Texas teacher reportedly plays ringing noise to discipline students

NEVADA, Texas (KXAN) — A north Texas school district said it's investigating one of its teachers after it was reported the teacher used a ringing noise to discipline her students.

Affiliate NBC5 in Dallas-Fort Worth reported on Friday it was a teacher at Edge Middle School in the Community Independent School District, which is a little less than an hour northeast of Dallas.

A student told NBC5 the teacher "put on the ringing noise; everyone was covering their ears." She said one student walked out, another yelled it was "torture" and a third was trying to cut off the computer's power.

Community ISD told NBC5 in a statement its district police were looking into the incident and confirmed it did happen. Police paperwork the news outlet obtained showed the district was questioning students and staff in the school about what happened.

The sound played for students came from the internet, NBC5 reported, where you can find high-pitched frequencies kids can hear, but some adults cannot.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, age-related hearing loss or presbycusis most often affects people's ability to hear high-pitched noises like a phone ringtone or a microwave beep. It's a common problem, with one in three adults over the age of 65 having hearing loss, Johns Hopkins said.

Another condition called high frequency hearing loss can occur when there's damage to the hair-like structures in the inner ear, healthline.com said. The website said anyone can develop this type of hearing loss, but it's more common as people get older.