I have been playing it during my night class, this summer for a college class.

Let's just say that classes have been getting shorter and shorter, thanks to everyone being annoyed and agitated the whole time.

I CAN hear it, it is annoying, and I am 42. However, in all fairness, I was told by my doctor that my hearing ability is off the charts.

To me, the "mosquito" ring tone is absolutely piercing. I had to clamp my hands over my ears after the first half second. The volume was set for comfortable music listening.

If I ever heard that sound in a store, I would leave very quickly and not go back. I'm 41.

It hurts! My mom (46) can hear it (probably not in the same way I do) and my dad (48) can't.

It works great. My Friend and I tried it on his mom and she could not hear it. Thanks.

There must be something about the age of 43 because I'm yet another 43-year-old who can hear the mosquito tone. But no surprise because I'm always complaining about piercing high frequency electronic noise that no one can hear. Joanne, it has been 10 minutes and I still have it frying my brain also!

I'm 34 and I can hear it! Yay! I am not old!

This is just something to annoy people with. It's not going to help you cheat on a test, as some schools are so concerned about. If you're going to cheat you must LOOK on your cell phone. Which normaly means pull your cell phone out from its hiding place. Nice try but no cigar. Anywho, I played that for my mom and dad and both of them heard it. To bad, that wrecks all the fun.

I am 26 and can hear it very well. I heard it before from a different source when it was being "pulsed" and that was extremely irritating and somewhat painful to my ears. My supervisor who is 50 cannot hear it at all.

Interesting, but doesn't MP3 format clip the so-called "inaudible" frequencies to make the files smaller? Maybe it should be posted in a "lossless" format to get the full effect.

Regarding colors, I read that children see more shades of blue and sometimes can even see ultraviolet light. Adults slowly lose their ability to see blue as the cornea becomes yellowed with age.

I'm 13 and can not hear it!

I've listened to over 5 different websites and media players. I heard it the first time I played it but after that I just can't hear it!

To those adults that can hear it on a computer: I wouldn't suggest getting too cocky about hearing it the thing is that a computer is isn't able to play it correctly because the frequency is too high so it is played at a lower pitch down load it on your cell and you most likely wont be able to hear it. If you can good for you, it just means late at night when your kid is texting you'll know about it. And for you adults who can't hear it I feel for you, I really do. I know this because I played it on the computer and my mother and father can hear it but when I downloaded it on to my phone they can't.

If adults don't weaken their ears with loudness during their lifetime (i.e. blaring music, going to a Metallica concert, taking part in a war/battle with active gunfire), they'll likely be able to hear the mosquito tone. That's why a lot of older people (70-80) can hear it. They didn't have heavy metal and rock concerts, yet, when they were teens, and chances are they didn't start liking heavy metal, in all its glory, because they grew up listening to softer music.

I'm 14, and I do like 80s metal but I've never really been to a big concert or stood right next to the stage/speakers at one, so I can hear the damned thing loud and clear. I don't see how this ring tone works any better than turning your cell on vibrate. It doesn't matter how good your ears are, you'll never hear a cellphone shaking when it's covered by a layer of clothing from across the room, so stop trying.

I'm 29 and found that awful sound to be annoying enough to give me a headache if I kept listening to it.

GAH!

I'm 18 and I heard the ear piercing noise along with my little sister who is 10. Our mom acts like she can hear it but we both know that she can't. Then we started to research other ringtones like this one. We found a Swiss site that has one, and all of my friends who are between the ages of 18 and 21 can not hear that one, but my little sister could, and yet my mom still acts like she can hear it yet she can't! I don't think she wants to admit that shes getting old.

I'm 40 and I can hear it. In fact it accentuates one of the tones I hear from tinnitus. Wait... now the tinnitus is louder than it was before and I feel like I'm gonna barf!

I think this whole thing points out how irrelevant and outdated the traditional educational system is. Groups of students are expected to sit quietly and passively take in knowledge? The kids are probably learning more from figuring out clever ways to rebel than from "doing as they're told," as one person commented. If teachers are outraged about this ring tone or about kids text messaging in class, they should use that energy to make their classes more interesting. I am a middle school teacher. :)

It's the most annoying thing I've ever heard. I played it for my parents and they thought I was crazy; I had to show them the article!

No problem hearing it at all and I am 73. Had to turn down the volume too. My wife who is 71 had no problem hearing it either

I'm 36, and I can hear it. However, I had my doctor clean out my earwax a few months ago. I think if some the people who can't hear it cleaned out their earwax, they may hear it too.

