2006-06-22 21:42:36Cabnolen

Students find ring tone adults can’t hear

Source: UPI

NEW YORK (UPI) -- Cunning U.S. teenagers have turned a disruptive noise technology to their advantage by adapting it to a cell phone ring tone that adults can’t hear.

Last year, Compound Security in Wales invented a sound generator called the Mosquito that emits an annoying sound only young people can hear, and now markets the device to prevent loitering around commercial properties.

But that same 17-kilohertz sound is now circulating on the Internet and being downloaded as a ring tone that students are using in schools where most teachers over 30 can’t hear them, The New York Times reported. The teacher-proof tone is handy for alerting a student of an incoming text message, the report said.

”Our high-frequency buzzer was copied. It is not exactly what we developed, but it’s a pretty good imitation,” said Simon Morris, marketing director for Compound Security. ”You’ve got to give the kids credit for ingenuity.”

Copyright 2006 by United Press International