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Teens Using Ring Tones Adults Can't Hear

POSTED: 12:02 pm MDT May 26, 2006
UPDATED: 1:31 pm MDT May 26, 2006

Teens are taking their ingenuity to a new level by installing a ring tone with a high-frequency buzz that most adults can't hear so they can use their phones to text-message in classrooms, according to reports in England.

Known as "Teen Buzz," it is spread from phone to phone via text message and Bluetooth technology, the Daily Mail said.

The sound was being used in a device called the Mosquito, which was marketed to help store owners in England repel teenagers from loitering outside their shops.

The high-pitch sound is irritating for teenagers but most adults can't hear it because over the age of 20, most adults are unable to hear that frequency (between 18 to 20 kHz), according to Mosquito manufacturer Compound Security. It is based on the medical phenomenon known as presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss, Compound Security said.

A school teacher in England discovered the scam being used by his students.

"All the kids were laughing about something, but I didn't know what ... They could all hear somebody's phone ringing but I couldn't hear a thing," he told reporters.

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