"Stealth ringtone" can only be heard by teens
We admit, the vibrating alerts in some phones are extraordinarily loud, often too loud to be discreet. And if the phone is sitting on a hard surface? Forget it. Motorola's BUZR could be years away, if we ever see it at all, so what's a mischievous, cellphone-toting student to do when phones are banned from class? Rumors are flying that students in the UK have recorded the sound produced by a device called the Mosquito, designed to disperse roving gangs of teenagers by emitting a sound that can only be heard by youngsters. By using the recording as their ringtone, they hear it (along with their friends and any nearby canines) while the poor headmaster is left in the dark. It's debatable whether your average cellphone is capable of producing sounds in the range necessary to elicit this effect, so this may be nothing more than a rumor, but if you see packs of dogs belting out some tunes near the local high school, you know what's probably going on.
[Via Ringtonia and BoingBoing]
Filed under: Ringtones
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Emily Turrettini @ May 25th 2006 1:37PM
Hi Chris,
I found this story first yesterday, it was posted in my blog Ringtonia, then in digg. BoingBoing for some reason didn't give me credit.
Thanks for linking to Ringtonia. It was such a great story and I found in an offbeat UK newspaper called metro.
Best
Emily
Chris Ziegler @ May 25th 2006 1:57PM
Thanks for the heads-up, Emily. We've linked you.
Chris
Kim @ May 25th 2006 2:10PM
I've got that ringtone ages ago, and still have it. Yup, I'm from the UK, and I'm a teen.
Apparently it works sometimes, according to some of my friends. But at least two teachers I know can hear it, and they're in their, what, late-20s or early-30s?
I haven't tried to let it off in class myself, just in case if it doesn't work...
Pete @ May 25th 2006 2:25PM
Can someone post a link to this ringtone? I can't find it. This would be interesting to test -- I am 25 myself.
Hurricane @ May 25th 2006 2:44PM
I can't find it either, but right now I'm looking at Kim's website. Maybe she posted it. : )
Emily Turrettini @ May 25th 2006 3:50PM
Thank you!
Emily
Ashlee @ May 25th 2006 3:54PM
This REALLY works! the only thing that gives it away is that you have 30 people turn and look for no reason! and i'm a teen from the UK 2!
Ashlee @ May 25th 2006 3:58PM
but it would be better if someone converted it to mp3 format beacause on some of the phones i had lat year (mainly Samsung) you can't set recording az a ringtone! If you know were i could get a mp3 version pleeeeeze send meh a link!? Thankyuh!
Tyler @ May 25th 2006 5:05PM
Use audacity to generate the tones, then put it on your phone. About 16-17 Khz are best, above 17khz it gets hard to hear. My friend put it on his Razr,and it work fine.
Daniel @ May 25th 2006 5:31PM
Found where you can download the "ringers" in mp3 format - check it out here about halfway down the page
http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/?p=72
DarkFader @ May 25th 2006 7:31PM
IDEA:
Those mosquito expelling devices do not work as intented anyways, so why not hack it together with a call detector light. Saves on buying an expensive phone just for the ringtone.
emarrs @ May 26th 2006 3:50AM
on my old samsung e715 i could set it to just have the led go off when someone calls- if my phone was in my pocket, i would jsut see a little light changin colors through my pants- ppl would always tell me that my shirt was glowin when i had it on my belt holster too ha. that led was the ONLY thing that would let me know i had a call when i was in a car during night or day. - it fit in my steering wheel and id just randomly notice it. but now i have a slvr l7 so i miss calls everyday.
back on track=- this explains why teens can hear it.
when the first wireless television remotes came out, they were metal rods which were struck by coils or something like that, which send sounds to the tv which changed channels. i saw it on the discovery channel one day- n this one young lady who worked at whatever company it was researching it FLIPPED OUT one day saying "if you keep making those earpiercing sounds I am going to quit" turns out young ladies have the BEST hearing of all ppl.
this is why teens can hear these ringtones and adults cannot
ariel wolkowicki @ May 26th 2006 7:22AM
the same sounds are being used to get teens to stop hanging out around stores for to long of time.
Golf @ May 26th 2006 9:10AM
Where can i get this, the link isnt working that was given in the comments.
This is awesome news
Malatesta @ May 26th 2006 12:38PM
Link for mp3 file:
http://rapidshare.de/files/21292730/freq.mp3.html
Kim @ May 26th 2006 1:27PM
Alright people. I had never thought about blogging about it on my homepage, which is why I didn't post it on my homepage.
But, it's up there now. There's a link to it on the May 26, 2006 post on 'Blog', or if you can't be bothered to dig through the archives (right now that post is on the front page), the sound file can be found in 'File Central' (sidebar on the right).
Peter C @ Jun 13th 2006 12:01PM
I'm 21 and I couldn't hear a single thing that was annoying when I listened to the file. I could faintly hear something when I cranked it up but it wasn't anything I couldn't stand.
That being said, if I could hear it and if someone had that as their ringtone and it went off in class (a university class, nonetheless) I would definitely get pissed. Cellphones are banned from classrooms for a good reason.
Hans @ Jun 23rd 2007 5:51PM
I'm 49. No problem, I can hear all those 'stealthy' ringtones.
alex @ Aug 28th 2007 2:57PM
i tryied downloading it to my cell and it said it does not support file? wats up with it can some plz tell me.i need the help. by the way i have a nokia 5300 express music
alex @ Aug 28th 2007 3:30PM
i need help plz
Marcie @ Jan 12th 2008 2:33AM
We just held a sound check here, I am 38, my husband is 28 and my kids are 9 and 11. The kids were holding their ears and crying, "Ow, Ow, Ow!!!" My husband could hear about 75% of the "stealth tones" and I didn't hear a thing!