Strange Brouhaha

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Teen Buzz: It's Real

Have you heard about this new cell-phone ringtone that only teenagers can hear? It's called Teen Buzz and it sits right at the upper end of the human ear's range, around 18 to 20kHz. Kids can hear it, grownups can't.

"Can't be real," I thought when I first heard about it.

Today, I decided that I would play it on my computer. There's a link to it in the story above. I loaded it up and played it. Nothing. Turned the volume up on the player. Nothing. Turned the volume up on my computer. Nothing. I totally didn't hear it.

There is a seven-year-old living in my house, however, who complained vociferously about the loud noise. It really bothered her. So based on a sample size of one, it really works.

Head over to that NPR site and listen for yourself.

3 Comments:

  • Interesting... I remember reading in, I guess, the Guiness book of records, in the entry on highest hearing, that asthmatics (such as myself) have a higher range of hearing than most people -- no idea why. In any event, I can hear it perfectly clearly. And it's !)@(* annoying.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:47 AM  

  • Wow, that's annoying. Try listening to it on something other than the computer - I've heard people say it makes a difference.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:27 PM  

  • dpb: I heard it, but my wife couldn't. Maybe too much loud head-banging stuff on headphones when you were kid?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:15 PM  

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