Mosquito Ringtone: How it came

Mosquito Tone
Cellphone ringtones of high frequency when most adults cannot hear it is called the mosquito ringtone or zumbitone or simply teen buzz ringtone. For example, use of cellphone is not permitted in a classroom.

A student by using mosquito ringtone in his or her cellphone can furtively know about a call or a message received in the cellphone without the teacher’s knowledge. In fact to the adult teacher the mosquito ringtone is not audible.

Exceptions
Mosquito ringtone is not supposed to be heard by older people as hearing ability decreases with age. However often older people are reported to have been able to hear the mosquito ringtone. Even for the children and the young, the mosquito ringtone buzz may cause harm to the auditory organs.

Annoying Buzz
The Mosquito Device was invented with the intention to deter teenagers from moving around aimlessly at zones where loitering was not permitted. The tone set at around 17.4 kHz high frequency is generally beyond the hearing ability of people over 20 years of age but quite audible to people below that age. Howard Stapleton, the inventor of mosquito device from which the idea of mosquito ringtone was developed took advantage of the phenomenon of presbycusis, the falling ability to hear high frequency sounds with advancing age while the same high frequency sound can be heard by people below 20.

The device is mainly used in areas where people gather like shopping malls. It does not have much impact when people are exposed to it for short duration but becomes quite annoying if the exposure to this high frequency sound is more than 10 minutes. As it affects the younger people who find the buzz irritating after sometime, they are inclined to leave the place. It thus curbs the tendency among the young people to loiter at a place for any considerable duration. In effect the device discourages loitering.

Tone to Ringtone
A grocery store at Newport, South Wales where the mosquito device was first tested experienced reduced loitering by teenagers at the store. The statutory safety limit of the sound frequency of 75 decibels is maintained by the mosquito tone since its launch in the market in 2005. As already mentioned, some older people are reported to have the ability to hear the mosquito tone or the mosquito ringtone.

It is to the delight of the teenagers that the mosquito tone was applied as mosquito ringtone in their cellphones thus converting what was supposed to be a source of annoyance into one of pleasure. The school discipline could be breached in a secret bliss as the students are alerted silently of messages and calls from their friends on their cellphones without the risk of drawing attention of the teachers and thus escaping punishment.

The mosquito ringtone ensures that no sound goes out to the adults and the cellphones can be enjoyed by the adolescents and youths without adult interference. Their mobile phones continue to be useful and receive messages from the loved ones even during the time at school.