Ugh. Im a twenty-five year old teacher, and I was relieved to hear the sound, though I think if I listen to it for long, it might cause my nose to bleed. It is sadly ironic that many of the kids who are able to hear this now will lose their hearing at an early age because of the way they listen to their mp3 players. I sometimes allow my students to listen to their personal music players if there is some down time. It's amazing how often I have to tell them to turn it down because I can hear it from across the room!

I'm just glad I can hear this ringtone and hope it will not be a problem in my class. I'm not sure I could pinpoint its exact location.

I could hear it on my Treo, but had to turn it WAY up to hear it on my headphones. Now, 3 days later, I still have a soft high-pitched squeal in my head, like the sound a TV makes. I'm pretty sure this caused some hearing damage. BEWARE.

I pulled the downloaded sound into sound editing software to analyze it. The peak appears to be right at 15,000 Hz, which is a lower frequency than the Mosquito teen-repellent (17 kHz), but a little higher than the 14.4 kHz claimed in the Daily Mail article.

And, to these 47-year-old ears, it's painful: it clears the sinuses, waters the eyes, and tenses the neck muscles, even at 1/4 volume on my pc headphones. I still hear the ringing, 10 minutes later. Wait til my kids hear about this!

What's the hertz of this tone?

I tried this at my friend's house and her 5 year old cousin couldn't hear it. Her 3-year-old nephew freaked out because he didn't know what was going on. I hear it fine.

Lee wrote:

"OMG, I'm 15 and can't hear a thing when it's on my phone but when it's on my computer I can hear it perfectly. What's up with that? Can someone please tell me!"

The ability to hear high frequencies is dependent on several factors. The source, the playback system and playback volume to name a few. Lee, if you can hear it on your computer but not on your cell phone, then the problem is not with your ears. Likely your cell phones audio driver (speaker) will not reproduce frequencies that high, so the problem is with your cell phone NOT your ears. I was skeptical about whether I could hear the MP3 due to my age. But it is very clear coming off my Mac Powerbook laptop speakers. I am 47 years old.

I'm also a recording engineer in Nashville who makes records for a living. So hearing is important to me. I don't go to loud concerts or listen to loud headphones or ear buds. But I do listen to music in the studio every day at fairly high volumes.

If you're truly concerned about your hearing, have it checked professionally. But don't worry about it because you can't hear this ringtone on your cell phone. Enjoy being young and leave the worrying to us older folks. You'll get your turn soon enough.

I can't hear it and I'm only 19 and now I have to get a job :(

I just turned 15 and this girl in my 3rd period math had it on her cell and had the noise on for like 15 minutes and the teacher couldn't figure out why we were laughing! LOL!

I'm 30 and could hear the piercing sound just fine -- thanks for the headache.

I'm 13 and can hear it, along with my 24-year-old sister. What I figured out, is that if you are young and can't hear it, it's probably because need to turn your speakers on! Just speaking from experience :)

I can only come up with one word for that ring-tone -- ANNOYING. I am 45.

The reason for being able to hear it has nothing to do with age, but rather how much or how little damage you've done to your hearing through such things as loud noise from headphone, etc.

Whoever figured this out, you are a Greek god!

This 49 year old teacher can hear the mosquito loud and clear! None of my students could get away with this "secret" in the classroom.

A student found this. They did not believe that it was true and tried it on me. I am 42 and could not hear it, but they could. I then used this to explain hearing loss and why it occurs. It was a summer school science class.

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

I'm 24. I heard it, um... OUCH! VERY clever though!

Very annoying! But my dad said he could feel the pitch, and he's like 45 or something. So yeah, work on it.

OMG, I'm 15 and can't hear a thing when it's on my phone but when it's on my computer I can hear it perfectly. What's up with that? Can someone please tell me!

I'm 41 and I can hear it if I turn the PC speakers up but not if I play it on my cell phone. It does sound rather close to the old TV flyback transformer whine, except that it's modulated to be a bit more painful. I wonder how much this depends on general adult hearing loss and how much it depends on tinnitus caused by long-term exposure to bad TVs.

Dang! That hurt my ears and I'm 35!

I can absolutely hear it, and I'm 31. I'm also a teacher. If you're a kid and you're reading this, don't even think about trying this out in my class unless you like detention.

I'm 16 I can hear it perfectly. But my dad who is 39 can only hear it when I make the speakers really loud.

I can hear it perfectly... it's so loud! But when I let my mom listen to it, she couldn't hear it except when I turned the volume up.

