I’m listening to loud music right now. I don’t do this often, but when I need to stop thinking about something, nothing suppresses thought as well as loud music. I’m concerned, though, because I read this story about the ‘mosquito’ ring-tone/7-eleven defense system.
A little while ago there was a convenience store owner in the UK who wanted to get rid of all the teenagers loitering around his store. He thought of exploiting the phenomenon of age-diminishing dynamic range in human hearing. We lose the ability to hear high-pitched noises as we get older, and this shop owner thought to make a gadget that would emit a loud sound – a loud and very annoying sound – that teenagers could hear but older folk couldn’t.
The teenagers caught on, though, and figured out that they could use that sound, called the ‘mosquito’, as a telephone ringtone. Very helpful, I would imagine, when they want to get their text messages in the middle of class without their teachers knowing.
I’m in my mid-30’s now, and I don’t want to scare away teenagers, but the article pointed out that listening to loud music can narrow your ears’ dynamic range. I’m very…mindful…of things that inflict permanent damage on my body. I don’t use mind-altering drugs, not so much because I’m morally opposed to them (I’m not) but rather because I don’t want to take the chance that they might harm my brain, even infinitesimally, and make me a bit less intelligent (not that I’m exceptionally intelligent). I don’t smoke either, I don’t drink (much), and I’ve never gotten a tattoo. And when someone says that listening to loud music can affect my hearing, I take notice – but I really do need to clear my mind right now. So I’ll risk it.
