Welsh Man Invents Anti-Teenager Device

[Grasscutter]

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BARRY, Wales - Though he did not know it at the time, the idea came to Howard Stapleton when he was 12 and visiting a factory with his father, a manufacturing executive in London. Opening the door to a room where workers were using high-frequency welding equipment, he found he could not bear to go inside.

"The noise!" he complained.

"What noise?" the grownups asked.

Now 39, Mr. Stapleton has taken the lesson he learned that day - that children can hear sounds at higher frequencies than adults can - to fashion a novel device that he hopes will provide a solution to the eternal problem of obstreperous teenagers who hang around outside stores and cause trouble.

The device, called the Mosquito ("It's small and annoying," Mr. Stapleton said), emits a high-frequency pulsing sound that, he says, can be heard by most people younger than 20 and almost no one older than 30. The sound is designed to so irritate young people that after several minutes, they cannot stand it and go away.

So far, the Mosquito has been road-tested in only one place, at the entrance to the Spar convenience store in this town in South Wales. Like birds perched on telephone wires, surly teenagers used to plant themselves on the railings just outside the door, smoking, drinking, shouting rude words at customers and making regular disruptive forays inside.

"On the low end of the scale, it would be intimidating for customers," said Robert Gough, who, with his parents, owns the store. "On the high end, they'd be in the shop fighting, stealing and assaulting the staff."

Mr. Gough (pronounced GUFF) planned to install a sound system that would blast classical music into the parking lot, another method known to horrify hang-out youths into dispersing, but never got around to it. But last month, Mr. Stapleton gave him a Mosquito for a free trial. The results were almost instantaneous. It was as if someone had used anti-teenager spray around the entrance, the way you might spray your sofas to keep pets off. Where disaffected youths used to congregate, now there is no one.

At first, members of the usual crowd tried to gather as normal, repeatedly going inside the store with their fingers in their ears and "begging me to turn it off," Mr. Gough said. But he held firm and neatly avoided possible aggressive confrontations: "I told them it was to keep birds away because of the bird flu epidemic."

A trip to Spar here in Barry confirmed the strange truth of the phenomenon. The Mosquito is positioned just outside the door. Although this reporter could not hear anything, being too old, several young people attested to the fact that yes, there was a noise, and yes, it was extremely annoying.

"It's loud and squeaky and it just goes through you," said Jodie Evans, 15, who was shopping at the store even though she was supposed to be in school. "It gets inside you."

Miss Evans and a 12-year-old friend who did not want to be interviewed were once part of a regular gang of loiterers, said Mr. Gough's father, Philip. "That little girl used to be a right pain, shouting abuse and bad language," he said of the 12-year-old. "Now she'll just come in, do her shopping and go."

Robert Gough, who said he could hear the noise even though he is 34, described it as "a pulsating chirp," the sort you might hear if you suffered from tinnitus. By way of demonstration, he emitted a batlike squeak that was indeed bothersome.

Mr. Stapleton, a security consultant whose experience in installing store alarms and the like alerted him to the gravity of the loitering problem, studied other teenage-repellents as part of his research. Some shops, for example, use "zit lamps," which drive teenagers away by casting a blue light onto their spotty skin, accentuating any whiteheads and other blemishes.

Using his children as guinea pigs, he tried a number of different noise and frequency levels, testing a single-toned unit before settling on a pulsating tone which, he said, is more unbearable, and which can be broadcast at 75 decibels, within government auditory-safety limits. "I didn't want to make it hurt," Mr. Stapleton said. "It just has to nag at them."

The device has not yet been tested by hearing experts.

Andrew King, a professor of neurophysiology at Oxford University, said in an e-mail interview that while the ability to hear high frequencies deteriorates with age, the change happens so gradually that many non-teenagers might well hear the Mosquito's noise. "Unless the store owners wish to sell their goods only to senior citizens," he wrote, "I doubt that this would work."

Mr. Stapleton argues, though, that it doesn't matter if people in their 20's and 30's can hear the Mosquito, since they are unlikely to be hanging out in front of stores, anyway.

It is too early to predict the device's future. Since an article about it appeared in The Grocer, a British trade magazine, Mr. Stapleton has become modestly famous, answering inquiries from hundreds of people and filling orders for dozens of the devices, not only in stores but also in places like railroad yards. He appeared recently on Richard & Judy, an Oprah-esque afternoon talk show, where the device successfully vexed all but one of the members of a girls' choir.

He is considering introducing a much louder unit that can be switched on in emergencies with a panic button. It would be most useful when youths swarm into stores and begin stealing en masse, a phenomenon known in Britain as steaming. The idea would be to blast them with such an unacceptably loud, high noise - a noise inaudible to older shoppers - that they would immediately leave.

"It's very difficult to shoplift," Mr. Stapleton said, "when you have your fingers in your ears."

I want one before the next Harry Potter movie comes out.

[HemlockGrey]

He is considering introducing a much louder unit that can be switched on in emergencies with a panic button. It would be most useful when youths swarm into stores and begin stealing en masse, a phenomenon known in Britain as steaming. The idea would be to blast them with such an unacceptably loud, high noise - a noise inaudible to older shoppers - that they would immediately leave.

See, in America this is usually where the shotgun makes an appearance.

[Admiral Valdemar]

That's so amazingly useful. I have to have one.

[Plekhanov]

This seems kinda tough on any dogs that get tied up outside the shop whilst their owners are shopping.

[Metatwaddle]

That's fairly ingenious, although it would annoy me to be aurally assaulted by it every time I tried to shop there.

