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Teen Buzz

Teen Buzz

Submitted By MacAdict (MacAdict)

Description

This soundset takes advantage of a high frequency sound often called Teen Buzz that cannot be heard by most people over 20 and, as far as I know, all people over 30 due to hearing loss. The advantage of this is that your alerts will not annoy older people in the room and it is just cool.

These sounds can also be heard from a long distance by those who can hear them, yet are not so loud that you cannot hear other things over them. They can, however, start to give you a head ache if you listen to them for too long at too high a volume, so must people will probably want to keep Adium's volume level very low while using this.

This set contains three files. One is a short buzz good for message alerts, another is a medium length buzz good for contacts signing on, and the last is a long alert that is good for inital message alerts.


Though I have not seen it myself, I hear that using junky speakers can cause these sounds to be audible to anyone. They work fine on my iMac's internal speakers, but I just thought I'd warn you.

Comments

You can reply to individual comments by clicking the "Reply" link next to each.

# by Kiel on 06/03/06 at 06:39:26

While I appreciate the contribution you've made, I'm sorry to say that the whole "Teen Buzz" theory is, well, wrong. I just got my 40 odd year old Dad to validate that.

# by MacAdict on 06/03/06 at 15:48:18

I have tested it on several people over 30, all of whom could not hear it. Try making him tell you when the buzz is on. It is possible that he imagines that sound. People hear what they want to hear, and finding that your hearing is going it no very nice....

Also, what speaksrs are you using? As I said before, there have been reports that some speakers will not play the sound correctly, resulting in no one or everyone being able to hear it.

# by Digital_Corpus on 06/11/06 at 16:00:39

Comparing the frequency generated to a signal produced by SignalSuite this is a 15KHz signal. I myself can hear up to about 18.5KHz. I used Sennheiser's HD 280 Pro headphones for testing. Most people below 30 can hear this, that I've seen at least. If you put generate a freq. of 16 or 16.5 KHz this willl be more transparent like what you are shooting for.

# by cunfuzzled on 06/13/06 at 17:26:19

I heard the ringtone and liked it, but how do I get it on to my phone?

# by groemel on 07/01/06 at 14:50:55

sorry I have a problem with this sound, I cannot hear it myself --- Im 15...but maybe its a problem with my computer ( iBook G4, 12" ) How can I get it work, or is there something wrong with my ears ?

# by callieo on 02/12/07 at 12:40:45

i'm having the same problem as groemel, i have a 12 inch ibook g4, i'm 13 and it won't work.

# by Verticos on 04/04/07 at 15:03:25

the ibook speakers have horrid sound quality. it is probably just that the speakers can't produce that frequency.

# by agent6998 on 05/21/07 at 22:33:29

This is not real. If you look into the Events tab in the preferences, there is not sound file associated with this theme. You can't trick me!

# by smeggery on 10/11/07 at 05:53:45

Heh, actually there are three sounds in the file. But they don't seem to be set up to use... which may be messing people's age tests up a bit, haha. So you'll just have to edit the plist file. Or add them in via the preferences.

Oh, and I'm 29 can hear them all just fine. Maybe I'll get back to y'all in a year or two and see what's up. ;)

# by Aitikin on 10/29/07 at 05:41:21

To explain, hearing loss can be caused by any number of things. For example, in the US, males have a greater loss of hearing in their left ears than in their right, but in England, males have a greater loss in their right than their left. If you think about it, you probably could figure it out pretty quick.

People who live in undeveloped non-industrialized societies have lived past the age of 80 and suffered no hearing loss whatsoever. If people take care of their hearing, it's much more likely that they will be able to hear these sounds.

# by vampyreyes on 11/27/07 at 13:10:56

This sound just gave me a migraine, I'm on an ibook g4 and it's incredibly loud to me, and just the right pitch to hurt.
I"m hyper-sensitive to any sound in the high frequency range, but most lows turn into buzzing. So I imagine this is always going to be case sensitive.

# by pixiestix on 08/12/12 at 05:15:56

First time I downloaded this set I was in my early 20s, and had an iBook G4 (size of screen doesn't matter, and the speakers were standard). I could hear them, PERFECTLY - I would CRINGE even because it isn't just a buzz, it's an annoying, high pitched buzz that physically pained me to hear.

Now that I'm almost 30, I thought I'd download it again to see if I could still. My computer is now a MAcBook Pro 13". I can still hear it, PERFECTLY, at the speakers being at half sound.

So... maybe you used the wrong mHz to make this set.

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3.50 / 38 votes
Current Version: 0.0
Last Updated: 05/27/06