Sonic Projectors

A Voice Only You Can Hear: DARPA's Sonic Projector

.. By Sharon Weinberger

June 05, 2007 | 12:20:54 PM

Wired News Imagine a weapon that creates sound that only you can hear. Science fiction? No, this is one area that has a very solid basis in reality. The Air Force has experimented with microwaves that create sounds in people's head (which they've called a possible psychological warfare tool), and American Technologies can "beam" sounds to specific targets with their patented HyperSound (and yes, I've heard/seen them demonstrate the speakers, and they are shockingly effective). Sound Now the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is jumping on the bandwagon with their new "Sonic Projector" program: The goal of the Sonic Projector program is to provide Special Forces with a method of surreptitious audio communication at distances over 1 km. Sonic Projector technology is based on the non-linear interaction of sound in air translating an ultrasonic signal into audible sound. The Sonic Projector will be designed to be a man-deployable system, using high power acoustic transducer technology and signal processing algorithms which result in no, or unintelligible, sound everywhere but at the intended target. The Sonic Projector system could be used to conceal communications for special operations forces and hostage rescue missions, and to disrupt enemy activities. Here's the question of the day: if the military were to beam voices into somebody's head, what would they say?

SOURCE: Wired News



Sonic Blaster + Laser = New Weapon

.. Image Credit: Wattre Corp. By Sharon Weinberger

March 31, 2008 | 5:49:00 PM

Wired News

Imagine being hit by a nonlethal blast that seems to explode in front of you -- a deafening and blinding combination of light and sound. As the battle for "sonic blasters" heats up, a number of companies are looking at innovative ways to combine light and sound into new, nonlethal devices. One company, Wattre Corp., is working to couple its acoustic technology with a nonlethal laser. In a recent interview with DANGER ROOM, Curt Graber, president of Wattre Corp. explained this newfangled device, which puts together the company's collimated beam of sound with another firm's laser (which creates a sort of mid-air plasma ball). "It’s a laser that basically ignites the air in front of the person," Graber says. "It creates fireworks right in front of you."Hs60_promo_big

The combined effect is what Graber calls a "psycho-acoustical event."



Wattre's technology, called Hyperspike, is a Guinness Book of World Records winner for "loudest speaker." As for the laser portion, produced by a company called Stellar Photonics, DANGER ROOM's David Hambling actually has a good writeup of the technology at New Scientist. "The device uses a technology known as dynamic pulse detonation (DPD). A short but intense laser pulse creates a ball of plasma, and a second laser pulse generates a supersonic shockwave within the plasma to generate a bright flash and a loud bang," he writes. The Plasma Acoustic Shield System will eventually combine a dynamic pulse detonation laser with a high power speaker for hailing or warning, and a dazzler light source."



While the combined sound/laser weapon is certainly a novelty, Wattre Corp. has its eye on the growing long-range hailer market. It competed for a recent Navy contract that was ultimately awarded to American Technology Corp., which produces the Long Range Acoustic Device (Wattre protested the contract award; Graber says the Hyperspike technology has better beam forming capabilities in the human voice range, among other advantages).



While Wattre lost its protest, they've sold units to foreign navies, among other customers; Wattre has also made sales to France for riot control. "Now it’s just a mater of people trying to figure out the best possible usage," he says. SOURCE: Wired News



