Big Black Book

Remember those ads trying to sell you the ringtones only you (teenagers) can hear? So you can switch your cellphone ringing volume to maximum in lecture class and the lecturer won't be able to hear it.

How can that be possible? Both of you are human and both of you have a pair of ears. Research have shown that you continue to lose your hearing treshold when you age. This condition is called presbyacusis. Presbyacusis starts as early as 18. Don't be alarmed guys, it's not that you won't be able to hear after 18. You just won't hear certain irritating noises (high frequency noise), like the buzzing of a mosquito.

The ringtones that I was talking about earlier should sound like mosquito buzzing around. Who would want such an irritating ringtone? Well, maybe some irritating people or those who wants to escape the wrath of the lecturer.

It might be a boon for them back then but now it is more of a bane. Howard Stapleton invented the Mosquito. A device meant to deter teenagers who can hear the high frenquency noises from certain places. It emits high frenquency noise (around 17.4 kHz at 85 dB) very similar to the buzzing of the mosquito. How different is it from the ringtone? That I do not know. They (The Mosquito devices) haven't arrived in Malaysia yet and I hope they do not. Currently there's a lot of opposition on the use of these devices. Most of them are from UK where those products have been installed in countless public places.