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Found this article in a broadcasting industry news letter. Possible new feature for the Breakaway family of products? 😆
quote :KroneHit Blasts Mosquitoes
08.12.2009Vienna, Austria-based music station KroneHit is offering listeners an unusual summer prize — a mosquito-free environment.
Since mid-July, the station has embedded a 14,850 Hz tone in its audio signal in an effort to discourage mosquitoes from biting KroneHit listeners.According to a Google translation of the KroneHit Web site (http://www.kronehit.at/), the tone imitates the buzzing of a female mosquito, discouraging other female mosquitoes from approaching. The 14,850 Hz tone corresponds to a 27th harmonic of a mosquito’s hum (550 Hz), making it imperceptible to human ears.
The station cites Dr. Michael Müller of Kiel, a city in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, as saying that “within a radius of five meters around the radio, mosquitoes will no longer bite.” It does not work if you wear headphones and according to the site, the level is adjusted to avoid harming pets.
LOL 🙂
Nice one.
I don’t know about you, but 14,850 Hz is well within my hearing range, and this would drive me bonkers.
17500 would be a better idea 🙂. That, I could live with. The 15 KHz "limit" is completely arbitrary. As long as you don’t step on the pilot, you’re good.
The question is, does it really help?
Remember it can’t be very loud. Pre-emphasis dictates that a 15000 Hz tone can’t be louder than approximately -15dB, and that’s if we started with full scale (no music, only tone). If we assume we’re only willing to sacrifice 10%, that’s 20dB below full scale, so with de-emphasis we’re at -35dB. I think we can safely assume this will not make a difference one way or the other for mosquitos.
I do congratulate the station for a truly creative marketing campaign! They’ve found an excellent way to make sure lots of people keep listening to them at all times. They may not even actually have inserted the tone at all.
I’d love to see an MPX recording of this station. 😉
///Leif
[quote author=”Sparky”]Found this article in a broadcasting industry news letter. Possible new feature for the Breakaway family of products? 😆
quote :KroneHit Blasts Mosquitoes
08.12.2009Vienna, Austria-based music station KroneHit is offering listeners an unusual summer prize — a mosquito-free environment.
Since mid-July, the station has embedded a 14,850 Hz tone in its audio signal in an effort to discourage mosquitoes from biting KroneHit listeners.According to a Google translation of the KroneHit Web site (http://www.kronehit.at/), the tone imitates the buzzing of a female mosquito, discouraging other female mosquitoes from approaching. The 14,850 Hz tone corresponds to a 27th harmonic of a mosquito’s hum (550 Hz), making it imperceptible to human ears.
The station cites Dr. Michael Müller of Kiel, a city in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, as saying that “within a radius of five meters around the radio, mosquitoes will no longer bite.” It does not work if you wear headphones and according to the site, the level is adjusted to avoid harming pets.
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yeah, every year the same hoax… but we fell for it the first time.. actually we tested it with a tone generator and a couple of specially trained mosquitoes..after exposing them to the 15000Hz tone.. fire.. and a bottle of anti-mosquito.. they just disappeared !
guess you cant equip BBP with a flame thrower and a anti mosquito spray ?greetos ,
Joop
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