May 4, 2006
When you hear ringing and there's no one there
The New York Times reports on "audio illusion, phantom phone rings or, more whimsically, ringxiety or fauxcellarm. which has become a new reason for people to either bemoan the techno-saturation of modern life or question their sanity.
"And how some advertising agencies are using high-pitched, electronic tones very much by design, mimicking a ringtone. ... A sound trick that sends confused listeners hunting for their cellphones might be especially effective for ads ending with a call to action. ("Call this toll-free number now!")
Some sound experts believe that because cellphones have become a fifth limb for many, people now live in a constant state of phone vigilance, and hearing sounds that seem like a telephone's ring can send an expectant brain into action.
... More mysterious are phantom phone vibrations, a cellphone side effect that many people said they also have experienced. It seems that having a phone set to vibrate can cause a particularly physical kind of false alarm.
Phantom rings are a "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" related to the way the human brain interprets sound, said Rob Nokes, president of Sound Dogs, a sound effects company in California."
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