mgroves

Have you heard about the Mosquito from Compound Security? It’s a speaker that emits a high pitched noise that (apparently) people over the age of 20 can’t hear. It’s used mainly to disperse teenage loitering.

It turns out that some clever kids have recorded the sound and are using it as a cell phone ring tone. It’s being referred to as the “teen buzz”. So if a student’s phone rings during class, all the other students will be able to hear it, but the teacher will not.

Armed with this knowledge, I knew that someone out there had it in MP3 form for me to download. I forget where I found it, but I did find it, and played it. I didn’t hear a thing. I figured, it must be a goof. Someone just recorded silence for 30 seconds. So, I opened it up in Audacity, my favorite audio editor and this is what I found:

Wow, there’s definitely something there. So, using Audacity to reduce the pitch, I found that, yes, I could certainly hear a high pitched, very annoying noise.

So, try listening to the first MP3, and see if you can hear it. If you aren’t a teenager, then you are one of the lucky few who can still hear those high-pitched sounds even in your old age. If not, listen to the second MP3 to hear what you are missing. Try playing this at your next gathering where there is a mixture of kids/teens and adults. Watch the young people howl in pain while the adults wonder what in God’s name is happening.

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