I'm 18 years old and I can hear the tone perfectly but both of my parents three feet away had no idea I was even playing it. Crazy and cool. Perfect for class.

It's great. I'm 29 years old and still hear things that most kids can't hear. I have listened to six different ones. All of which I heard. When I'm at work, I can tell if one of the machines is about to break something, and tell the operator. Took six months for them to beleive me. But sound is a wonderfull thing.

My wife and I are in our 40s. We have a nine-year-old son. He heard it, we did not hear it! It obviously works!

I'll be 28 next month, but I can hear it. It kinda hurt my ears the first time I listened, but it'll come in handy at work. I work in a retirement home, and my ringtones usually startle my residents. So since I can hear it, does that mean I'm more of a teen than an adult? LOL!

Awwwh no, I'm 14 years old and I can't hear it.

I'm in my early 30s. I turned this on without telling anyone what I was doing. EVERYONE (38 year-old husband, 14 year-old son, 12 year-old daughter and eight-year-old son) immediately heard it, got up and asked "What the heck is that?" and found it very annoying, and said it hurt their ears. I could not hear it, but it's been about 15 minutes afterward and my ears hurt now. I'd be willing to bet it causes ear drum damage. It was like I could "feel" it but not really hear it. They all begged me to turn it off. Now, where's my Excedrin?

It makes me feel like my ears are ringing... lol!

I can't wait to try it in class!

This is so annnoying but it is a good idea for a ringtone -- especially for school with the teachers! Ugh!

I can hear it. I'm fourteen but my dad cannot hear it and he is thirty-eight. Haha, and my sister can hear it better than all of us. She will be on the other side of the house, I will turn it on, and she can still hear it. I tried to download it to my phone but I can't I don't understand how to. If you know please tell me. Thanks.

At thirty-seven, I hear it perfectly. Does this mean I'm still young at heart?

You can download it right to your cell phone here.

I downloaded the ring-tone and I can hear it clearly. Unfortunately, too clearly for it to be picked up by my old ears. The sound I hear is about the upper middle range of the piano, certainly not a challenge for most peoples' ears. It's just about the frequency of the tone used in the U.S. to announce emergency broadcast system tests. I think what I'm hearing is an alias, where, much like an old-fashioned British bobby's whistle, two high notes interact to form a third, lower one. In this case, it's probably an interaction between the tone itseslf and the sampling frequency used to encode the MP3. I hope some physics-savvy listener will post some information about the Nyquist frequency and how it relates to problems with digital sound recording...

I totally got this for my phone! I'm 23 and in college, so I don't "need" it, but I think it's brilliant. Most of my friends can hear it too... so can my mom who is 55 but she has amazing hearing. My dad cannot, which is no surprise to me. There is obviously much variation as to who can hear this tone. If one takes care of ones hearing I'm sure anyone of any age can hear it. Btw... my 79-year-old Grandmother can hear it.

I'm almost 49. I CAN hear the mosquito ring tone and ouch, it hurts my ears.

The motor on the vibrator in a cell phone can still be heard. Several high schools in my area do not allow cell phones in class at all. With this tone, high school students have a lower chance of being caught with the cell phone in the class.

Better than deer whistles mounted on cars in Maine.

This is soooo cool. I'm 15 and when I played it, my brother and I could hear it fine but my mom and dad couldn't! They thought we were just messing with them. It's very annoying though and gives me a headache! If anyone figures out a way to get it on a boost mobile phone, email me at mx_skater2006@bellsouth.net. Thanks.

I think I heard it for a split second but then nothing. I think, at 30-years-old, I must be in between young and old.

I'm 17 and I can definately hear it. I had my speakers on loud too... that hurt! It's for getting rid of teenagers, which is rather funny. I suppose some people realy hate kids!

I hate it! It hurts my ears. My parents thought I was lying that I could hear it. But I really could. I think it's AMAZING! I'm 16, but my other 16 year old friend can't hear it. Ha ha on her.

I could not hear the sound coming from my normal computer speakers, even while blasted. May be drowned out by the sound of the cooling fan on my PC. I played it through my headphones and heard it in one ear only, (Right channel). Maybe my left brain is retarded and child like! I amazes me that kids would go through all that trouble to avoid adult attention while texting. Don't you think everyone sees you hunting-and-pecking your message into your phone?

I'm 18 and I can't hear it but by brother and sisters can. Ha ha, it's great!

I am 41 and I can hear. However, I heard it before I played it wait, that's just the regular ringing in my ears.

