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Technology

Voices in Your Head 342

Posted by michael from the buy-lnux-buy-lnux-buy-lnux dept.
ceejayoz writes "MSNBC/Newsweek is running a story about a 'Hypersonic Sound System' that can 'can take an audio signal from virtually any source and convert it to an ultrasonic frequency that can be directed like a beam of light toward a target up to 100 yards away.' Sounds like something that advertisers will love - Minority Report just got a little closer." These guys (and the Audio Spotlight guys) have been hyping this technology for years with nothing much to show from it. But now, Newsweek promises, it's going to change the world as we hear it.
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Voices in Your Head More

Voices in Your Head

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  • imagine how much this would freak out enemy soldiers :)
    • ABC News has a clip on the Military using this as a type of beam weapon:

      http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/video_index/vide o_index.html

      seems like there are a mixture of applications.

  • What if it gets turned up to 11?? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by billmaly ( 212308 ) <bill.maly@mcleDE ... et minus painter> on Sunday July 28, 2002 @08:44PM (#3969429)
    My only concern here is what happens when someone cranks up the amp on this and points it at someone's head at close range? Does it become a sonic bullet, destroying hearing (or worse), or is it limited in it's power by default?
    • They actually mention that in the article - incapacitating enemy soldiers by blasting 'em with 150 decibels.

      Dunno how they plan to stop people from doing that...
    • If you're really opposed to this form of advertising, you'll be able to call and 800 number and opt out. Then they will be required to leave you alone for five years, at which point you can opt out again if you haven't had a change of heart after seeing how this method of advertising has improved the lives of your friends and coworkers.

      Even if you don't opt out, with 300 million people receiving over 100 direct audio marketing messages each day, you'd be more likely to get struck by lightning than injured by a "faulty" ad beam.

      ---

      On a more serious, but related and entirely factual note... while making a purchase at Barnes and Noble one day, the cashier asked if I would like to join their discount club (pay $xx per year in trade for a percentage discount and presumably a neverending stream of electronic and snail junk mail).

      "No thank you," I told her. "I get enough junk mail as it is."

      "Oh come on," she urged, waving my credit card in a way that scared me. "You could save five dollars right here on this purchase!"

      "I said 'no.'"

      "Personally I like receiving things in the mail. I know that may sound pathetic, but it makes me feel good because no one ever mails me stuff."

      "Give me my card back."

      "But I haven't rung your order up--"

      "Give me my card back now or I'm calling the police. You have been insulting my intelligence for the last two minutes in an attempt to sell me something I have repeatedly stated I don't want and now you are holding my credit card hostage."

      She just stared at me in disbelief until I pulled out my cell phone, at which point she handed my card back and I walked out -- leaving the books on the counter.

      • Calm Down (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ianscot ( 591483 ) on Monday July 29, 2002 @09:34AM (#3971462)
        She must've really scared you fluorishing that card, because the things she said just seem like a benign, somewhat ditzy bookstore clerk trying to make conversation. She was bored. You were seriously over the top.

        If you want to humiliate someone or win a great battle against indiscriminate or aggressive advertizing, try addressing yourself to the book company. The $8-an-hour clerk isn't responsible. Neither are the poor high school dropouts trying to sell you long distance service. Ask for a manager, and then explain to the manager that "suggestive selling" the membership was intrusive.

      • Congratulations, you're an ass. Y'know those clerks get bitched at for *not* being persistent with that stuff dont you? She was, in a roundabout way, doing her job

        • Congratulations, you're an ass. Y'know those clerks get bitched at for *not* being persistent with that stuff dont you? She was, in a roundabout way, doing her job

          All salespeople are just doing their job. Does that make me an ass if I refuse to do business with a corperation that chooses to have their salespeople pester? How about if the spammer is just doing his job? Am I an ass for trying to get his email account closed? How about for putting him on my mailer's twitlist?

