A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears

From an article in Monday’s New York Times:

In that old battle of the wills between young people and their keepers, the young have found a new weapon that could change the balance of power on the cellphone front: a ring tone that many adults cannot hear.

In settings where cellphone use is forbidden — in class, for example — it is perfect for signaling the arrival of a text message without being detected by an elder of the species.

“When I heard about it I didn’t believe it at first,” said Donna Lewis, a technology teacher at the Trinity School in Manhattan. “But one of the kids gave me a copy, and I sent it to a colleague. She played it for her first graders. All of them could hear it, and neither she nor I could.”

The Times has the sound file. Can you hear it?

4 thoughts on “A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears”

  1. I could hear it…it is a very high pitched continuous note. Almost like fingernails on a chalk board.

  2. I could also hear it. A bit painful but not because it’s loud, but rather because its so high pitched. For reference I’m 30 yrs old.

  3. Jill reports that 5-year-ol Mack said he could hear it and she could hear the beginning and end of it. Two-year-old Aidan didn’t want to.

    NewMexiKen cannot hear it and thinks you are all in on a big practical joke (that also involves The New York Times).

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