The Pentagon's Secret Scream: Sonic devices

theski · Post by **theski** » 2004-03-09 10:52pm

Marines arriving in Iraq this month as part of a massive troop rotation will bring with them a high-tech weapon never before used in combat - or in peacekeeping. The device is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on command, emit a piercing tone so excruciating to humans, its boosters say, that it causes crowds to disperse, clears buildings and repels intruders.

"[For] most people, even if they plug their ears, [the device] will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine," says Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corp., the San Diego firm that produces the weapon. "It will knock [some people] on their knees."

The new megaphone being deployed to Iraq can operate at 145 decibels at 300 yards, according to American Technology, well above the normal threshold for pain. The company posits a scenario in which Al Qaeda terrorists would run screaming from caves after being subjected to a blast of high-decibel sound from the devices, their hands covering their ears

Really Loud Weapon

Worlds Spanner · Post by **Worlds Spanner** » 2004-03-09 11:00pm

Isn't that likely to do permanent damage? Less than bullets, obviously, and to that to all parties. Just curious.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-03-09 11:01pm

Worlds Spanner wrote:Isn't that likely to do permanent damage? Less than bullets, obviously, and to that to all parties. Just curious.

Depends on range. Likely yes, much like any laser would against eyes if powerful enough or that microwave emitter hauling Hummer. The idea is you vamoose long before you pop your eardrums.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-03-09 11:04pm

Won't that affect the poor guy running the device?

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-09 11:08pm

Gandalf wrote:Won't that affect the poor guy running the device?

Megaphones are pretty directional you know, and no doubt they'd issue earplugs to any unit using it.

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2004-03-09 11:19pm

*..Visions of Maud Dib...*

So when do we get the version that shatters brick and concrete?

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-03-09 11:22pm

Gandalf wrote:Won't that affect the poor guy running the device?

As long as the megaphone is a directional set up and they aren't too close to a large flat surface facing them, it shouldn't be an issue. One cool sonic weapon I heard of was a crowd control device that shot a sonic "donut" out a megaphone that hit an area with the effect like a giant rubber wall colliding with them, with no ill effects on the user or much of anyone outside the sound donut. It it's that directional, then a good set of earplugs and sound deadeners inside the cabin of the vehicle should do the trick.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-09 11:26pm

EmperorMing wrote:*..Visions of Maud Dib...*

So when do we get the version that shatters brick and concrete?

Whenever guns, rockets, bombs and bulk explosives cease to work a thousand times better.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-09 11:34pm

Is it weird that I want to volunteer to have the weapon tested on me? I went to a self-defense class and let them hit me with a taser, but I wonder about this new thing.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-03-09 11:50pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Is it weird that I want to volunteer to have the weapon tested on me? I went to a self-defense class and let them hit me with a taser, but I wonder about this new thing.

If you dislike your health, then yes, go for it.

If you'e up for it, I'd like to try out a few new strains of bacteria on you later, provided Skimmer hasn't carted you off to act as a target for CBU testing.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-03-09 11:51pm

You know, they could have saved their money by hiring our sousaphone line, paying them $20 and a couple of beers each, telling them to play out-of-tune notes at the volume known as HAND OF GOD (TM) and then pointing them at crowds that need dispersing.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2004-03-10 02:18am

So... the Pentagon's new wonderweapon can be foiled by sound dampening earmuffs (like the guys on tarmaks use)....

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-10 02:35am

Admiral Valdemar wrote:
If you dislike your health, then yes, go for it.

Indeed, hearing damage starts to occur at around 80-90 decibels sustained, or impulses of over 140. Though you should be okay if you have heavy earphones on.

If you'e up for it, I'd like to try out a few new strains of bacteria on you later, provided Skimmer hasn't carted you off to act as a target for CBU testing.

We can do both at once, provided your bacteria can survive the heat of the denotation of the HAB Objective Force Assault Fighter XXX Enhanced Blast and Fragmentation Counter Personal Light Armor Cluster Munition, which for some strange reason resembles forty Tallboys held together with chains.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-10 04:18am

I just want to see what a wall of sound feels like. And 140 decibels from the sonic weapon is probably about the same as 2 solid days of rock & roll.

And I'm not going to have my ear to the damn thing.

