It’s a known fact that children have a different frequency of hearing than adults, usually up to about age 21. When I was in high school I was used as an experiment to prove this point, as I actually had a much higher frequency of hearing than even my peers. After I got married I was unable to shop in particular stores with my mother-in-law because of their alarm systems; I was unable to even approach the doors. She thought I was completely insane of course, as one of the offending stores was her favorite. 😉 Recently, a few years ago, my nephew played a prank on me by standing behind me with his cell phone and setting it off. I didn’t realize I wasn’t supposed to be able to hear it and I kept yelling “WHAT… IS THAT NOISE?!?!” All the kids kept saying “YOU aren’t supposed to be able to hear that?!” Apparently, it’s called the “mosquito” ringtone and it’s set a frequency that kids can hear but adults cannot. I was a bit skeptical, but knowing about particular hearing frequencies personally, 😉 I decided to just look it up. Sure enough, some ingenious college student, took that “alarm system” frequency designed to keep loitering teenagers from the front of prestigious storefronts, and turned it against the adults. He modified the tone to NOT hurt kids ears and created a ringtone that has swept the teenage cell phone market. (WHY? because they can leave their phones on during class and most teachers cannot hear it 😉 ). AH HA!!! I KNEW I COULD HEAR THAT STORE’S ALARM SYSTEM (wish she was around now to find out I’m not completely insane 😉 ).
SOOO, having all that background now, you can understand, why, I believe William when he starts walking around… left, right, up, down, listening to walls… saying that he “hears something.” I cannot hear it, but OK… let’s go. Not that lightbulb, unplugged this unattached cord and that… listened to power outlets, unplugged that emergency flashlight… WHICH ROOM IS IT IN??! Heather joined in, said it was intermittent, so now the three of us are walking around listening to walls and appliances 😉 Jeff just sat there, while we “listened all around him,” ignoring us 😉
Finally, we got close enough, I heard it too. I turned everything off, tv, dishwasher and TADA… we found it. The cat’s got a new water fountain dispenser for Christmas… so it’s relatively new and we aren’t used to the strange new noises. However, this one was a buzzing coming from the filter… a good kick fixed it 😉 No more noise.
