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Directed Sound

yawningyellowyak writes "Technology Review has an interesting article on directed sound. Ultrasonic 'sound' is sent out from a 'speaker' and the distortion encountered on hitting the air produces hearable sound, but only in certain spots. You could be standing right next to someone and they would hear nothing. One step closer to the cone of silence!"

27 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Cone of Silence by Epistax · · Score: 4, Funny

    One step closer to the cone of silence!

    Damn. I'm still grappling with the unmistakable cone of ignorance

  2. The missus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    standing right next to someone and they would hear nothing

    That would be great if someone could rig my wife up with one of these... the silence would be bliss! :)

  3. Sweeeeet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny


    Now if they can project "burnt toast smell" I'll really be able to make people think they're nuts.

  4. Ahhhh by jabbadabbadoo · · Score: 4, Funny

    At last - high volume p0rn without waking up my girlfriend!!!

    1. Re:Ahhhh by Epistax · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sorry, it doesn't work on the noises you make.

    2. Re:Ahhhh by amstrad · · Score: 3, Funny
      At last - high volume p0rn without waking up my girlfriend!!!
      ...or the person in the next cubicle
    3. Re:Ahhhh by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh yeah, like, that's exactly what I want. Lying in bed with my girlfriend watching p0rn and then not getting laid.

      I think you might want to rethink that plan Sparky.

      KFG

    4. Re:Ahhhh by Noah+Adler · · Score: 0, Funny

      You meant parents, right?

    5. Re:Ahhhh by wcrowe · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe not. Have you seen his girlfriend?

      --
      Proverbs 21:19
    6. Re:Ahhhh by tedgyz · · Score: 3, Funny

      The colloquial term for this is marriage.

      --
      "No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
  5. Messin with people by binaryDigit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can you imagine how this could be used to really screw with peoples heads?

    On the edge psycho person: "Hey, did you hear that voice"
    Unknowing friend: "No, I didn't hear anything"
    On the edge psycho person: "Quit messing with me man, I can hear that voice a clear as day"
    Unknowing friend: "I told you, all I hear is some elevator music"
    On the edge psycho person: "AAARGH, get it out of my head, it's telling me to, to, to ..."
    Unknowing friend: "TO WHAT, TO WHAT!?!"
    On the edge psycho person: "GO TO AISLE 4 FOR A 2 FOR 1 ON LIGHT DAYS! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH"

    All kidding aside, there actually is a fair bit of harm one could use this tech for. Make the "sound" of high enough intensity, and it would make a very effective, and undetectable weapon.

    1. Re:Messin with people by EpsCylonB · · Score: 3, Funny

      All kidding aside, there actually is a fair bit of harm one could use this tech for. Make the "sound" of high enough intensity, and it would make a very effective, and undetectable weapon.

      so you could use it to kill harkonens...

    2. Re:Messin with people by Bibulous · · Score: 5, Funny

      I saw a TV programme about this a while ago.

      One of the guys who was developing it enjoyed pointing it down towards people on the street and speaking to them. He said they got really creeped out and started looking around to see if anyone else heard it.

      I think it'd be more fun to involve two people and two speakers. Have a sort of devil and angel think going on.

      "Kill that guy over there!"
      "No, don't do it"
      "Go on, don't listen to that pussy!"

    3. Re:Messin with people by Adriax · · Score: 4, Funny

      "This is the lord, your god. I have decreed that you may save 15% or more on your car insurance by switching to Geico!"

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
  6. Re:duplicate by rbullo · · Score: 1, Funny

    Prove it.

    --
    OH NOES!!! IT APPEARS YUO DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY FOR DIS HERE PIZZA! WAHT EVER ARE YOU GOING TO DO!?!?
  7. But Max, the Cone of Silence doesn't work! by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Funny

    "One step closer to the cone of silence!"

    "Uh.... what was that, Chief?"

  8. Re:Can I smell something ? by cyber_rigger · · Score: 1, Funny



    Spock did this on Star Trek years ago to freak out the aliens.

  9. Prior art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Microsoft did it years ago already, with DirectSound! Or am I missing something ;-)

  10. Re:Cone of Silence? More like cone of annoyance. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Arrrgh, My ears...the earplugs do nothing!"

  11. Re:Can I smell something ? by kfg · · Score: 2, Funny

    Naaaah, not vapourware, because it really does exist. It's more like ignoreware. If they kept ignoring it things would work out ok. One can dream.

    But yes, it is a rather old story. Last year my mom asked me if I'd heard of it and wondered if it were something she should invest in.

    If my mom has heard of it as an investment opportunity it's definately old news.

    I told her what it was being promoted as useful for and she decided she didn't want to encourage that sort of shit with her money.

    KFG

  12. Re:Cone of Silence? More like cone of annoyance. by ScottGant · · Score: 1, Funny

    There's a engineering project that's been around for some time now that offers the best noise-cancelation technology out there. It's quite easy to do, almost a 30 minute project for you DIY'ers (do it yourself). But so far, the results are almost 100% perminate.

    The only tool you need is an ice-pick and perhaps quite a few ultra-absorbant towels to help with the clean-up afterwards.

