being taken few notches up the scale.
But this is a cyclical pounding noise, and it annoys the hell out of you.