My 48-year-old ears can hear it only with a headset. But, I can hear other irritating whines, too (bearings, fans). All that rock 'n' roll just ruined SOME of my hearing.

I will be 57 in September and I can hear it, even with my cheap computer speakers.

If the teens didn't drive me crazy before...

What I can't quite figure out is why such a ringtone is necessary -- do teens not have cell phones that vibrate?

I'm 30 and a co-worker told me about this but I couldn't hear it on his phone however I could here in on my Ipaq, after adding a 20 DB boost from the EQ. I don't find it too anoying but another co-worker that's 20 does and it drives him nuts.

My daughter downloaded it on her cell and I can hear it perfectly, very very annoying!! Oh and I'm 48.

I am 43 and can barely hear it, but my 15 year old daughter covered her ears and ran from the room when I played it. Pretty neat actually. Hmmmm...

I'm 40 now. I used to be an Army Special Forces officer and my nickname was "Radar" (yes, like the guy from MASH) because of my hearing. Every year when I would get my hearing tested the tech would say that I had ears like a dog (or similar) I hear this tone loud and clear. It's horrible! I feel it in my fillings. I still hear things others don't -- and have a type of retinal defect and (color blindness) that allows me to see in the dark like a cat. I also smell a bit like a monkey -- but that's another story. Cheers!

I can hear it at 53 (unfortunately) but probably not to the extent that my dogs can. They will let you know when that ring tone goes off, because they will be whining or barking. The effect borders on animal cruelty!

If you turn the volume up all the way it is easier for adults to hear it. You need to have the volume set at average volume for the tine to be undetectable to adults.

Ouch -- hear it clearly at 45, and it is not pleasant! I dread the scenario of being in a crowded theater, for example, and having these things going off all over during a show... It's bad enough having all the screen lights shining in the dark from people using their cell phones to read programs. A fun novelty, though.

Is there any information as to whether hearing this tone causes damage to the eardrum?

Well, I am 19 and it is loud and clear for me. Yet, I don't really think that it is annoying at all! In fact, I think it is calming.

I guess the ways that kids can undermine teacher and parent authority has no bounds. While it might be considered ingenious, I believe that the kids should just do as they're told and actually listen to the teacher instead of listening for an incoming message from someone in another class. At college a few years ago, two young women were busy talking to each other from different elevators. Why it couldn't wait until they both got to the SAME class, I'll never know.

Damn that is so cool. I can hear it so clear, but my 48 year old mom looks at me like I am crazy when I insist that there is a noise. AWESOME!

I hear the mosquito ringtone as a faint buzz, neither high-pitched, nor annoying. Is what I'm hearing the actual ringtone, or are the kids hearing a higher frequency that I'm not able to detect? BTW, I am sixty-nine years old.

I'm 28 - this tone is VERY similar to the high-pitched hiss from florescent lights in my grade school. It drove me NUTS during exams. Just me and papers rustling and that high HUMMM in my ears!

Thanks for this.

I'm 38 and I can hear it, as well as my fourteen and twelve-year-old daughters, but my fourteen-year-old son and 37-year-old husband cannot. Watch out, it will give you a headache, it feels like someone is squeezing the back of you neck!!

I am 23 and can hear it perfectly, but I don't think that I would want to use that as a ring tone.

It is just frustrating being 28 and not able to hear it. Oh well, a reminder that I'm not getting any younger.

It has to do with proximity. You're sitting right in front of your computer speakers. If you turn the volume down you'll eventually reach a point where you can no longer detect the sound, but someone younger would.

Also, lots of people have been questioning whether a cell phone can reproduce such a sound well enough to remain invisible to older people. I've tested it on my phone and it seems to work fine. Phones have a harder time playing low sounds. The high frequencies come out just fine.

I'm 36. I heard the mp3, but not the sound in Melissa Block's story, which was supposed to be easier to hear.

I'm a 36-year-old teacher, and I can hear it loud and clear. I can see where it might have been intended as a people repellent, though -- that whine would definitely send me packing. It reminds me of the sound that an older television makes when it is on but the volume is off.

A high frequency noise to repel teens... I've found that blasting Barry Manilow songs over a loudspeaker can also keep teens from "hanging out" on the corner!

Argh! Getting old sucks!

I heard about this on one of NPR's podcasts. Just today, it was finally broadcast on Australian television. I think it is a brilliant idea and even better that my parents can't hear it!

This thing seriously gives me a headache. My parents use it just to get me out of the room now... They just don't stop playing it.

