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Driving Away Teens With High Frequency Noise

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the get-off-my-lawn dept.

ars writes "The New York Times is reporting on a device called the Mosquito invented by Howard Stapleton designed to drive teens away by emitting a high frequency noise at 75db. Apparently most older people can not hear the sounds, but teens can not stand it. Reports are that it works quite well, but some older people can hear it too. He found the prefect irritating sound by experimenting on his children."

11 of 1,035 comments (clear)

  1. Hahaha!! by CupBeEmpty · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is EXACTLY what I pulled in my undergraduate 'Modern Electronics' class. When we used small speakers I could adjust the frequency to a positively epilepsy inducing sound (especially if you ran the speakers on square wave functions with slight frequency scanning) that caused most of my classmates considerable discomfort but my professor (a fan of loud and live rock shows) could hear nothing. The best part is that he was proud that he was "immune" even though it indicates the beginnings of hearing loss.

  2. Re:I doubt this works by segment · · Score: 3, Informative
    Maybe you should have read more then dabbled:

    • Landström reports that exposure to infrasound (6-16 Hz) has an impact on fatigue and wakefulness even with exposures as short as 20 minutes. [1] However, Slarve and Johnson report no long-term impact from exposure to infrasound at levels up to 144 dB. [2]

      1. U. Landström, "Noise and Fatigue in Working Environments," Environment International 16, 471476 (1990).
      2. R. N. Slarve and D. L. Johnson, "Human Whole-Body Exposure to Infrasound," Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 428431 (April 1975)

    I'm unsure about the age significances though. Elder people tend to lose their hearing quite frequently. Maybe they can pick up other frequencies. Who knows maybe Grandpa did pick up Aliens' conversations.

    --
    MoFscker
  3. Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... by Draveed · · Score: 4, Informative

    What are you talking about? This is just a device to stop teenagers from loitering. No one said anything about parents using this to get rid of their own kids.

    --
    Oh, Edmund, can it be true? that I hold here, in my mortal hand, a nugget of purest green?
  4. Re:Biological or Environmental? by jhines · · Score: 3, Informative

    A little of both. The horizontal scanning frequency is 15,750 Hz (I think) and some but not all teens could hear it. I could, and going into a TV store would drive me nuts. Time and lots of rock and roll has cured that problem, and I no longer hear the TV sound.

    So yes sound wave could be tuned so that some, but not all could hear it. You might annoy some adults, and be ignored by other kids.

  5. Re:Wonderful by Jjeff1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Problem is, kids AREN'T going around shooting and killing each other, at least not in the US.
    The FBI reports that crime overall has gone down steadily since 1994. The most recent stats show that 2004 had the lowest level of violence in over 3 decades.

    I wish I could find the specific graphs on this, but here's the raw data for each year... and if you take the time to look at it, it also shows that juvenile crime specifically is at it's lowest level in over a decade.

  6. Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... by FlameboyC11 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The main reason for this is chavs, don't understand it, look it up. These are roving gangs of teens in England that like to fuck with people for no reason at all. Oh, and look up happy slapping while you're at it (honestly).

  7. Far more effective... by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some good classical music with maybe a little John Tesh thrown in for good measure. Just don't make me haul out the "big guns" and start playing some Celine Dion!

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  8. Re:Right by teaserX · · Score: 4, Informative

    A McDonald's near me runs off the teenagers with a ~60db loop of the 1812 Overture. I love watchin' em try to talk on the cell outside with an index finger jammed in their other ear up to the second knuckle.

    Near Halloween they switch it to Bach's Toccatta and Fuge in D Minor. Really cool for 90 seconds and then you know what Manuel Noriega must have felt like and need to flee.


    --
    We really need your help
    http://www.gofundme.com/help-sherry
  9. Re:Greed is Good by Ihlosi · · Score: 3, Informative
    currently a big electronics outlet in Germany has "greed is good" as their slogan ("Geiz ist Geil").



    Get yourself a frigging dictionary (or go dict.leo.org ) and look up "Geiz". It has lots of translations, but none of them is "greed". Closest one is probably "stinginess".



    "Greed" refers to "want to have a lot of (usually money)", while "Geiz" implies "not wanting to spend a lot of (usually money)".

  10. Calculate the freq... by yroJJory · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can actually calculate what the audible frequency is of a TV.

    For NTSC in North America:

    • 60 Hz (refresh rate) * 525 (# of lines) / 2 (interleaved, ya know!) = 15,750 Hz (15.75kHz)

    For PAL in the UK:

    • 50 Hz (refresh rate) * 625 (# of lines) / 2 (interleaved, too!) = 15,625 Hz (15.625 kHz)

    And yes, the sound drives me crazy, too. I'm 30 and an audio engineer. And I'm the only one in my household who can hear the damn TVs whining. :-)

    --
    Jory
  11. Re:Hey, man! by instarx · · Score: 3, Informative

    Personally, I want one of these devices that works on senior citizens. There's a gang of grannies who hang out near my store, harassing young people and keeping the town in a constant state of fear.

    Oh that's easy. It's called Rap Music.