    After this project, you'll never again be bothered by advertisers sound projection systems. I can also go into a project that will cancel out visual advertisements.

    --

    "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
  13. Cone of Silence by dalutong · · Score: 2, Funny

    *someone in the cone of silence*

    *sees peoples mouths moving. realizes they are talking to him.

    "I'm in the cone of silence, you insensitive clods!"

    --

    What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
  14. My number one use... by sacrilicious · · Score: 0, Funny

    ... of this technology: a continuous looping tape focused on the neighbors' barking dog saying "Bad dog! Sit!"

    --
    - First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
  15. For all you South Park fans by smz420 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine combining this technology with "The Brown Noise"...now that would be the ultimate weapon!

  16. Finally! A weapon against boom box cars by Whumpsnatz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now I'll be able to aim one of these babies at the car next to me that's disrupting my heartbeat with it's pulsing audio garbage. I'll aim Maria Callas at 'em - at 120 decibels.

  17. I've been doing this for years by drfunch · · Score: 2, Funny

    As a college lecturer, I've been able to use directed sound to selectively impart knowledge to certain students in my class and not to others... at least that's what my students tell me:
    "We didn't cover that is class!"
    "You never said we had a test today!"
    "Homework due?! You didn't tell us that."

  18. Re:Can I smell something ? by Esion+Modnar · · Score: 3, Funny
    see the reaction of people as they try and figure out if anyone else heard that voice

    God: (standing on a chair behind Noah, he rings a bell once) NOAH.
    Noah: (Looks up) Is someone calling me? (Shrugs and goes back to his work)
    God: (Ding) NOAH!!
    Noah: Who is that?
    God: It's the Lord, Noah.
    Noah: Right ... Where are ya? What do ya want? I've been good.
    God: I want you to build an ark.
    Noah: Right ... What's an ark?
    God: Get some wood and build it 300 cubits by 80 cubits by 40 cubits.
    Noah: Right ... What's a cubit?
    God: Well never mind. Don't worry about that right now. After you build the ark, I want you to go out into the world and collect all the animals of the world, two by two, male and female, and put them into the ark.
    Noah: Right ... Who is this really? What's going on? How come you want me to do all these weird things?
    God: I'm going to destroy the world.
    Noah: Right ... Am I on Candid Camera? How are you gonna do it?
    God: I'm going to make it rain for a thousand days and drown them right out.
    Noah: Right ... Listen, do this and you'll save water. Let it rain for forty days and forty nights and wait for the sewers to back up.
    God: Right...
    Narrator: So Noah began to build the ark. Of course his neighbors were not too happy about it. Can you imagine leaving for the office at 7 AM and seeing an ark?
    Neighbor: (enters whistling, with brief case) Hey! You over there.
    Noah: What do you want?
    Neighbor: What is this thing?
    Noah: It's an ark.
    Neighbor: Uh huh, well you want to get it out of my driveway? I've gotta get to work. Hey listen, what's this thing for anyway?
    Noah: I can't tell you, ha ha ha.
    Neighbor: Can't you even give me a little hint?
    Noah: You want a hint?
    Neighbor: Yes, please.
    Noah: Well, how long can you tread water? Ha ha ha
    Neighbor: There's one in every neighborhood. (Shakes head and leaves)
    Narrator: Well Noah finally got the ark built. Then he had the task of gathering all the animals two by two.
    Noah: Hey, anybody know how to tell the difference between a male and a female mosquito? (Looking in a box) I told your rabbits before, only two! (He puts box in boat) Whew, finally the last two animals are on board. Let's get this thing closed up before God asks me to do something else. I'm six hundred years old. I am getting too old for this sort of thing.
    God: Noah!
    Noah: I knew it. What do you want now?
    God: You're going to have to take one of those hippos off and get another one.
    Noah: Why?
    God: 'Cause you got two males. You need a female.
    Noah: I'm too tired to bring anything else on board. You change one of them.
    God: Come on, you know I don't work like that.
    Noah: But I'm sick and tired of this. I've been working all day everyday like crazy for months now, dawn to dusk. I'm tired of this.
    God: Noah
    Noah: Yeah?
    God: how long can you tread water? Ha ha ha
    Noah: Yeah, well I got news for you. You keep talking about this flood and I haven't seen a drop of rain. Meanwhile, the whole neighborhood is making fun of me. I told one of my friends I'd been talking to the Lord and he laughed so hard he wet his pants. Do you know I'm the only guy in town with an ark in his yard? People are picketing and calling the heath department, strangers walk up to me and say "How's it going, Tarzan?" I am sick and tired of all of this, you let me get a pregnant elephant . . . Do you give me an instruction book? . . . No!!! Here I am standing under the elephant and brrrrrrrrump! Right on top of me! I'm telling you, I've had enough. You're supposed to see all and know all, well have you seen the bottom of that ark? Who's going to clean up that mess? Not me, I tell you. I quit. I'm tired of this. I'm going to let the animals out and burn that ark down. I can't believe you made me do all this . . . (God takes a watering can and begins to pour w

    --

    They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...