The Voice of God Weapon Returns

.. Image Copyright (C) 2007 Holosonics By Sharon Weinberger

December 21, 2007

Wired News

The Voice of God weapon -- a device that projects voices into your head to make you think God is speaking to you -- is the military's equivalent of an urban myth. Meaning, it's mentioned periodically at defense workshops (ironically, I first heard about it at the same defense conference where I first met Noah), and typically someone whispers about it actually being used. Now Steven Corman, writing at the COMOPS journal, describes his own encounter with this urban myth: At a government workshop some time ago I head someone describe a new tool that was described as the “voice of Allah.” This was said to be a device that would operate at a distance and would deliver a message that only a single person could hear. The story was that it was tested in a conflict situation in Iraq and pointed at one insurgent in a group, who whipped around looking in all directions, and began a heated conversation with his compatriots, who did not hear the message. At the time I greeted this story with some skepticism. Is there any basis to this technology? Well, Holosonic Research Labs and American Technology Corporation both have versions of directed sound, which can allow a single person to hear a message that others around don't hear. DARPA appears to be working on its own sonic projector. Intriguingly, Strategy Page reports that troops are using the Long Range Acoustic Device as a modified Voice of God weapon: It appears that some of the troops in Iraq are using "spoken" (as opposed to "screeching") LRAD to mess with enemy fighters. Islamic terrorists tend to be superstitious and, of course, very religious. LRAD can put the "word of God" into their heads. If God, in the form of a voice that only you can hear, tells you to surrender, or run away, what are you gonna do? And as Corman also notes, CNET recently wrote about an advertisement in New York for A&E's TV show Paranormal State, which uses some of this technology. Beyond directed sound, it's long been known that microwaves at certain frequencies can produce an auditory effect that sounds like it's coming from within someone's head (and there's the nagging question of classified microwave work at Brooks Air Force Base, that the Air Force stubbornly refuses to talk about). That brings us back to the Voice of God/Allah Weapon. Is it real or bogus? In one version -- related to me by another defense reporter -- it's not just Allah's voice -- but an entire holographic image projected above (um, who decides what Allah looks like?). Does it exist? I'm not sure, but it's funny that when you hear it brought up at defense conferences, no one ever asks the obvious question: does anybody think this thing will actually convince people God is speaking to them? I'm thinking, not. SOURCE: Wired News Holoscience Home Page



Xtreme Defense Lightning guns, heat rays, weapons that can make you hear the voice of God. This is what happens when the war on terror meets the entrepreneurial spirit By Sharon Weinberger

Sunday, August 28, 2005; W18 SOURCE: Washington Post - (Archived)



PSYOPS Tech: Voices in your head PSYOPS Tech: Voices in your head by Steven R. Corman At a government workshop some time ago I head someone describe a new tool that was described as the “voice of Allah.” This was said to be a device that would operate at a distance and would deliver a message that only a single person could hear. The story was that it was tested in a conflict situation in Iraq and pointed at one insurgent in a group, who whipped around looking in all directions, and began a heated conversation with his compatriots, who did not hear the message. At the time I greeted this story with some skepticism. Lo and behold, today I saw this item on CNET News: The folks who heard the ad for A & E’s TV show “Paranormal State” emitted from a billboard in New York City’s Greenwich Village must have thought it was pretty weird. As they walked into the targeted area they were exposed to highly focused sound, picked up not by their ears, but by their skulls. The otherwise inaudible sound waves are experienced via bone conduction–the sound resonates inside the passerby’s head. The system is being developed for commercial use by Holosonic Research Labs which besides the billboard stunt has installed systems at the Seattle Space Needle, at museums, and at Disney EPCOT center. Here is a clip of an ABC news story about use of the technology in a CourtTV promotional campaign that has reactions from, um, victims that are amazingly like the one recounted about the insurgent. Memo to self: Don’t be so quick to doubt stories you hear from defense technogeeks at government workshops. SOURCE: COMOPS Journal



WABC Audio Spotlight

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Youtube Link

WABC Story on the Audio Spotlight speaker system in unusual marketing application.



I hear voices: Could highly directional sound

advertising be the next big thing?

.. Posted by Steve Guttenberg UPDATE: An earlier version of this blog incorrectly described the technology used in an advertisement for the A&E's TV show Paranormal State. The technology, developed by the Holosonic Research Lab, uses a beam of ultrasound as a "virtual source", which changes into audible sound as it travels through the air. Please read the technology's inventor, F_J_Pompei's comment or visit the Holosonic Research Labs site to learn more. The folks who heard the ad for A&E's TV show Paranormal State emitted from a billboard in New York City's Greenwich Village must have thought it was pretty weird. As they walked into the targeted area they were exposed to highly focused sound. One big advantage of the technology is that it doesn't contribute to ambient-noise pollution. I went to the Village a few days ago to check out the technology, but A&E had already pulled the plug. A&E's PR agency told me the speakers were only active during the first week of the campaign, so you gotta wonder, if it was such a great idea, why turn it off? The billboard is still there. The phenomenon was covered in a terrific segment on the December 14 On the Media radio program on my local NPR station, WNYC. SOURCE: CNET