Mosquito Frequency Test
Play the famous 17.4 kHz “mosquito” tone — the high pitch most teenagers hear easily but most adults over ~25 cannot — plus a full ladder of 8 kHz to 20 kHz steps. Mark each tone you can hear and the test gives you a PASS or FAIL at 17.4 kHz with a rough hearing-age comparison.
⚠ For fun and curiosity — not a hearing diagnosis. Calibrate the volume first and keep it gentle: steady high tones can fatigue your ears without ever sounding loud. A tone you can’t hear is very often your device, not your ears — many phones, laptops and Bluetooth links roll off above ~16 kHz and few speakers reproduce 18–20 kHz cleanly at all. There is no microphone here and nothing is recorded.
Step 1 · Set a comfortable volume
Before testing, play this easy reference tone (1 kHz — everyone hears it) and set your device/headphone volume so it is clearly audible but gentle. This makes the high-frequency results meaningful. Use headphones for the most reliable result.
Keep it moderate. Never crank the volume to chase a tone you can’t hear — it may simply be above your ears’ or device’s limit.
Step 2 · The test
Step through the ladder. For each tone, play it and tap I can hear it or Can’t hear it. The 17.4 kHz step is the headline mosquito frequency.
Step 3 · Your result
This PASS/FAIL is an informal, uncalibrated result that depends on your speakers/headphones, the volume you set, and your surroundings — it is not a clinical audiogram. For any real concern about your hearing, see an audiologist.
Typical High-Frequency Cutoff by Age
These are widely-published typical population averages for healthy ears. The gradual loss of high-frequency hearing with age is called presbycusis, and the trend is described in standards such as ISO 7029. They are a rough guide only — individuals vary a lot, and noise exposure, hardware and listening level all shift the number. The famous 17.4 kHz mosquito tone sits near the upper limit for most people under ~25.
So a 40-year-old who cannot hear 17.4 kHz is squarely in the typical range — not a sign of anything wrong.
Mosquito & Anti-Loitering Device Frequencies
The original Mosquito anti-loitering alarm was invented by Howard Stapleton in 2005. It exploits presbycusis: a high tone that annoys young people but is inaudible to most adults. These are the published reference frequencies for common “deterrent” tones.
The 17.4 kHz setting is the well-known youth-only tone; the 8 kHz setting is audible to most ages. Whether you can reproduce 17–18 kHz at all depends on your speaker or headphones, not just your ears.
How It Works
The “mosquito tone” is a pure high-frequency sine wave, most often quoted at 17.4 kHz. It became famous through the Mosquito anti-loitering device (invented by Howard Stapleton in 2005), which plays a tone that most people under about 25 find shrill and annoying but that most older adults simply cannot hear. That difference is not magic — it is presbycusis, the normal, gradual loss of high-frequency hearing that begins surprisingly early in life. By the time many people reach their 30s they can no longer hear much above ~16 kHz, which is exactly why the device works.
This tool generates that tone — and a ladder of tones from 8 kHz up to 20 kHz — with the Web Audio API’s oscillator, routed through a gain stage to your speakers or headphones. Gain is ramped up and down so tones start and stop without clicks, and the default level is deliberately low. You first calibrate the volume on an easy 1 kHz reference tone (which everyone hears), then step through the high tones, marking each one you can or can’t hear. At the headline 17.4 kHz step the tool reports a simple PASS (you heard it) or FAIL (you didn’t), and estimates a rough hearing-age band from the highest tone you marked as audible.
Three honest cautions. First, this is an output-only generator: there is no microphone and nothing is measured, recorded, or uploaded — it cannot report dB SPL or your true hearing threshold. Second, your hardware sets a hard ceiling: most phone, laptop and Bluetooth outputs roll off above roughly 16 kHz, and very few consumer speakers or earbuds reproduce 18–20 kHz cleanly, so a tone you can’t hear is very often the device, not your ears. Third, a genuine clinical test measures the quietest level you can detect at each frequency in a calibrated, quiet room and produces an audiogram — this is a bit of fun by comparison. Treat the PASS/FAIL and the age estimate as entertainment, and if you are worried about your hearing, see an audiologist.