Mosquito Tone

Play high tones from 8 kHz to 19 kHz that only some ears hear.

Everything runs in your browser. No audio is ever uploaded.

15kHz

Turn your volume down before you press play. These tones sound quiet even when they are loud, so it is easy to run your speakers or your ears far harder than you think. Stop at once if you feel any pressure or pain.

Frequency

Who typically hears this: Most people under about 30.

Settings

Volume-20 dB

Audio starts on your first tap on Play, as required by your browser. Press Space to start or stop.

The mosquito tone is a very high sine tone, played here from 8 kHz up to 19 kHz. It is the sound behind the teen deterrent device and the mosquito ringtone, and because the top of the range is the first part of hearing to fade, the highest frequency you can still hear says something about your ears.

How to use it

Turn the volume down before anything else. These tones sound quiet even at a high level, so the setting that felt safe for music is too loud here.
Use wired headphones or a speaker you trust above 15 kHz. Phone and laptop speakers usually produce almost nothing up there, and a Bluetooth link can cut the top as well.
Tap a frequency, starting low. The line under the buttons tells you who typically still hears the band you selected, from almost everyone at 8 kHz to a few teenagers at 19 kHz.
Press Play, or hit the space bar, and work upward one band at a time until a tone stops arriving. Note the last frequency you were sure about.
Repeat the last two bands with your eyes shut and a helper starting the tone at random moments. Expecting a sound is enough to imagine hearing one.

What you can use it for

A rough check on your high frequency hearing. It takes half a minute and tells you roughly where your top end sits, which is exactly the part of hearing that fades first with age and with noise exposure.

The tone got its name from a deterrent device that plays around 17.4 kHz, loud enough to annoy teenagers and inaudible to most adults. The same idea turned into ringtones students used in class.

A party trick that happens to be true. Hand it around a room with mixed ages and the split between who winces at 16 kHz and who hears nothing is usually obvious.

Checking whether hardware reaches that far. If the tone is audible on wired headphones but silent through the laptop speakers, you have just measured the speakers rather than your ears.

Testing a recording chain. Play a 15 kHz tone into a microphone and look at the spectrum analyzer: if the peak is missing, the microphone, the sample rate or the noise suppression is throwing the top away.

Frequency and the age that typically still hears it

Frequency	Typically audible to
8 kHz	Almost everyone, at any age.
10 kHz	Most people under about 60.
12 kHz	Most people under about 50.
14 kHz	Most people under about 40.
15 kHz	Most people under about 30.
16 kHz	Mostly people under 30. This is the band adults lose first.
17.4 kHz	Mostly teenagers and people in their early 20s. This is the original Mosquito deterrent tone.
18 kHz	Mostly people under about 24.
19 kHz	Only some teenagers, and only on hardware that reproduces it.

Accuracy and limits

Hearing nothing does not prove much on its own: many phone and laptop speakers roll off above 15 kHz, so the tone may never reach the air. Use wired headphones for a fairer check.

The ages in the table are population averages, not a verdict on you. Hearing loss in the top octaves varies enormously between people of the same age, and loud work, concerts or a single very loud event move it years earlier. Someone of 35 who has looked after their ears may beat someone of 22 who has not.

This is not a hearing test. There is no calibrated level, no per ear result and no threshold search: you get a yes or no on nine fixed frequencies at whatever volume your system happens to be at. The hearing test and the hearing age test go about it more carefully, and an audiologist more carefully still.

Frequently asked questions

What is the mosquito tone?

A high frequency tone of around 17 kHz, made famous by a deterrent device sold to shops and councils. It is loud and irritating to most teenagers and inaudible to most people over about 25, which is the whole point of it.

Why can I not hear 17 kHz any more?

Because the top of the range goes first. The hair cells that respond to high frequencies are the most exposed and do not grow back, so the ceiling comes down gradually from the early twenties. Your speakers may also be innocent of ever producing it.

Is the mosquito tone dangerous?

The frequency itself is not special, but the level can be. High tones feel quiet, so people turn them up, and a loud tone in that range can hurt and can damage hearing over time. Keep it low and stop at once if you feel pressure or pain.

Does it repel mosquitoes or mice?

No. The name comes from the deterrent device, not from insects. Reviews of ultrasonic pest repellers keep finding no reliable effect on mosquitoes or rodents, and 19 kHz is not even ultrasonic.

Is it legal to use as a deterrent?

It depends where you are. Devices aimed at keeping young people away from public places have been criticised by children's rights bodies and restricted or banned in some countries and cities. Playing it at other people is at best rude and at worst against local rules.

Can I download it as a ringtone?

Not from this page. If you want a file, the tone generator will render any frequency you like as a WAV of 1 to 30 seconds, which you can convert to a ringtone yourself.