There was talk about the possibilities of this being true at BoingBoing.

Actually, I discovered this same effect just recently while riding my bicycle. The bicycle came with a tiny built in bell on the handlebars (about the size of a dollar coin). The thing is, as loud as it was, when I rang it, almost no adult turned around to look however, if they were walking with kids the kids ALWAYS turned around.

Even many "teens" did not respond to the bell.

At one point I took a fall on my bike and wrecked the bell. So I wasn't using it, but I noticed that what adults did respond to was the clicks on my handlebar shifters. So, if do a few gear shift clicks when approaching, the adults will respond.

It's all for naught, as I recently purchased a Zounds air horn that uses a plastic bottle that can be filled with compressed air from the bike pump. It blasts with the fury of truck horn and basically freezes pedestrians and motorists in their path.

Alas, as a forty-something, I could not hear the tone on the clip from the Web site. This does not bode well for the future, as I am a high school English teacher in a school that doesn't permit use of cell phones during the school day. The intense concentration on learning exhibited by teenagers is sure to be endangered now!

It makes my head tinge! It crackles and pops too. How do I get this for my phone?

That is soooooooooo cool! My little brother thinks that it is annoying but I think that it is just plain fun to make him yell at me to turn it off. I'm 20 and he is 14 so it's a lot of fun.

I can't download it to my phone is it because I have Verizon. If somebody knows how to do it with a Verizon phone, email me dub_canyon@yahoo.com.

At 38 years old, I had no problem hearing the new ringtone. Even though I could hear it, I found it to be slightly painful to my ear drum. Is it possible this new ring tone might be damaging to the ears?

Not too annoying but it is a cool trick on my parents.

I'm 50 and I can hear it. However it doesn't seem loud enough as a ring tone to cut through a lot of background noise. Maybe that's my hearing loss.

My cats are very intrigued. They came from opposite ends of the house to investigate.

I'm thirteen, and it's REALLY ANNOYING to listen to. Whoever made it did a good job of making it annoying.

Four out of six of my coworkers could hear it, including me -- we're all over thirty-five. My wife could hear it too -- very annoying. Looks like the adult theory thing doesn't hold much water.

Wow! This ringtone is really annoying! My sister, my mom (who is thirty-six) and I can all hear it.

So unbearable -- omg -- I can't take it.

Oh yeah, that is still audible and annoying to this 36-year-old. Hmm, which co-workers' computer to play this on (with repeat enabled) first?

It's really cool and annoying -- I tried to record it on the cell but it doesn't work!!!

I think that the sound doesn't work that well on the pc, because some adults can hear it, but on the cellphone they can't.

Very much like the sound of a bad television or CRT computer monitor.

I'm 14 years old (soon to be 15) I can hear it and so can my eight-year-old sister. My father is 53 and is able to hear the ringtone... but my mom that is 46 cannot hear it. I think it's so cool that my mom can't hear the tone. I cannot wait to get it for my phone.

This sooooo works! I am 15 and I can hear it although when I play it for my parents and family members they think I am crazy! Thank god I have my sister and cousins who help me convince my parents that we aren't crazy!

I can see this causing a huge problem in schools everywhere!

Man, that's annoying but very smart too! It hurts my ears after a while. That's cool that only teens can hear it and most adults can't.

I'm 43 and can hear it, but can't decide whether it's peeling my scalp away or simply folding my brain.

I can hear it and I am 54. I guess that the tones are unable to be heard by certain people. Who can not hear this sound, or rock concerts? It is really bad and is very nerve racking... but then I can hear those darn insects too! Watch out kids, some adults can hear the noise!

I heard it. I am delighted to know that I'm not too old... yet!

Bravo to the kids who figured this out. Pulling stuff over on adults is a commendable feat. At 35, I'm still trying to do the same.

Also, to wit, I wasn't going to post a comment, but I had to: after 5 minutes, it's still making my ears ring!

My wife can't hear it at all, but I can hear it just a well as my 6 year old. She keeps telling me to turn it off.

I tried this at work with co-workers and could not hear it... I thought I was getting old and I'm only 25! Needless to say, my second attempt was at home and boy was I relieved to hear that piercing noise! lol.

I'm 16 and just downloaded the ringtone, I can hear it perfectly.

I'm 50, I can't hear it. Cool story! I remember a gem exhibit at the Smithsonian. The guide insisted that children see colors in the stones that adults no longer see.

I just downloaded the new ringtone for teens and I heard it. However, I am 43 years old.

Soooooooooooo annoying!