An Assault on the Ears: The Future of Audio Warfare

<p>This is the third episode of a three-part series about sonic tactics, and it's been quite a journey. So far, I've talked about how animals use sound in the wild, from spiders doing wasp impressions to sperm whales whose calls can be deadly at close range, and how people in the past have learned to harness the power of sound on the battlefield, such as chasing off war elephants with the help of squealing pigs. We'll be taking a look in this episode at audio conflict as it exists today, and just what the future might hold when it comes to sound's growing potential for both good and harm.</p><p>One of the oldest and simplest uses of sound in modern combat is one that might seem familiar to exasperated parents: playing music too loud. When used on prisoners in captivity, such treatment can amount to torture, and it's been recognized as such by the United Nations. Loud music has also been used as a police tactic for dispersing crowds, where it's had more mixed results: protesters have proven just as likely to start singing along with "Baby Shark" or Frozen's "Let It Go" as they are to run away. There can also be a cultural element to such tactical music: South Korea spent more than two years blasting K-pop songs along the border, a move that outraged North Korea so much it threatened to launch missiles at the speakers. The music only stopped in 2018 ahead of a peace summit.</p><p>Audio technology is constantly changing, though, and now it can be used to hone in on more precise targets than ever before. In 2005 Howard Stapleton patented the Mosquito machine, a crowd control device that's aimed specifically at teenagers. As adults, we gradually lose our hearing thanks to the everyday wear and tear on our auditory nerves, and the first things to go are the higher frequencies. That means there are sounds children and teenagers can hear that, for the most part, adults can't detect. The Mosquito uses one of those sound frequencies – 17.4 kHz, to be exact – at 108 decibels, the same volume as a rock concert, to drive teen