Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Teenager Audio Test, or What's the Buzz?

There's a test that's been circulating on the Internet: Teenager Audio Test. The Oatmeal describes it as a sound that is "generally only heard by people under the age of 25. It has been used as a deterrent device to keep teenagers from loitering in malls and shops, and sounds similar to a buzzing mosquito. The elderly and people with hearing damage often cannot hear the sound."

I can hear it. VERY clearly.

I have very sensitive ears. As Adrian Monk would say, "It is a blessing and a curse."

I found it to be mostly a blessing. I discovered at an early age that I loved music, especially really good music (e.g.,  Bach, Mozart) and I wanted to learn more.

I started playing the flute in 4th grade. I eventually learned not only the flute, but many of its relatives: piccolo, recorder, fife, traverso (a one-keyed, wooden flute) and Native American Flute. I really enjoyed playing up in the stratosphere, like the "trumpeters who'd improvise a full octave higher than the score" (from The Music Man).

When I was working on my Master's Degree in Music, I took a course in Electronic Music. This was in the mid-80's, so we were still working on reel-to-reel audio tape recording. Our compositions consisted of various recorded original music, sounds, and effects, spliced together. Compositions were judged on both artistic and technical merits. When reviewing a classmate's piece, I said the classmate's composition very nice, except for the clicks. (Clicks are heard where the splices are improperly made.) My instructor looked around the room. No one else heard the clicks. Then he had a brainstorm. He played the compostion back at half speed, which makes everything sound down an octave. Suddenly, everyone heard the clicks. It helped that I was the only female in the room (women  tend to hear higher frequencies than men).

Sometimes I suffer for my sensitive hearing. My eye doctor had a "rodent deterrent" in his office. Every year for my annual eye exam, I would ask him to turn if off. He thought I was crazy. "How can you hear that? I'm not even sure it's on." I replied, "I am a professional musician. Yes, it's ON, please turn it OFF." That's one of the reasons I found a new eye doctor.

Sometimes my sensitive hearing is a blessing. I KNOW what my children are doing every minute they are in the house. Or wait, sometimes that is a curse.

I realize that my sensitive ears have been a bit a luck, a bit of genetics, and a bit of lifestyle choices.
So even though I am now twice the age as the target audience, my ears still work, very well. Now please, go turn off that Mosquito!!

1 comment:

  1. I have thought my hearing was declining, but I can hear the sound in that audio test. Not, apparently, as well as my children; when I clicked the link Young'un immediately clapped his hands over his ears and said, "What is THAT?!? TURN IT OFF!!!!"

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