I could hear "The Mosquito" frequency sound with my headphones on, but not off. Are my ears messed up?

Question

When I listened to this sound clip with headphones

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/audio/mosquito_sound.mp3

It sounded really shrill loud and nervewracking, but I took the headphones off so I could show my husband, and then neither one of us could hear the high sound, just static-y-ness. He can't hear the sound even with his headphones. Does that mean my hearing is only partially going? What do you hear?

This is called "The Mosquito" by the way.

Answer 1

Sometimes headphones boost certain frequencies so that you can hear certain sounds better on them than through your regular speakers.  It also may be, depending on the kind of headphones that you have, that it's helping to cancel some of the outside 'room' sounds. That's my thought on what may be happening.

Answer 2

It is quite possible that your headphones have a better frequency response than your speakers, meaning that they are able to reproduce a higher variation of sounds at the higher and lower ends of the range of human hearing.  Thus, if your speakers have less of a frequency response they are simply incapable of making the sound and you will not hear it.

Answer 3

I can the sound both with my laptop's speakers and with headphones.

Answer 4

no your ear phones are

Answer 5

as for why you can sometimes hear it and sometimes not, i don't know. as for why your husband can't hear it, i can explain. not everyone can hear this frequency. typically, it's people who are under 25 who can hear it. but that's only usually. i can hear this frequency and it drives me crazy. yet my parents can't hear it. there's a new product on the market for businesses based on this. a little device produces this noise and will drive away teens that like to hang around places they shouldn't.

Answer 6

Your ears are not messed up, it's the static in the headphones which is causing that sound. Usually that means for you to go and buy new headphones.