Jun 012008
I remember reading about the Mosquito a few years ago, a device which was designed to prevent teens from loitering in private places by emitting high frequency noises only audible to youth. I now just noticed free Mosquito Ringtones, ringtones that teens can download and use which cannot be heard by their teachers.
This is likely old news, but very interesting.
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Thanks for the update, just another thing I need to be aware of in class. I can just imagine, all of a sudden a student jerks like he heard something, then quickly has to go to the bathroom or get a drink.
Yeah, I came across this a while ago. Then last week I was subbing high school and encountered the high pitched ring. Whoo hoo my ears still pick it up. It was awfully irritating though.
Students will always be finding ways to beat the rules in strict environments. As we observe schools like Craik, who initiate cell friendly policies, work a rounds like the mosquito ring will become unnecessary. Teachers and students need to stop battling over the devices and figured out solutions which encourage acceptance and proper use in learning environments.
My son (18) loaded the mosquito ring tone on his phone about a year ago. I (51) could hear it if I held the phone right up to my ear. He could hear the phone ringing inside the house while he stood outside about 50 feet away! It was amazing. It makes me wonder why if he can hear so well why does he play his I-Pod so loud. Ok I guess I know the answer…the same reason I played my stereo so loud. Maybe that is why I can’t hear the mosquito now.
If you can believe it, this made an episode of Law and Order: SVU a year or two ago. What I ended up learning from that was there are a certain percentage of adults who retain the ability to hear those frequencies.
Alec, I was cruising your blog after a lengthy absence from doing so since class ended and came across this post. After reading it I shared it with my class and we experimented with the frequencies. The difference in what the kids could hear was amazing. Also, they couldn’t believe that this was originally used to drive teens away from businesses. Thanks for the post and food for classroom conversation.
Jaymie: actually, ultrasonic ringtones made an episode of Law and Order the original (Avatar from season 17). It that episode ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana De La Garza) is revealed to be able to hear the mosquito ringtone- which she refers to as a bumblebee ringtone- when a teenage girl/suspect/accomplice’s cell phone rings (with the mosquito ringtone) and Connie asks her if she’s going to answer it. I believe it made Law and Order CI as well since there has been mention of Detective Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) being able to hear it.
I’m not sure it was on Law and Order SVU (I’m a faithful fan of that one and I don’t recall hearing it about it on that show).