    • You could ask the same of regular speakers - what happens if someone cranks up the amp and points it at people at close range? Does it cause damage to people's hearing?

      Oh, wait. This is happening all the time in dance clubs - they always play at levels that cause irreversible hearing damage.

      IIRC, this device uses levels similar to medical ultrasound but since it's not in direct contact with the body the coupling loss is huge (tens of dbs).

    • Non-lethal weapons (Score:3, Informative)

      by Noofus ( 114264 )
      There are some riot control devices that look like a cannon. They essentially consist of a massive multi-kilowatt power amplifier that is used to fire 10hz tones (lower limit of human hearing is around 20hz) at the crowds. "Loud" enough sound at 10 hz is enough to knock people over and make them lose control of their bowels.

      I imagine this could easily be used to 'beam' a low tone like this at someone specific (a hostage taker, etc) and make them incapacitated without any harm to others in the area.
      • Ah yes, the infamous "brown note." What a shitty tactic.

  • Sonic Guns? (Score:2, Informative)

    by cheesethegreat ( 132893 )
    The technology creats a sound wave at the point where the two ultrasonics intersect. So, if the energy of the ultrasonics were high enough, or enough ultrasonic waves intersected close to each other, this could create a huge sonic force, enough to throw someone through the air, or knock down walls. Interesting weaponry applications, eh?

    • Re:Sonic Guns? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by sgtsanity ( 568914 )
      This would be about as effective as setting a large speaker on high and setting it up against the wall. The range is the only thing that makes it effective. Far better ways of knocking down a wall would be to amplify the natural resonance of an object, like Tesla did a time or two. It creates a nifty little earthquake effect using a device about as big as an alarm clock.

    • It would be more like the exploding brain syndrome. I doubt it can throw someone in the air or knock down a wall, but possibly shatter a big hole in that wall.

      • Ypu cant make energy. Thus this would only be possible with some way of amplifying the 'sound' to high levels with a large amplifier. A few kilowatts will be needed to knock someone over. (It takes a few horsepower to move a person around with a car/lawn tractor). A low (10hz) tone amplified to a few kilowatts will definatly be sufficient to 'move' a large object like a person. Ever been to a rock concert? Notice the multi-kilowatt amp stacks? Ever feel the bass pounding deep in your chest? Imagine that, but have the bass be below your threshold of hearing, much more powerful, and the entire force of the wave directed at you specifically.

  • I can see it already now: (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 28, 2002 @08:46PM (#3969441)
    <Barry White>
    Hey baby, this is your appetite speaking
    </Barry White>

  • That technology has been around for a while (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I've been hearing voices in my head for years now
  • If advertisers like this, then I've got an even better device. Rather than broadcasting to a single individual up to 100 yards away, it will broadcast to EVERY SINGLE PERSON within a 500 yard radius! It's a device I like to call a "speaker" and you're going to see a lot of these around over the coming years.

    This amazing device can be yours for a minimal price. Just sent me $2000 and I'll ship a couple of devices capable of producing hundreds of watts of sound. None of this crappy 1 person 100 yards away stuff.. Man, where do they get their ideas?

    • Yeah, but regular speakers don't feel like they're coming from inside your head. Think Minority Report - personalized advertisements etc. only you can hear.
    • All I want is self-cleaning underwear, for those really intense LAN deathmatches. Is that too much to ask for?
    • "It's a device I like to call a "speaker" and you're going to see a lot of these around over the coming years ... This amazing device can be yours for a minimal price ... [of] $2000...."

      Over my dead body! My company, Stevetech.com, has been awarded a patent for our revolutionary "speaker" technology. You'll be hearing from my army of lawyers soon!

      Only kidding,

      Steve
    • I think you are missing the point. Retailers have used sound for the purpose of marketing virtually forever. The bell on an ice-cream truck is a good example, or a vendor shouting about they're product in a market. So why doesn't everybody use this? Because in most settings it's annoying, it disturbs everyone in the general area, and it raises the ambient noise in the area.

