Driving Away Teens With High Frequency Noise 1035
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."
I doubt this works (Score:1, Informative)
Various waveforms at frequencies from 19 kHz to 26 kHz were tried, along with changing waveforms and amplitudes, plus some minor modulation. I used both conventional drivers as well as piezo units. Only limited results were had.
One thing that DID work (well, sort of) was a flyback transformer from a defunct Sony TV set. That annoyed women, but not men. Weird.
Maybe I was doing something wrong, but, I doubt it. I just think the whole 'dog whistle' idea is overblown as to utility, and it's not like I wasn't trying.
Hahaha!! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:g0t d3af? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I doubt this works (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... (Score:5, Informative)
Terrible idea (Score:3, Informative)
Relevant link with EEG results-
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~boyk/spectra/spectra.
Re:Biological or Environmental? (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Wonderful (Score:5, Informative)
The FBI reports [usdoj.gov] 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 [fbi.gov] 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.
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Hahaha!! (Score:0, Informative)
No it doesn't; the upper frequency limit on human hearing naturally decreases from around the onset of adolescence. It doesn't mark the onset of hearing loss at all, at any normal frequency.
Ashton
Re:Can you hear me... Can you hear me now... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:g0t d3af? (Score:3, Informative)
I seriously doubt it. This just takes advantage of high frequency sounds that you can hear when you're younger, but don't necessarily find yourself completely unable to stand. A perfect example of this sound was the high pitched whine of the old televisions.
Can I get a show of hands for every person here who couldn't stand the bloody noise from the things? Sure, you got used to the sound (since you wanted to watch your favorite show), but it was never the most pleasent. Anyone here ever ask their parents if they could hear the sound? How many of you had your parents answer, "What sound?" (/Me raises hand)
With luck, your hearing will be acute enough at an older age to still hear the whine of those old televisions. However, the majority of people lose the ability to hear the extreme ranges through a natural amount of hearing degradation with age. At least, I've never heard a link between those old televisions and loss of hearing. So I wouldn't be too worried about this guy's invention.
Unless, that is, you happen to be a teenager or an old fogie with exceptional hearing.
Far more effective... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Right (Score:5, 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.
Re:Wow, this is pretty stupid. (Score:1, Informative)
Here's a clue: someone with 75dB hearing loss at a given frequency is incapable of hearing a 75dB signal (that means they probably won't year you at all, even if you get up in their face and scream at the top of your lungs). To them, a loud car horn at 115dB would sound like background noise sounds to you (i.e. very quiet), and a jet taking off at 140dB (which would cause you PAIN) would be the equivalent of you hearing normal conversation. In short, "deaf as a doornail."
See this SPL table [rr.com]:
In conclusion, hearing loss != SPL. They're both expressed in dB, but they're not the same thing. Hearing loss is subtracted from SPL.
Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, parents need to step up and control their children. But just because there's a "should" out there that would prevent most teens from displaying antisocial behavior doesn't mean that shop owners should sit back and let the kids whose "shoulds" are unfulfilled go rampaging through their shops. This is a great idea meant to solve huge problems of vandalism, theft, and assault because the parents who should don't. By your logic, people should just stand around and get victimized, mumbling, "Where are these kids' parents?" under their breath.
Re:Can you hear me... Can you hear me now... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Greed is Good (Score:4, Informative)
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)".
Calculate the freq... (Score:5, Informative)
You can actually calculate what the audible frequency is of a TV.
For NTSC in North America:
For PAL in the UK:
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. :-)
I built one of these when I was 12 (Score:2, Informative)
Plans to build one:
http://www.linuxsavvy.com/staff/jgotts/undergroun
Re:this country is strange (Score:3, Informative)
I've witnessed a gang of kids being herded in to a Police van after being arrested for dropping concrete blocks on to a busy motorway. You've never seen a more angry bunch; they were livid that the Police had put an end to their little game. Their complaints alternated between "You can't do this!" and, comically, "I've got rights!". Sadly, despite attempting to murder a number of motorists, they were probably released with a caution.
Thanks to these poor, oppressed little dears the centre of many UK towns are no-go areas after 10pm. Anything that allows law abiding, tax paying citizens to protect their business from these little shits is to be applauded.
Re:FP (Score:3, Informative)
Sand, cat litter, and rock salt are also excellent passive skater deterrents.
Re:Hey, man! (Score:4, Informative)
Oh that's easy. It's called Rap Music.