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40cakesBusiness Ingenuity - A company makes a high-pitched tone that's seen as "teenager repellent": Most people over the age of 20 can't hear it, but it's a head-splitting shrill whistle to those who can. Sound is marketed to adults who run shops that want to cater to a more mature crowd and keep the kids out.
BUT THEN! Same business turns around and markets the tone as "The Mosquito Ringtone" to kids who want to let their phones ring in class without the teachers hearing.
For the curious, NPR has the ringtone available in this story. Warning: I listened to this for about a minute today, in ten-second increments, as people kept gathering around, saying, "Wait, play it again!" and my head felt like it was going to explode from screeching noise. And I don't get bothered by nails on a chalkboard.
BUT THEN! Same business turns around and markets the tone as "The Mosquito Ringtone" to kids who want to let their phones ring in class without the teachers hearing.
For the curious, NPR has the ringtone available in this story. Warning: I listened to this for about a minute today, in ten-second increments, as people kept gathering around, saying, "Wait, play it again!" and my head felt like it was going to explode from screeching noise. And I don't get bothered by nails on a chalkboard.
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Date: 2006-06-13 11:43 pm (UTC)The tone's centered on 17 kHz, and there's no good reason for a cellphone speaker to be able to reproduce frequencies that high, and a very good one (cost) for it not to be able to.