June 25, 2002

5:52 PM

Sound to make an army fleeA NEW sonic weapon being developed for the Pentagon makes use of one of the most fearsome sounds known to humans: a baby crying. The article also talks about use for crowd control. If I were a club owner, I'd buy one so that everyone clears out expiditiously. Clear them out like cockroaches when the lights come on!
posted by Modem Ovary (14 comments total)

Finally, this is making some sense!
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:01 PM on June 25, 2002

It also hopes to offer the device for use in drinks machines. Someone in front of one would hear the sound of a can opening with an enticing fizz.

having just seen spielberg's minority report, this seems like the next step in advertising before full fledged user identification and ad customization.
in my opinion, if this catches on, these will soon become more annoying than popups.
"hello mr. yakahami, did you like the assortment of tanktops you bought on your last visit" (or something like that).
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 6:56 PM on June 25, 2002

this works, let me tell ya. the fire alarm in our building is so god-awful-horribly-ear-melting that everyone runs to the nearest exit just to put as much distance as is possible between them and the megaphone-style speakers blaring every few feet in the hallways. and i'm sure that noise is nowhere near as tortuously deafening as what the article is describing. thanks for the interesting link. :)
posted by rio at 7:26 PM on June 25, 2002

these will soon become more annoying than popups

I'll be moving as far away from the city as humanly possible.

As for the sound weapon, I don't think it will have the spiffy knock-a-man-across-the-room affect, but I can see it becoming widely used. But what happens if you miss?
posted by Nauip at 7:36 PM on June 25, 2002

On an unrelated note, military investments in earplug technology has skyrocketed in recent weeks...
posted by insomnyuk at 8:53 PM on June 25, 2002

*have skyrocketed

Also, on an aesthetic, moral, and philosophical level, I find the idea of using something like baby cries as a weapon to be completely and utterly vile.
posted by insomnyuk at 8:54 PM on June 25, 2002

one of the most fearsome sounds known to humans: a baby crying.

Any bus rider could tell you that...
posted by y2karl at 11:10 PM on June 25, 2002

The late Colonel Rex Applegate, a very famous player in the military-CIA-antiterror-crowd control who lived up the road from me advocated something like this some years ago...only difference was the noise (probably Michael Jackson 'singing', but I don't know for sure) made the bad peeps lose total bowl control, giving new meaning to the cops saying "lets beat the shit outa them damn hippies".
posted by Mack Twain at 12:38 AM on June 26, 2002

Also, on an aesthetic, moral, and philosophical level, I find the idea of using something like baby cries as a weapon to be completely and utterly vile.

As opposed to tear gas, which is aesthetically pleasing?

First of all, it's a recording played backwards of a baby crying, played at a very loud volume. The effectiveness of the weapon comes from its combination of volume and pure annoyance factor. Humans are genetically ingrained to respond to the sound of an infant crying. I'm guessing this is why the military chose this sound to base its weapon on, instead of say, Tibetan Chanting, Nancy Sinatra or the lovely sound of slaughtering rabbits (scroll down).

From your reaction, one would think that the military is flinging live, teething infants into crowds or at terrorists. At least admit that this sort of weapon is much better method than bullets (rubber or otherwise) of dispersing a crowd or disabling someone.
posted by thewittyname at 5:51 AM on June 26, 2002

one of the most fearsome sounds known to humans: a baby crying.

I imagine that something like this will also have an unexpected consequence: nursing mothers on the edges of the "blast zone" finding their blouses damp as the sound causes their milk to come down unexpectedly. "Gee, thanks, army, now I've got to laundry."
posted by Dreama at 6:15 AM on June 26, 2002

I knew it! I KNEW IT! I recently posted a blog entry on the effects of sniveling whining children (my own) on the normally well-adjusted parent. And now the sound is being put to use protecting our country.

What next, the smell of a Diaper Genie? ;-)
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 6:28 AM on June 26, 2002

You'll never look at peanut butter the same way again.
posted by y2karl at 6:39 AM on June 26, 2002

experiment IV
posted by modge at 7:57 AM on June 26, 2002

They should play Ozzy records backwards and make the enemy commit suicide en masse.
posted by vbfg at 8:07 AM on June 26, 2002