Can Sound Be Used As a Weapon?

[rangerrebew]

Can Sound Be Used As a Weapon?
By Kevin Fu, University of Michigan, and Wenyuan Xu, Zhejiang University | March 1, 2018 05:38pm ET


Editor's note: Government and academic investigators continue to probe reports from Cuba that, starting in 2016 and continuing through 2017, U.S. and Canadian diplomats and tourists may have been subjected to a "sonic weapon," damaging their hearing, causing nausea, speech problems and potentially even mild brain injuries.

https://www.livescience.com/61904-can-sound-be-a-weapon.html

[jmyrlefuller]

The case of Manuel Noriega would suggest yes.

[Elderberry]

! No longer available

[RoosGirl]

[GtHawk]

! No longer available

[240B]

The first weaponization of sound would be jungle drums. A tribe would beat the drums all night long to freak out the tribe they were about to attack. Psychological warfare.

Bagpipes were another big use of sound in war. You get a dozen of these guys playing over a ridge, and make a hundred guys sounds like a thousand, which was the whole point. Also, bagpipes were used to sound orders such as attack or retreat and others because they could be heard over the din of battle.

But yes, sound can be used to kill. Even some Sci-Fi shows had what they called 'sonic weapons' or 'sonic disruptors'. The idea being that a sonic weapon at the right frequency could disintegrate people or matter of various kinds.

[Victoria33]

The level of sound in a movie theater these days makes me want to leave.  I can't stand the loud sound.  It seems to me the sound would harm the hearing of those at the movie if they continued to go to movies on a regular basis.

At my age it is unusual my hearing is fine.  From the back of the house, I can hear the little dog scratch at the back door wanting in if Bob has put her out.  Bob, with hearing aids, can be in the kitchen no more than 12 feet from that door, and he doesn't hear her scratch.  I am the "official" hearing person to help Bob with sound he may not hear.

[Elderberry]

[Fishrrman]

"Project Xylophone"
(courtesy of Ayn Rand)

[goodwithagun]

My daughters are six and four so yes, sound can be a weapon.