Having a mosquito ringtone in your phone is like being a secret agent with a state of the art gadget. Imagine this, you are the only one who can hear the tone. For many teenagers, the mosquito ringtone has caught their attention and there have been millions of downloads since the release of the ringtone in 2005.

"The Mosquito" Ringtone is credited to a British inventor named Howard Stapleton. He invented in back in 2005. This product was intended not to be a ringtone for teenagers but to annoy teenagers. The British inventor wanted this 17KHz invention to keep teenagers from loitering outside of stores at night.

The idea was simple: broadcasting a high level sonic frequency targets younger humans (namely teenagers) like a dog whistle.  The tone blasts a non stop 17KHz sound wave which is aimed at dispersing loitering teenagers. But since adults can’t hear them, these paying customers will not be affected.

Kids and teens do not have a problem of hearing this high pitched ringtone. To understand how this tone works you have to understand how we hear things. The human hearing of an average person extends from 20HZ to 20,000Hz of frequency. Hz is short for Hertz which means cycles per second. Under optimal conditions we can hear these frequencies. As we grow old, we hear less high frequency sound waves. This effect is due to a lot of factors, especially if we listen to loud music very often. By the time we reach 30 most of adults can not hear sound waves higher than 14,000Hz.

Presbycusis is our natural biological condition which is referred to as aging ear. Scientists concluded that high frequency hearing loss usually start at age 20. The ear starts to lose its "agility" as we age. We become less capable of hearing high tones. This condition gets worse the older you get just like other human bodily functions. Those who are over 40 or 50 exhibit some extent of presbycusis, but young adults rarely exhibit these symptoms. Human communication is around 200 and 8,000 hertz range. 

A tone designed to annoy teenagers are now used by teenagers as an advantage against parents and teachers. If you don’t want your teacher to be hearing your phone when someone calls this is definitely the ringtone for you. If you don’t want your parents to know that someone is calling you while you are at the dinner table, this is a good tone for you. The mosquito ringtone has 17KHz of sound wave which most adults can’t hear. It is not their fault, it is just part of aging.

There are adults with exceptional ears. Not every one is mosquito ringtone deaf. If you are curious about your hearing you can download ringtone online. Just search through any search engine and download the MP3 file. Surely, your kids will hear it. Check it out together with them. You will have a laugh.