[Zac Naloen]

i was reading this and thinking that it had to be ajoke... then saw its from the new york times

wow..

[Admiral Valdemar]

This seems kinda tough on any dogs that get tied up outside the shop whilst their owners are shopping.

I'd rather they put up with annoying sound for a short while than get kicked by some kleptomaniac kids.

[The Guid]

Great... so now I am a second class citizen because a lot of my peers are arseholes and people can't do anything about them because society as a whole is failing on the teen problem.

The first time I will use this smiley but...

[Ford Prefect]

Only a Welshman would invent such a genius device! I would like one myself, except it would effect me as well.

[Adrian Laguna]

Perhaps it would be best if the device were only activated if loitering kids showed-up, and turned-off most of the time. Some older people can hear it, and some kids who just want to do some shopping and not cause any trouble would be annoyed by it if it was on all the time.

[Metatwaddle]

Perhaps it would be best if the device were only activated if loitering kids showed-up, and turned-off most of the time. Some older people can hear it, and some kids who just want to do some shopping and not cause any trouble would be annoyed by it if it was on all the time.

Or he could just go with the classical music. That sounded lovely.

Of course, as a classical pianist, I'm sort of biased...

[wolveraptor]

Great... so now I am a second class citizen because a lot of my peers are arseholes and people can't do anything about them because society as a whole is failing on the teen problem.

The first time I will use this smiley but...

You (and I, for that matter) are already a second class citizen by virtue of the fact that you're a minor. Despite any intellectual capabilities you may have, you are restricted from voting, buying lottery tickets, driving, drinking, owning property and more.

[Solauren]

That would be so useful on the bus in the morning (grin)

[The Guid]

Great... so now I am a second class citizen because a lot of my peers are arseholes and people can't do anything about them because society as a whole is failing on the teen problem.

The first time I will use this smiley but...

You (and I, for that matter) are already a second class citizen by virtue of the fact that you're a minor. Despite any intellectual capabilities you may have, you are restricted from voting, buying lottery tickets, driving, drinking, owning property and more.

Ah you see I am 18 and so legally a fully fledged citizen but I will still be screwed over by this annoying device. And its 2 years since I could start owning property, smoking and buying lottery tickets. I see what you mean but still, its not helping is it?

[Winston Blake]

I wonder if the same loitering teenagers might make resisting this device it a matter of coolness. You can't take it? You're a wuss, get out of our group. You want back in? Stand there for 24 hours straight.

When mosquitos become prevalent, evolution encourages the success of the thick-skinned.

[LMSx]

If the problem is gangs of hooligan kids hanging just outside, I think the classical music solution (making the hangout spot uncool) is the discriminant, and generally preferable one. As a law-abiding citizen I don't feel like being nagged and annoyed if these things become common place simply because I haven't lost my hearing yet.

For bad situations or that group shoplift thing mentioned though by all means open up the mosquitos.

[CmdrWilkens]

I get the sense that the device is installed outside so customers inside peacefully perusing the shelves would likely not be disturbed while those loitering outside would be subject to its constant bombardment. Honestly it makes quite a bit of sense, if people are inside shopping they aren't bothered regardless but if they're outside hanging around doing nothing other than being a nuisance they will, in turn, be annoyed.

[Zero]

I get the sense that the device is installed outside so customers inside peacefully perusing the shelves would likely not be disturbed while those loitering outside would be subject to its constant bombardment. Honestly it makes quite a bit of sense, if people are inside shopping they aren't bothered regardless but if they're outside hanging around doing nothing other than being a nuisance they will, in turn, be annoyed.

And if the teens start trying to rob the place, they should also have one inside, or perhaps just have a shotgun handy.

[Dorsk 81]

That's so amazingly useful. I have to have one.

I can see a great deal of bar and night club owners thinking the same thing too. It'd be a great way to distinguish the underage drinkers. Or if the owners won't use them for fear of lost profit, it'd make it alot easier for the police to root out the little piss-heads.

[Edi]

I don't wonder at all that this sort of thing would be effective. I can easily hear the kind of whine produced by e.g. TVs or other electrical equipment that have some sort of component problem which causes a kind of chirping noise, and it drives me nuts. My parents have one TV that's especially bad, but they can't hear a thing, and neither can my siblings.

Edi

[WyrdNyrd]

Before we start cheering/jeering, let's wait until we see it tested in more than just one place. Given the amazing range of physiology displayed by the human race, I have my doubts that there is a single frequency that universally annoys younger people, while having a definite cut-off age.

Also, just because a "human interest" piece gets printed by a major newspaper, doesn't mean it's necessarily true. There are different standards of verification applied to different "types" of news.

[CaptainChewbacca]

That's so amazingly useful. I have to have one.

I can see a great deal of bar and night club owners thinking the same thing too. It'd be a great way to distinguish the underage drinkers. Or if the owners won't use them for fear of lost profit, it'd make it alot easier for the police to root out the little piss-heads.

Considering its effective on people up to 34, it'd pretty much shut down your average nightclub.

[His Divine Shadow]

I'm 24 and when I'm in the room my parents have to turn of certain lights because their buzzing annoys the hell out of me. I wonder how this device would affect me.

[bilateralrope]

I can see these devices being vandalized if they are used in one place for too long.

[Admiral Valdemar]

A unidirectional version would help, much like the long range sonic weapon used against those pirates lately. At least then it's not a blanket effect on a wide radius where innocent shoppers and passersby can be affected.