# Random poll: can you hear this sound? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170 "2009-02-02T23:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/41 "2009-02-03T01:53:22Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > [Try this one instead](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0). Oh you’re baaaaaaad! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/42 "2009-02-03T01:57:09Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > At some point there was a little “revolution” and some teenagers started using it as a ringtone so adults couldn’t hear their cellphones ring in class without having to turn it off. I know someone whose students tried this on her. Of course, she was 23 at the time and could hear it quite clearly… I’m 20, I can hear it just fine ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/43 "2009-02-03T02:02:19Z")
I don’t hear it. But then I have moderate sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/44 "2009-02-03T02:04:42Z")
For the control group: 19, heard it loud n’ clear, but no more annoying than any other buzz. Got up to 17.4 kHz on the ringtone website. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/45 "2009-02-03T02:19:37Z")
1. 30 in three months. I didn’t hear a thing. I’m usually quite good at hearing things other people don’t. What was that? Smear poo on the keyboard? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/46 "2009-02-03T02:21:37Z")
I’m 63. I downloaded it, then played it. I can slightly hear a very high frequency sound that’s very irritating. It’s almost more like a feeling inside my head than a sound. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/47 "2009-02-03T02:34:55Z")
I’m 20, and I didn’t hear anything. Of course, since opening it made my FF freeze repeatedly, I’m guessing it didn’t work properly. Can anyone give me a link to a different one? And damn you, Cervaise! ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/48 "2009-02-03T02:38:36Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > I’m 20, and I didn’t hear anything. Of course, since opening it made my FF freeze repeatedly, I’m guessing it didn’t work properly. Can anyone give me a link to a different one? And damn you, Cervaise! Instead of opening it directly, try right-clicking and selecting “Save Link As”. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/49 "2009-02-03T02:38:50Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Actually, on my speakers I can hear it with them hardly turned up at all - like 2mm past OFF. > > Which is weird, 'cause last time we did this, I couldn’t hear it at all. I think maybe this isn’t the same frequency that made the rounds a while back, since so many of we “old people” are hearing it. > > Female, 34. > > (And again, my teenager in the next room over said, “Um…OW! Stop that!” even when the volume was pretty low. 😃 Maybe I should make it his alarm clock noise!) Well, my speakers have a “give” zone that filters high and low frequencies until you hit about halfway point, I never really realized that happened until now, worked fine on my headphones. Anyway, I can’t hear anything on that mosquito site… nothing it loading, even with all scripts allowed. I’m deaf! (Or it’s not loading, either way). Oh and as for the “clear and cut 30” thing I was going off a news article from npr I can’t seem to find anymore, it was the source of that link up there too, it said that statistically the cutoff point for “more can’t hear it than can hear it” is about 30. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/50 "2009-02-03T02:41:40Z")
1. God that sound is annoying. It sounds like when computer monitors start squealing, and no one but me and one or two other people hear it, leaving everyone else to star at us and ask what we’re doing when we try to trace the source to shut it off. On the other link 17khz is the first from top to bottom that I can’t hear. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/51 "2009-02-03T02:44:30Z")
Missed edit: Got the ringtone website to work, I can get up to 22 at 19 years old, but by 22 it’s more of a “feeling” than a “sound,” and this is someone who was in marching band with 170 people (LOUD) and likes his music a little above "average: volume. Edit: Oh god… thinkgeek has a device that emits the 15kHz one! [http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/b278/](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/b278/) What unspeakable horrors have they wrought upon this Earth!? ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/52 "2009-02-03T03:33:32Z")
Age 65. Can’t hear a thing, but then I’ve been deaf to anything above 8K since my 20s. Familial deafness. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/53 "2009-02-03T03:36:43Z")
I’m 27 and could hear it. Wasn’t quite high enough to make me want to kill things, but still bad. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/54 "2009-02-03T03:53:17Z")
37 and could hear it, as could my 29-year-old co-worker. I can often hear it around the shopping center, which really pisses me off. It’s a very blunt announcement that they don’t want you to be there. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/55 "2009-02-03T04:08:33Z")
30/F/Boston, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/56 "2009-02-03T04:24:14Z")
33, yes ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/57 "2009-02-03T04:35:55Z")
> [@MonaLizaT](#): > > 42 here. Only heard some low frequency static. My Lab, Scout, did perk up though.🙂 28, heard it. I think it made my eyes bleed when I turned it up all the way. In other news, I’m in the basement I just heard my dog, Scout, go scampering across the floor upstairs. May or may not have been related. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/58 "2009-02-03T04:51:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > 50, I had the volume set at the lower third on my laptop and heard it clearly (it was REALLY annoying). I’m also confused because I can’t hear over 15 kHz on the [misquito ringtown web site](http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/). I couldn’t hear any of the tones on that site. I’ve been meaning to go to my ENT for awhile. I think I need to make that appointment now. 44 is too young to be this deaf. I can’t hear anything over my tinitus. ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/59 "2009-02-03T05:16:08Z")
> [@Qwisp](#): > > I couldn’t hear any of the tones on that site. I’ve been meaning to go to my ENT for awhile. I think I need to make that appointment now. 44 is too young to be this deaf. I can’t hear anything over my tinitus. Well, getting the sound file to even load on that site is kinda touchy. There’s an audible ‘click’ as the buzz is being turned on and off; make sure you’re hearing that, first. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170/60 "2009-02-03T05:23:02Z")
Age 44, male, already have a touch of tinnitus, and just heard sort of a tingly staticky noise. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-poll-can-you-hear-this-sound/484170.md?page=4)