Twenty Thousand Hertz Explores Science & Side Effects of Law Enforcement's Long Range Acoustic Device, The "Sound Cannon" Giving Protesters Permanent Hearing Loss
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Today, Twenty Thousand Hertz explores the history, science and irreversible effects of an ear-splitting sound that has become all-too familiar in protests across America: the Deterrent Tone. Produced by a super-powered loudspeaker known as the Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, this noise can cause permanent hearing loss and crippling pain, yet police officers continue to deploy this so-called "sound cannon" on protesters. With help from tech journalist Lynne Peskoe-Yang and activist Michele Lindor - who recounts her piercing experience of being hit with an LRAD - host and sound expert Dallas Taylor breaks down why this "auditory tear gas" should never be used as a form of crowd control, and how it continues to gain popularity despite lawsuits and staunch opposition from audiologists.
Listen to "The Deterrent Tone" Here
The LRAD was first developed for the military in the early 2000s, to aid naval vessels with long-distance communication. Its megaphonic voice function can have life-saving benefits (especially when dispersing urgent messages during natural disasters or search and rescue situations). But the LRAD's second function, the Deterrent Tone, is what it's most commonly known for. This tone is a source not just of discomfort but of real injury and controversy. Any sound over the volume of 120 dB can cause pain and hearing loss, but the smallest LRAD can reach 140 dB. The largest can hit 160 dB, about 1,024x louder than a normal conversation, or the equivalent to standing on the edge of a launch pad as a space shuttle takes off.
In addition to migraines, nausea, vertigo, confusion, and permanent hearing loss, when an LRAD hits a bystander at close range, the highly-concentrated sound beam can be so disorienting that one forgets how to problem solve and collapses in pain. The episode cites a situation in Pittsburgh, in which a Missouri professor was awarded $72,000 for the damages that an LRAD caused her. In a separate case, though, the New York Police Department claims that because an LRAD only uses sound, it can't be excessive force - or a force at all.
So far, lawmakers haven't done much to regulate LRADs. Dallas Taylor argues that our ability to hear the world is an incredible gift that no one has the right to take away, whether you're protesting, counter-protesting or just walking through a public park.
Twenty Thousand Hertz is a podcast that reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. In its analysis of LRADs, Dallas Taylor underscores the central tenet of the series: that our hearing deserves the same level of appreciation and attention that society gives our other four senses. Listen to recent episodes on the sounds of the future, the links between chronic noise and chronic anxiety, the power of silence, and more: https://www.20k.org/archive
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