just called my land line.
I don't "answer" unknown #s.
I did blow a whistle very loud as I answered this one.
Thanks for your post, I felt bad if I hurt the ear of a legit caller.
Dear "at home in Indiana",
You have absolutely nothing to feel bad about. They more than likely are using an autodialer/robodialer to make the initial contact. Only after someone answers is the call then transferred to a live person; resulting in a rather long delay. What you have done, however, is confirmed that yours in an active number. You should now expect even more spam calls in the future. Congratulations.
You don't have to feel bad about hurting an ear because it is a known fact that telephone lines are not capable of transmitting sound at a frequency that will damage hearing. Using and air horn/whistle/screaming/anything else is all an urban myth.