In the age old battle between teenagers and adults, age has caught up yet again with the more experienced warriors. Presbycusis is a medical phenomena related to loss of hearing with advancing age. Although it is a perfectly normal loss of hearing, one can experience it as early as after 20 years. Audiologists are of the opinion that human ears around the age of 20 start losing the ability to hear sounds in the highest human - range frequencies i.e. 18 - 20 kHz, and with age it becomes increasingly difficult to hear these sounds.
According to reports this bane was turned around effectively to a boon when a British company Compund Security in 2005 devised what they termed as The Mosquito to rid genuine adult shoppers of congregating traffic of loitering teenagers at malls. The Mosquito emits an extremely high pitched sound at 17 kHz akin to that of the constant buzzing of an insect. The device, when strategically placed in shopping malls, produces the sound which can only be heard by teenagers and proves to be a deterrent to their loitering activity thereby compelling them to disperse immediately and making the shopping experience for adults hassle free and comfortable. Adults, because of the implications of Presbycusis remain unaffected by the sound.
But with teenagers getting smarter, this bane has ultimately come to remain just what it was for the adults. A disadvantage. The Teen Buzz mobile phone ring tone, also known as, Talbots Ringtone, Mosquitotone, or Zumbitone, is a take on this concept. This mobile phone ring tone is too high - pitched for most adults to hear and continues to ring at a consistently high pitch. Aptly named after the generation that propagates it the most, this mobile phone ring tone has the most functional use in environments where the use of mobile phones is forbidden such as classrooms, and lecture theatres. It alerts the user of an incoming message or call but falls deaf on the ears of the vigilant teacher.
It has been reported that the release of this pirated mobile phone ring tone gave Compound Security the much needed publicity albeit without any profits. And it was then that the creator of this piece of audio, Howard Stapleton, along with Simon Morris (then marketing director for Compound Security) decided to compose and officially market a mobile phone ring tone of their own called the Mosquitotone - the authentic mosquito ring tone.
The news of this latest technological innovation spread like wildfire, and reports of scores of teenagers all over the world logging on to the internet to download the ring tone, have been recorded. The techno - savvy teenagers are also sharing this mobile phone ring tone through USB cable and other wireless devices enabled on their mobile phones such as Infra - red, Bluetooth, and WAP.
However, there have been reports of some people being close to 50 and still being able to hear the sound as distinctly as youngsters. Whilst there are youngsters who find it as annoying at The Mosquito thereby leading to the ring tone having an opposite effect on them.
The widespread popularity of this ring tone has led to a lot of discussion amongst the education groups who are finding it difficult to come up with ways to combat this technology. It seems there is little that can be done by the concerned teachers and lecturers than to just keep an eye out for the use of mobile phones in classrooms and other forbidden areas.
