It’s been over fifteen years since Google’s app store opened to the world, and in that time has accumulated more and more applications. Some of them are completely absurd, focusing on jokes, locating stools (who wants to lose them) or pretending to drink beer.
Developers took advantage of the minimal complaint to throw out solutions to all kinds of problems, including scaring away annoying flying insects that arrive at that time. Yes, we’ve already come across an app that promises to repel mosquitoes, just like the devices sold in the phone store are supposed to do. What’s the truth in that? We find out below.
Make no mistake: your cell phone does not emit ultrasound that repels mosquitoes
Just do a search in the Google Play Store with the term “repel mosquitoes” or “mosquito ultrasounds” to verify that indeed, this type of applications that promise to keep them out of our blood they still exist. They all rely on ultrasound as a method to repel them, and not just mosquitoes but all types of insects.
Is it true that ultrasound scares away these bloodthirsty creatures? Let’s start at the beginning. Our smartphone has a speaker (or two if it has stereo sound) that allows us to know our notifications and our calls, at the same time that they are essential to enjoy streaming content or play the latest fashion game.
However, They are not capable of emitting ultrasounds. Because? Well, today’s smartphone speakers operate in the frequency range that goes from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, the range of human hearing.
Ultrasound, as its name suggests, exceed 20 kHz. They are left out of the game, with all the sense in the world, and that is that to emit ultrasound they would have to add a second special piezoelectric speaker.
Now, to answer the original question, we also have a resounding negative answer, for one simple reason: mosquitoes listen in the frequency range between 150 and 500 hertz, so ultrasound They do not affect their behavior in any way. and there is no certainty about that either.
A few years ago, the OCU (Organization of Consumers and Users) itself already warned in a video that these apps are useless. We can therefore only continue to use other traditional methods – which have proven themselves – such as repellents. It is worth paying attention to the substances they contain, the most effective are DEET, icaridin or IR3535.
Cover image | Image maker with Photoshop AI
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