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December 29, 2006 at 5:34 am #25954detn8rParticipant
You may have heard of this back in July, but it was only brought to my attention this evening and I just had to share.
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Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class — and many teachers can’t even hear the ring.
Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing.
As people age, many develop what’s known as aging ear — a loss of the ability to hear higher-frequency sounds.
Can you hear it? Click here for a 10-second demonstration.
The ring tone is a spin-off of technology that was originally meant to repel teenagers — not help them. A Welsh security company developed the tone to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected. The company called their product the “Mosquito.”
Donna Lewis, a teacher in Manhattan, says her colleague played the ring for a classroom of first-graders — and all of them could hear it, while the adults couldn’t hear anything.
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So what do you think? Oreo, PolarbearNPR, can YOU hear it?! 😎
December 29, 2006 at 6:38 am #156206NessaParticipantHa ha, my brother made me feel old with this. I kept thinking maybe my speakers weren’t working since i couldn’t hear anything, yet he insists he can. So i put it to the test….. I made him go lay on the bed and turn his head away from the computer and close his eyes. He then had to tell me when he could hear it and when he couldn’t hear it (hence if i put play or pause). Well he did an EXCELLENT job at telling me exactly when i’d put pause or play. I then tried the same, but still could not hear or even begin to try to hear what the heck i’m suppose to hear. (Even after having my brother explain to me what i’m suppose to be hearing).
For reference, i’m 20 about to turn 21 in 3 days, and he’s 12.
So maybe my hearing is just bad….. or i’m a very old 20 year old!
But thanks for this det, it was interesting, and has me completely puzzled! 😛
December 29, 2006 at 6:50 am #156198SpikeMemberTo me it’s bogus. If the ringtone was engineered the way they say it was, I generated an 18-20KHz tone in Audacity and played it back. I could certainly hear it, but I also asked both my parents if they could (who are already in their early 50s). They said they could also hear it (and it was giving them a headache :p)
I don’t believe a word of it, but there are some factors not taken into consideration. Things like… was the real ringtone engineered differently than what they say it is (just an 18KHz tone), or maybe cell phone speakers reproduce the tone in such a manner that this age/hearing bracket is actually the truth? I don’t know, but for me (since I can’t get it to work) I won’t believe it.
December 29, 2006 at 12:48 pm #156201sarahtownyMembermmh well I am in my *cough cough* late 30’s and I could hear it! 😀
Just a good job I am not a teacher as kids would not have got away with it :p
December 29, 2006 at 2:14 pm #156189OreoMemberI am NOT that old and I could hear unfortunately quite well. They were playing it on the radio last summer and I was driving…I had to change the station so I did not crash. Luckily I stopped teaching before this tone came along…I don’t want to hear that crap ever again…I hate that thing!
December 29, 2006 at 3:25 pm #156211PolarBearNPRParticipantdetn8r;212467 wrote:So what do you think? Oreo, PolarbearNPR, can YOU hear it?! 😎
Don’t know what you’re implying there, det ;), but I can hear that plain as day and I’m definitely older than my students. Of course, chronological age may not have as much to do with it as abusing your hearing. I’ve attended only a few concerts where my ears were ringing afterwards and never really listened to loud music on my headphones, but know of others my age whose hearing is much worse. Also, folks in the military or other ‘loud’ professions or activities may be more affected by hearing loss. Of course, teaching can be loud at times – heh.
I guess what I’m getting at here is, don’t count on your teacher’s age to determine whether or not the ringtone will be heard. And interestingly enough, we use all of our senses to assess whether students are paying attention. So . . . take my advice . . . when you’re in class, pay attention, do your work, get the grades, and then go out and play.
December 29, 2006 at 4:00 pm #156187detn8rParticipantAccording to the original article, the sound was meant for people over the age of 30 not to hear it. So you don’t really have to be THAT old.
Perhaps as Spike said, CBS News was using a frequency that everyone SHOULD have heard.
December 29, 2006 at 4:18 pm #156185Jeff HesterKeymasterWell I can’t hear a damned thing. Young whipper-snappers. 🙁
December 29, 2006 at 7:12 pm #156212PolarBearNPRParticipantdetn8r;212485 wrote:the sound was meant for people over the age of 30 not to hear it. So you don’t really have to be THAT old.Ah – nice recovery there det 😉 I am just a bit over 30 ya know. And Jeff . . . “whipper-snappers”? Dude, you’re showing your age, and you’re just 8 months older than me . . . so quit it! You may be one of those that damaged your hearing – too much head-banging, walkman-wearing, girls screaming in your ears . . . takes a toll on your hearing.
December 29, 2006 at 9:55 pm #156202sarahtownyMemberPolarBearNPR;212491 wrote:too much head-banging, walkman-wearing, girls screaming in your ears . . . takes a toll on your hearing.Yeah he has me screaming in his ears alllll the time :p all I do is nag nag nag no surprise his ears were numb! lol
December 29, 2006 at 10:02 pm #156186Jeff HesterKeymasterOr maybe it’s the 1000 watt stereo in my Mustang… it goes to 11! 🙂
And Sarah, really you do need to tone it down a decibel or two. :p
December 29, 2006 at 11:48 pm #156203sarahtownyMemberJeff;212498 wrote:Or maybe it’s the 1000 watt stereo in my Mustang… it goes to 11! 🙂And Sarah, really you do need to tone it down a decibel or two. :p
Blah no chance Jeff! haha
But on a serious note (det… think thats your name anyway the person that started this thread:woot: ) Sorry its late!
I got the whole family here to listen, and we could all hear it, so must be one of those poop things that everyone believes but is actually rubbish.
December 29, 2006 at 11:51 pm #156210Tea GrannyMemberI heard it at 46, and I still listen to loud music in my head phones.
It gives me a headache too. To be truthful, I doubt I would have heard it from the back of a classroom though.
-TG
December 30, 2006 at 12:38 am #156214Soccer4dummysMemberI heard about this… my science teacher couldn’t hear it (and then he went into this whole explanation of why adults can’t hear it) but anyway… the students could.
December 30, 2006 at 4:13 am #156207MrOatsMemberJeff;212486 wrote:Well I can’t hear a damned thing. Young whipper-snappers. 🙁I’m 15 years old, and I can hear is quite well. :p
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