Ig winner’s anti-allergy ringtone

Dr. Matsumi Suzuki [pictured here], who shared the 2002 Ig Nobel peace prize (for inventing Bow-Lingual, the dog-language-to-human-language translation device) has a new invention he says will treat allergies. Roland Buerk of the BBC reports (with a brief recording of the sound):

For relief, sufferers need only wait for a call on their mobile phone. The sound is supposed to dislodge pollen if the user holds the handset up to their nose.

Dr. Suzuki’s company, The Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory, offers it for sale via the Index company, which explains all in a press release [which is in Japanese].

The Asiajin web site, too, reports some details:

Improved from the first version released in 2004, this new one has 27 variations of frequency from 420Hz to 1070Hz, one of which should fit your chamber size.

(Thanks to investigator David Kessler for bringing this to our attention.)