Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by DrSiemer 928 days ago
Most children can hear very high frequencies and it usually causes them discomfort. For a while it was actually used as a deterrent for loitering youth in the Netherlands (the "mosquito device"), which was terrible for me: as an adult I can not only still hear that, but it's almost unbearable.

Very old CRT monitors can have a similar effect, but they are usually not that loud. A friend once tried to test it using one of those "silent" ringtones for kids and I nearly destroyed his phone, without meaning to react so strongly.

Many years later a niece was able to ask an expert about this and he told her it's probably "cochlear hyperacusis", something that can make you overly sensitive to certain sounds or frequencies.

I do not have any other hearing issues, except for a single 20 second burst of tinnitus that will start loud and quickly taper off completely, which only happens maybe once every 6 months or so.

1 comments

I am in my 30s and still hear frequency's over 16.5 kHz. I cant stand the high frequencies they are like auditory needles in my ears still. I know they say adults dont hears them but is that actually the case for most adults? I mean I have done enough it seems like I should have the hearing damage needed loud music on headphones, been in rock concert mosh pits, fired guns without hearing protection, fireworks, fired homemade cannons without hearing protection. But still hear everything fine