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Phone feature for the dogs
June 13, 2006

The buzz at the International Microwave Show this week in San Francisco centers on high-tech innovations that will enable wireless-device consumers to take the comforts of home on the road. The buzz in the mainstream press is about a wireless-phone feature that’s decidedly low tech and that’s serving to bring the annoyances of home into the classroom.

Topping the most popular article list (by number of e-mails) in the New York Times is an article that describes a 17-kHz ring tone meant to be audible to children but not adults, helping students circumvent rules against powered-on cell phones in the classroom. The article reports on one student busted by a 28-year-old teacher not affected by presbycusis--the deterioration in high-frequency hearing that typically accompanies aging.

One thing I find surprising is that a cell phone can produce a 17-kHz output audible to anyone.

By the way, the tone was originally marketed for benevolent purposes--as “an ultrasonic teenager repellent…to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected,” the Times reports.

Posted by Rick Nelson on June 13, 2006 | Comments (0)