Has no one here been hit with a tazer just to see how it was?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-03-10 04:34am

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Gandalf wrote:Won't that affect the poor guy running the device?
Megaphones are pretty directional you know, and no doubt they'd issue earplugs to any unit using it.

Low-frequency sound is non-directional, but high-frequency sound is highly directional. No doubt this "pain frequency" sound is fairly high-pitched. Very low-frequency high-amplitude sound waves cannot be so easily directed, and tend to cause people to vomit or shit themselves rather than making them scream in pain. That would also slow down a rioting mob, but with much smellier side-effects.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-03-10 04:34am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I just want to see what a wall of sound feels like. And 140 decibels from the sonic weapon is probably about the same as 2 solid days of rock & roll.

Ummm, no. Even the loudest rock concerts rarely exceed 110 dB, and 140 dB is roughly one thousand times as intense.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-10 04:36am

If I can survive 6 hours of jackhammering without earplugs...

I just like experiencing new things. Its not like I want to be spanked while holding a bucket of KFC or something, I want to know what its like.

Didn't anyone ever hold their hand over a candle?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-03-10 04:40am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:If I can survive 6 hours of jackhammering without earplugs...

What makes you think that a jackhammer approaches 140 dB?

I just like experiencing new things. Its not like I want to be spanked while holding a bucket of KFC or something, I want to know what its like.

I take it you haven't tried dousing yourself in gasoline and then dancing through fire.

Didn't anyone ever hold their hand over a candle?

At a very young age, I observed that proximity to the flame was hot, so I deduced that sticking my hand in the flame would be even hotter. So I've never done it. Remember, deductive logic can help you avoid a lot of unnecessary pain.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-03-10 04:50am

CapChew, being exposed to such high decible sound could render you deaf.

To put it simply, you're what people refer to as a masochist.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-10 04:54am

I only try it once, and its for the experience, man, I don't get off on it. Its like skydyving, but with an experimental weapon system

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-03-10 04:56am

Experiance for what? Suffering?

Face it, it excites you. Pain is euphoria for you.

I'm sort of a masochist, too, but even I have reasonable limits...

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-10 05:00am

Its not the pain, its the new. I'll try almost anything I've never done before, whether or not it hurts. A weird food like gator-burgers or chinese blood pie? I'm all over it. A new amusement park ride? Count me in. Art? Music? Heck, its fun when I walk a different way to the lab or vault over a railing I've never vaulted. Its all part of the human experience.

If a person is defined by the sum-total of all their experiences in life, then it stands to reason that a variety of experiences can enrich ones life immensely.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-03-10 05:24am

Crazy wookies

You should try putting a slab of concrete infront of your groin and let someone sledgehammer it into pieces.

Anyway, in my sonic weapons thread in SLAM, why didn't anyone mention the use of megaphones? I mean, all I got was people telling me that the sound would hurt everyone around it.

@ Wong: Low pitch sound making people shit themselves? Awesome!

Comosicus · Post by **Comosicus** » 2004-03-10 09:08am

I've heard rumors about the so-called psychotronic weapons: combinations of low frequency sound and electromagnetic emissions that are supposed to affect the psychic of people: induce panic, fury and other emotions of this type, by affecting different nervous centers.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2004-03-10 10:10am

Darth Wong wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:
Gandalf wrote:Won't that affect the poor guy running the device?
Megaphones are pretty directional you know, and no doubt they'd issue earplugs to any unit using it.
Low-frequency sound is non-directional, but high-frequency sound is highly directional. No doubt this "pain frequency" sound is fairly high-pitched. Very low-frequency high-amplitude sound waves cannot be so easily directed, and tend to cause people to vomit or shit themselves rather than making them scream in pain. That would also slow down a rioting mob, but with much smellier side-effects.

LMAO! Just like the Brown Noise™ from South Park! How about a combination of the two? I also heard an idea the gist of which was conducting the sounds on an ultrasound beam by combining an ultrasonic 'carrier wave' signal and a second signal whose frequency is equal to the ultrasonic 'carrier wave' signal plus the freq of the noise to be transmitted. Multiple layers would allow an "Skull-Splitter" beam to be transmitted with a "Brown Noise" beam with the same carrier...