MetaChat - Can you hear the "adult proof" ring tone?

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13 June 2006

Can you hear the "adult proof" ring tone? (There's a link to listen on the right side of the page.) I'm 30, and I hear it loud and obnoxiously clear. Do I have bat-like hearing, or is the ring not so adult proof after all? →[More:] Apologies if this has already been posted - I kinda thought I saw it here, but I can't find it now.

post by: amro at: 21:32 | 29 comments

I still feel weird calling myself an "adult."

posted by amro 13 June | 21:34

Hear it fine. Horrible goddamn sound - actually painful.

posted by mygothlaundry 13 June | 21:35

Yeah, I heard it too... and by all rights I SHOULD be hard of hearing by now, given my younger concert-going habits.

posted by BoringPostcards 13 June | 21:36

Remember, you're not in a busy classroom.

posted by Eideteker 13 June | 21:38

Thanks for the link to the MeFi thread mgl; I knew I'd seen this discussed somewhere before.

posted by amro 13 June | 21:39

Not only could I hear it, it hurt.

posted by Miko 13 June | 21:39

I can hear it at work if I turn the speakers all the way up. But at home I can't hear it at all.

posted by iconomy 13 June | 21:44

I can FEEL it, like when your ears "whistle" but I did not hear it, I just felt an uncomfortable feeling in my eardrums.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 13 June | 22:01

had to top out the 3kHz to 20dB just to hear more than a hum. I don't know if I should feel happy about that or start taking Geritol.

posted by jelly 13 June | 22:04

I hope that soon, the teachers who are being "tricked" by this come clean and start busting the kids. How can you not hear it?

Darned kids thinking they're so clever with their stinkin' youthful ears.

posted by fenriq 13 June | 22:08

I could hear it, but not too well.

posted by SassHat 13 June | 22:10

Can't hear a thing. Perhaps something to do with my listening to music loud enough to hurt when I was younger (actually, last week). Also, being within inches of open-exausted race engines probably hasn't enhanced my hearing much.

posted by dg 13 June | 22:15

Is this a joke? Is there seriously a sound there? Because I hear nothing. Am I elderly? I am, aren't I.

posted by jrossi4r 13 June | 22:25

I can't hear it. :(

posted by dobbs 13 June | 22:32

I hear nuthin'.

posted by yhbc 13 June | 22:44

I can hear it over the tunes and fish tanks, and I'm over 40 (and too damn many years in the band). OY. It's not fun, though. (more like hearing it through the other sounds in the room.)

posted by jlkr 13 June | 23:27

Can't hear it. Damn.

posted by kmellis 13 June | 23:41

I can't even hear it with good headphones.

posted by kmellis 13 June | 23:46

Isn't this going to depend on the speaker/sound card set-up? I mean, if it's really playing at a freq. at the top end of human hearing, some speakers will just attenuate it, right?

posted by muddgirl 13 June | 23:46

I can hear it easily. I don't think it's particularly high frequency, and I don't believe it is being accurately reproduced (not a pure sine any more).

posted by Five Fresh Fish 14 June | 00:05

No problem hearing it.

Why would they not just hold the phone and set it to vibe with one ring? I use this in meetings.

posted by arse_hat 14 June | 00:13

" I mean, if it's really playing at a freq. at the top end of human hearing, some speakers will just attenuate it, right?"

Yeah, that's why I tried it with good headphones. But those were connected to the jack on my monitor—that amp is not necessarily very good.

I need to get a little headphone amp with it's own dac and optical input for reference purposes.

posted by kmellis 14 June | 00:57

Oh god, that was annoying. It's a high-pitch tone. Sounds like a bomb just went off next to me. ouch.

posted by puke & cry 14 June | 01:12

Whoah. I couldn't hear it... I really am elderly, but I totally expected to hear it because my hearing is freakishly good - too good, really. (At least I thought it was.) I'm still curious, though, whether I would hear it in person.

posted by taz 14 June | 01:58

My husband is a sound engineer, btw, and we frequently have discussions that go like this:

me: wow, what was that?

him: what?

me: that big thump/bang/crash/screaming ninja? You didn't hear that?

him: uh, no.

me: *shakes head in disbelief*

He says all sound guys are like that, though.

posted by taz 14 June | 02:04

I heard it on Metafilter and it hurt. I'm not going to listen to it again.

posted by matildaben 14 June | 02:08

*aaarrrghh* turn that noise off!

posted by dabitch 14 June | 04:56

I heard it a little bit but mostly it made my eardrums hurt. I'm 32.

posted by sisterhavana 14 June | 10:12

Can't hear it all and someone in the other Mecha thread linked to a mosquito buzz - I couldn't hear that either. I can hear all sorts of stuff the mister can't.

posted by deborah 14 June | 13:18

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