<p>“(June 12) – 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.”</p>
<p>I downloaded it yesterday and shared it with my kids. I can’t hear a dang thing, and when I turned up the volume of my laptop as high as it would go, my dog (who is my age in dog years) slept right through it. </p>
<p>But the kids, age 18 & 23, heard it with no problem at all and my son was amazed that I couldn’t hear it. My d. agrees with cnp55’s kid - no one would want that ring tone, as apparently it is extremely annoying but not necessarily something that would alert her to answer the phone. She’s sticking with the vibrate setting for silent ringing.</p>
<p>That is such an incredibly obnoxious noise! It’s like when a television is on, but not displaying anything… drives me nuts. No way would I use that as my ringtone! (19 years old here)</p>
<p>However, putting phones on vibrate is really not so silent. I have mine on vibrate in my pocket in class, which is basically silent, but it’s very easy to hear people’s phones vibrating in their purses – sometimes because it’s vibrating against a book or fabric, or sometimes because the vibration itself is loud when not cushioned by skin, fabric, etc.</p>
<p>Is there really a sound there? Or have all the kids gotten together to play an elaborate Emperor/Clothes trick, just waiting for one of us older fogeys to say “I HEAR IT!!”</p>
Wow! That is EXACTLY what I heard…I guess I’m amazed that I can hear it—guess now I’ll have to alter the excuse I use with my kids when I claim I can’t hear 'em <em>lol</em>–all those evenings spent in dancing joints with ultra loud music… I wonder if old age causes “selective hearing” as well as hearing loss?? ~berurah</p>
<p>Berurah, how old are you? and Citygirlsmom? and any other adult posters who can hear the tone? </p>
<p>I’m 52. The NYT article says that adults start losing that range of hearing at around age 40. </p>
<p>I know I was worried about hearing loss last year and went to my doctor, who tested me and pronounced me healthy & normal and said I had very good hearing for my age. But I already was aware that my kids could sometimes hear things that I could not. But I guess “normal” for over 50 isn’t the same as normal for 20. </p>
<p>I am aware that the “vibrate” mode does make a sound - it’s a low rumbly sound, and I guess I can hear that frequency just fine.</p>
<p>What a horrendous sound! I am almost 40( 11 days left) , could hear it just fine, and so could H who is almost 45 and pretends to e going deaf( now I know, hehe) .</p>
I am 47, and I <em>thought</em> that I had a difficult time hearing certain things (for example, I often miss lines in rented movies, but hey, we have about a bajillion noisy people over here all the time, so I guess that is at least justified). I had no problem hearing that tone, though. ~b.</p>
<p>Calmom, I am 50, and couldn’t hear it. My DH, who is a mere babe of 48 (yes, I robbed the cradle), says he could hear it, but I think he likes to think he is younger than he is, so I kidded around with him and said he was making it up. :)</p>
<p>I could hear a very high pitched sound (that I was told was the alarm system) in some stores until I was well into my thirties. I could not hear this ring tone. It is time to pack it in - the ears are going.</p>
<p>Allmusic, I robbed the cradle as well. I am going to test my DH later. :)</p>
<p>Personally, if there had ever been a “battle of wills” over the appropriate use of the cell phone with my D - or the amount of cell phone usage in general - the battle would have been over very quickly. I would have taken away the cell phone.</p>
~berurah</p>