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

NBC5 in Dallas-Fort Worth reported on Friday that 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, while another yelled it was “torture” and a third was trying to cut off the computer’s power.

Community ISD confirmed the incident to NBC5 in a statement and said that its district police were looking into the incident. Police paperwork obtained by the news outlet 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 it is possible to 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 the ability to hear high-pitched noises such as 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, according to Johns Hopkins.

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.