Old Age
Well apparently old age is creeping up on me. How do I know? Well thanks to an article on the front page of the New York Times yesterday I can no longer ignore its inevitability.
As reported by Paul Vitello, there is a new trend in cell phone use -- a ring tone that only kids and those under the tender age of about 28 can hear. Apparently it is at a high frequency that most people lose an ability to hear after a certain age. When applied to their cell phones high schoolers are free to text their friends during class without their "old" teachers hearing.
After reading the article I figured, no big deal. I have been known for my almost freaky hearing ability -- hearing things down long hallways and behind closed doors that others don't even know are being uttered. I have been counting on this as a super defense mechanism to use against my kids when they arrive at teenage-hood.
Well apparently I better find a better plan, because I can't hear the ring tone. I was shocked when my husband emailed me the tone yesterday and it played to deaf ears. I hit that play button over and over and nothing. Nothing!
I called my husband downstairs who gleefully admitted that he did not have my super sonic hearing but could hear it. I couldn't believe it! I made him turn his back and tell me when he heard the tone and I'll be damned if he heard it every time.
Here's the link to the tone. Play it and let me know if I can count you in as my compatriot in old age. With my husband's new found aural status I certainly need the company.
http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages/audio/nyregion/20060610_RINGTONE.mp3
LOL. My friends and I were discussing this the other day. I can hear it. My Husband can hear it. A friend of ours, two years younger, cannot.
Just very interesting.
Posted by: Jenna | June 13, 2006 at 07:08 AM
Al I hear is a high pitched squeal. At 32, perhaps I am not that old yet :)
Posted by: Chad Garrett | June 14, 2006 at 09:41 AM
I'm 32 & I can hear it - I also have freaky hearing (very useful when I taught high school)!
Posted by: Analisa Roche | June 14, 2006 at 01:00 PM
At the young and vibrant age of 41... no can hear. But I have so much else going for me, really ...
Posted by: Allison Wood | June 14, 2006 at 08:03 PM
I am cracking up! I cannot hear squat, but my 2 dogs are going nuts!!!
Posted by: Vicki | June 17, 2006 at 09:27 AM
WOOHOO! I'm 30 and feeling like 15 after that.
Thanks Elisa :)
Posted by: Motherhood Uncensored | June 18, 2006 at 09:32 AM
AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!
I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!!!
Oh, Time's winged chariot hurrying near.
Hurrying silently, apparently.
F&%#! I'm getting old!!!
Posted by: JJ | June 20, 2006 at 05:54 PM
oh my gosh.....i like to think of myself as "young" (ok, over 40 isn't young to some, but just ask a 50+!) in spirit if not necessarily in years and i cannot hear a #$%^&* thing!! those cell companies are evil........maybe i'll just retaliate and refuse to purchase one for my daughter........we didn't need them, did we?
Posted by: Adriene | June 22, 2006 at 01:08 AM
Turning 36 in a few months and I can hear it (yay!). I did play piccolo through high school and university, so maybe I'm just used to hearing those frequencies...?
Posted by: MamaSutra | June 22, 2006 at 08:56 PM