By Vurdlak on May 24, 2006, with 243 Comments
Woow!!! This has to be the coolest audio illusion of all times! Apparently, using the Mosquito device, UK pupils have recorded the ultra-high sound that is audible only to under-20-year-olds. Your hearing gets progressively worse around the age of 20, so if you play a sound on the edge of your hearing spectrum, unless you have perfect hearing, you won’t be able to hear it at all. As I understood, the audio file is somewhere between 18KHz – 20KHz. When I played it, I haven’t heard anything, and thought it was just another internet hoax, but then my 14 year old brother started yelling at me, to lower that sound cause it’s driving him crazy – and he was in lower apartment!! Another thing.. my dog also flipped out! Here is the audio file. Check it out and report your findings!
This effect works best if you put on your head-phones. If the player below doesn’t work for you, download the Mosquito High Freq mp3.
1. Use your headphones if you don’t hear it the first time.
2. Test this mp3 file on your little brother, sister or a dog.
3. Be carefull not to drive someone crazy with this.
4. Test Your hearing here.
(33 votes)
I’m 45 and I could hear it no problem on my built in lap top speakers.
Im 16, i can’t hear it -___-
Im old?! D:
Never mind, there was a problem with my comp. got it to work, But my mom can hear it and she’s over 40. My dad cant though xD
Well I tried this with me and 2 other adults and and 2 kids in the room. The two kids heard it but the other adults didn’t. I am however am 30 and was able to hear it and it hurt my hears really bad. Man that could be used to torture someone.
im 24 and i heard it. now my head feels like it is going to explode.
If you turn it up all the way, anyone will be able to hear it. I tested my parents with my volume on full blast, and they could hear it perfectly fine. When I turned it down to about 50%, they couldn’t hear it anymore but I still could.
Well I am 15 and can hear it perfectly. it even does not annoy me . my mom 35 can too hear it .
I’m age 8 and still hear it unannoyed! IT CAN’T DRIVE ME CRAZY!
I’m nearly 24. I can hear it fine, no matter if it’s low or high… Blagh. Reminds me of when my roomies leave the tv on in the living room. I’ll hear it in the bedroom, and have to go turn it off. Drives me nuts.
Well I’m just shy of 30, heard it loud and clear. heh I expected otherwise, seeing how I go shooting so many times a week. Not to mention all the loud music and heavy equipment I’m often around… maybe I’m just lucky?
Well I’m 27 and I can hear it pretty clear. It’s similar to the noise, you can hear when muting an old CRT TV. :)
I’ve been conscious for a long time of the damage that the modern environment can do to one’s hearing so I’ve always been very careful (stay away from rock concerts, industrial noises, etc.) because I’m a musician. I guess it’s paid off because I can hear it clearly (and a ticking wristwatch on the other side of the room) and I’m 67. Hah!
i cant hear it men!!!
and im 15! and my 10 years old bro cant hear it too!!
but i max my headphones~!
im 13 and this is really easy to hear
i tried it on my mum (40) and she cant hear it! this is a cool illusion
i’m 13 as well and GLAD to have heard the annoying sound.
I could hear it(I’m nearly 14), my 45 year old mom can too but when I put the volume low my mom can’t hear it and I still can and I’m using earphone earphones…I’m going to set this as my ringing tone so I’m the one who can hear it in our house…
im 23 and i can hear it fine whether loud or low. wow my ears are still ringing after that ha ha ha
oww!!! that hurts! im going to use it on my little brother. hehe I’ve heard of this before. Somne guy played it outside his grocery store because kids were hanging around there. It worked! pretty clever :D
All I heard was an annoying ringing noise like I had tinnitus. Is that all it’s supposed to be? btw, I’m 26
Ouch!!! that is annoying indeed!!! I only listened for like 3 seconds and my head hurts like hell. I can hear it perfectly despite me being 23. I should be proud but somehow I wish I didn’t hear a thing… It’s still ringing in my head.. And I’m actually using regular speakers at low. LOL
Michelle says:
March 16, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Man that could be used to torture someone.
This was researched and was going to be played outside areas that youths congregated to stop them from hanging around
it’s around 15KHz, and can be heard rather well, even if you aren’t a teen anymore.
