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Mosquito ringtone at 17 kHz: the tone most adults over 30 can't hear

By TechCompare · Updated · How we check

A 17 kHz sine tone is audible to most people under 25 and inaudible to most over 30, thanks to age-related high-frequency hearing loss. Use wired headphones: cheap speakers often can't play 17 kHz cleanly.

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The mosquito ringtone is a 17 kHz sine tone nicknamed for the Mosquito anti-loitering device, which used a similar high frequency to disperse teenagers without bothering adults. It works because high-frequency hearing drops with age: a 17 kHz tone is audible to most people under 25 and inaudible to most people over 30.

That made it useful as a stealth phone ringtone in classrooms and as a viral demonstration of presbycusis.

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1
Single tone
Frequencies
17 kHz
Waveform
Sine
Per-oscillator lanes

How this is calculated

The 17 kHz ringtone is presbycusis in action. Hair cells in the cochlea that respond to high frequencies degrade first as you age, so by your mid twenties most people have lost some sensitivity above 15 kHz. A 17 kHz tone sits right in that loss band.

The cutoff varies by individual, by exposure history, and unfortunately by playback hardware too: most laptop built-in speakers can't produce 17 kHz cleanly, and phone speakers vary. For an honest test, use wired headphones rated to 20 kHz. The 'young ears' meme is partly real biology and partly hardware luck.

Verdict

Treat it as a demonstration of age-related hearing loss, not a clinical test. Use wired headphones, and don't be surprised if a teenager hears it when you can't.

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Related guides

Hearing test tone
Why the mosquito ringtone is also a high-cutoff hearing test.
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Tinnitus frequency match
High-frequency tone matching that starts where the mosquito ringtone sits.
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Frequently asked questions

What Hz is the mosquito ringtone?
The mosquito ringtone is a 17 kHz sine tone. The original Mosquito anti-loitering device used a 17.4 kHz frequency. Both sit in the high-frequency band where age-related hearing loss has usually erased sensitivity in adults over 30.
Why can kids hear the mosquito tone but adults can't?
High-frequency hearing drops with age, a process called presbycusis. The cochlear hair cells that respond to frequencies above 15 kHz degrade first, so a 17 kHz tone often falls below an adult's hearing threshold while remaining clearly audible to a child or teenager.
Why can't I hear it on my laptop speakers?
Most laptop speakers and phone speakers roll off well above 15 kHz and can't produce 17 kHz cleanly. Use wired headphones rated to 20 kHz for a real test. Wireless earbuds also frequently cap above 16 kHz due to codec limitations.

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