OWWW I think my right ear is deaf now.
owwie im almost 27 years old and that sound kills my ears its same as dog wistels for me there annoying
I’m seventeen, I had my volume as low as it would go and it still drove me insane. My dogs didn’t seem to react, but my cat became aggravated when he came into the room.
My girlfriend and I are both 31, and we each it it fine, along with the kids.
That being said, there is a point to be made here- I have been working in machine shops since I was 14, and often need to use subtitles or closed captioning when watching tv late at night, because it is hard for me to make out what people are saying over the background noise.
There are two reasons for this, both of interest when talking about auditory illusions. First, and the more relevant one in my case is that your brain can be trained to hear what it needs to. So, if you are running two mills, located on opposite sides of a noisy shop, the only way to know if one of them begins to have a problem when you are at the other is by hearing it. That means keeping track of what a particular machine sounds like in sequence when it’s running good, so that any little change pings your brain. You don’t need to think about this, it just happens after a while. But, your mind has finite resources, so if you’re spending the majority of your waking hours devoted to hearing certain sounds, it makes others less important- so if you’re watching a movie, and you are used to hearing primarily mechanical sounds, it is actually possible for the sound of the cameras, dogs way off in the distance, cars driving by, and other non-verbal noises to trump the human sounds, and actually sound like they are drowning out the actors’ lines. Really weird, but true. Medical doctors prove out that I have perfect hearing with their tests, but it’s still hard to hear what people are saying on the TV.
The second reason is the mainline hard-science one. OSHA sets guidelines by decibels for unprotected exposure to loud noises. As things get louder, the interval gets shorter. The reason they do this is because you have a number of tiny hairs in your inner ear. Different size hairs resonate at different frequency- it’s a physics thing, not a mental one this time. A louder noise creates a bigger vibration, and moves the hair more. After a while, the hair can’t take any more, and breaks off- and they don’t grow back.
To prove this out, find a piece of silverware you can do without, like an old spoon. If you bend it a fraction of an inch, and then back, you can keep repeating that action all day, without any major failures. If you bend the thing over until it touches the handle, then all the way the other way, you can only do it a dozen or so times before the metal snaps. Same thing happens in your ears- but bear in mind that the low-frequency hairs don’t move when they hear something like the audio above, and vice-versa.
So, if you hear high-pitched noises all day, that is the hearing you will lose. If you listen to nothing but extremely loud bass drums, that is what you will lose- but you’ll still hear this irritating sound as clear as a bell.
Neither one has anything at all to do with age, though it *is* more likely that added years add extra opportunities to lose a little of your hearing- and it all just keeps adding up, bit by bit until you’re yelling at the neighbors and cranking up “The Price is Right” to full volume.
Anyhow, spiffy site you’ve got here- the kids and I have had all kinds of fun with it tonight.
i heard it just fine and iam 63 frigging years old
I’m 21 and UGH I heard it!!! I thought I wouldn’t be able to… It’s the same annoying noise I hear coming from the TV even when it’s on mute that no one else says they can hear! I’m not crazy, I just haven’t killed my hearing yet! (Some older people can hear it, your hearing doesn’t decrease with age it decreases by listening to too-loud music or working with loud, heavy machinery)
On the chart, where do you start?
My dog just totally freaked out. I had to turn the speakers on full to hear it, though. I’m 23.
I am 31 & not sure why but I can still hear that! That is by far the most annoying high pitch squeal. I am not sure if it is supposed to sound that way but it does. I play music & have always had a great sense of hearing so I am not sure if that is it but that is a tone I would gladly pass up hearing again! I even asked my kids & they confirmed the ugly noise.
I played it for a few others in their mid 20′s to early 30′s & they can hear that as well. Only 40 & over have not been able to hear it. I have shown that annoying file to 12 people so far.
I am 41 and I can easily hear this high pitched tone. But I have always been very careful not to “overload” my ear drums. At Rock Concerts I always stand way back or use ear plugs.
I can also always hear the annoying high pitched sound of e classic CRT television or monitor, even if I’m in the other end of our (large) house.
I knew that hearing will degrade over the years and I remember when I was a child I was really stunned that my father (being in his mid-30′s) couldn’t hear the sound of the TV being on een id the volume was turned down completely. At first he didn’t believe me, but then we made some random tests where he asked me if the TV was on or off while I was sitting in then room next door with my eyes covered, and I could easily hear when it was on.
But I find it strange that you should be under 20 to be able to hear the sound – you know – me being over 40!???
But interesting article though.
best greetings from Denmark
een=even
id=if
Sorry ’bout that!
I’ll be 60 in February and heard the sound perfeclty.
Luckily everyone in our home could hear it, starting from my 5 year old little Sister to my 52 years old Dad. :D
30 and hearing it just fine. Lucky too, because I’m a musician!
I’ll be 30 in a month and can hear it perfectly fine.
I can totally hear it. I am almost 28.
Im 28 and i could hear it perfectly, i then tested it on my grandad and dad they boath could hear it :-( so whats the story there….
im 16 and thats really load….hurt my ears and my friends too
ouch, im 15 i can hear it. it hurts me and my sisters ears. parents cant hear it….
thats awesome
my um and dad cant hear it
my dad can hear it (39) bt y mum cant (38) why is this????????????
im 37 and i can hear it..
i mean im 27 not 37
I’m 31 an I here it just fine with my i phone earbuds. Its kind of annoying.
i’m 21 and that sound drives me mad…
Ummmm not sure if this is relevant but I just turned 29 the other day and I can hear it just fine and yes it hurts!!!!
I’m 43 and I can hear it too… So what is this crap about 20????
I did it, my parents didn’t hear it, but my brother, 16 and 11, and me, 20, heard it.
I’m 49 and I can hear it fine! :)
i’m 30 yrs old, i bombard my ears every week with a high powewred guitar amp and i could hear that high pitch whistle just fine… it was quite a disturbing noise thats for sure!
I can here this, but it’s only 15 kHz. Here’s an 18 kHz sound which I can’t hear but my younger sister can.
http://www.smashinglists.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/highfreq1.mp3
I’m 15, I can hear it.
you really wanna go there i have a 98 year old grama who can hear it without her hearing aid plus im 11 so ha
im 23. i can hear it fine..and it hurts
I am 97..and i cn hear it.
Yeah, and I’m 147 and can hear too…
11, can’t hear it.
click on “Test your hearing here.” it has a number four in it. then put on your headphones. when it takes you to the website. click on the right side all the way to the top of the chart. all the way to the right and up. i think you wont hear that. dont click the mp3 file.
29 and can hear it clear as day, very piercing annoying and loud
i can’t and im 12
I’m 48 and I can hear it great WITHOUT headphones! The first time I played it, it did hurt. But after a few times I got used to it. I’ve been driving my dog CRAZY with it!! LOL!!!!
Just turned 36 – can’t understand a thing that my wife says unless I can see her lips, and that noise was absolutely awful – it was like that sound that older tube televisions made when they were on, but more obnoxious.
thats how i had to explain it to my husband(32) who couldnt hear it.. but i could (23)
i could hear it and when i took my headphones off of my head my 50 year old dad could hear it and he was atleast 3 meters away
Man im 35 and that just made my ears ring. and not my head is killing me.
I’m 33, and I can hear this very well. But I can use this file against mosquitoes!!!
it’s just a lie… my aunt could hear it.. and she’s 42.. so yeah
i think it is because to many people use ear buds with the volume turn up to hi and any on between say 36 or younger have lision to nothing but mp3 and because of these recording are missing a lot of the spec-terms they turn them up to make up the difference.peace out
im 23 and I heard it
I have 27 and i can hear too
I’m 12 years old and what is this?
I tested it out on my mother. Works perfectly!
my dog looked up at me like wtf?? nd then went away
Omg it worked!! I could hear it but my mom couldn’t!!
Dumb my parents can hear it…
Scary. I could hear it very faintly with headphones on. I’m 46. Might get me a hearing aid next… O.o
I’m 21…That is the most annoying shit everrr! My parents put this on their phones to annoy my 15 yr old sister, I may end up pushing my mother down some stairs.
I can hear it just fine, and I am 26years old.
wow this hurrrtttsss, i’m 12 and parents can’t here it, my dog doesn’t care