      Imagine window-shopping in a mall. Now imagine every store constantly broadcasting about they're products loud enough for every one around to hear. All of a sudden this has become a very unpleasant environment. Now image that as you walk passed a particular store, looking at something in the window, and the store whispers to you, just you, about some of the products your seeing. Now you've been advertised to without disturbing all the passersby around you, the ambient noise is the same, and it's targeted marketing: don't yell at every one, talk to the guy who shows some interest. And as other technologies come along, such as face recognition, it can be personalized even further.

      So you go ahead and boast your current audio advertising methods, but they only place they're useful is on an ice-cream truck.
  • Woody Norris wants to tell you something--and he can put the words inside your head from 100 yards away.

    Woody Norris thinks he is most clever scientist of the 21st century...but did Woody notice the yellow eyed green creature parked in a silver disk on the limbs the green tree 100 yards outside his office...

  • Just Super (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Inexile2002 ( 540368 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @08:51PM (#3969475) Homepage Journal
    Now I can have information about increasing my penis 3 to 6 inches beamed directly into my head as I walk down the street. The very idea of pedestrian spam, spamming houses, cars, offices... give the advertisers military grade psychological warfare equipment and this will make email spam seem like well... something pretty damn trivial (drew a complete analogy blank there).

    The day I get blasted with an add for Coke beamed directly into my head while walking down the street is the day I quit my job and start organizing consumer boycotts full time.

    • The day I get blasted with an ad for Coke beamed directly into my head while walking down the street is the day that the guy running the beam gets his machine blasted somewhere that it won't fit very well.
    • Let me fill in the blank: This kind of targeted audio advertising will make e-mail spam seem about as obtrusive as a notice from the local council, prominently displayed at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, inside a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door reading "Beware of the Leopard".

  • conversely (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rigelstar ( 243170 )
    The real winner will be the engineer that develops a practical system to counter-act such a device. A small device such as a watch that can detect the signal and then send a destructive wave to cancel the signal would be good.
    • I'd rather a laser death beam that automatically takes out the guy who's beaming the "ENLARGE YOUR PENIS" adverts into my head.
    • A practical system to counter-act such devices: a directional ultrasonic receiver & a hammer.

      You can claim "justifiable insanity" at the trial: "Yes Yer Honor, I _was_ hearing voices in my head!"

  • Should help schizophrenics... (Score:5, Funny)

    by cliveholloway ( 132299 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @09:06PM (#3969532) Homepage Journal
    My wife's a psychotherapist - she used to suggest to her schizophrenic clients that they carry a cell phone (or at least know where the nearest payphone was). When they felt they needed to argue with the voices in their heads, she suggested they just pretend they are making a call to help ease the embaressment of the situation.

    Now i guess they just need to push the arguments towards, "No, I don't want to buy a fucking Coke" and no-one will suspect a thing...

    cLive ;-)

  • Ultrasound this, ultrasound that (Score:4, Funny)

    by the eric conspiracy ( 20178 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @09:14PM (#3969562)
    Now wait a minute! I thought ultrasound caused small fusion reactions to occur when sonic cavities collapsed! Rather than projecting a sound, isn't this thing going to cause people's heads to explode in a fusion reaction???

  • Newsweek Objectivity (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PRickard ( 16563 ) <prNO@SPAMms-bc.com> on Sunday July 28, 2002 @09:25PM (#3969599) Homepage
    "But now, Newsweek promises, it's going to change the world as we hear it."

    OK, Newsweek has now slipped into the same category as the TV channels that show infomercials 20 hours a day. A couple of weeks ago Newsweek touted Microsoft Palladium as the revolutionary future, now they're saying this sound wave thing will be. How much would it cost me to have Newsweek run a long article about my futuristic world-changing vaporware product that happens to be 8 to 15 years away from actual production? It's worse than biased media, it's buy-your-own-news.

    • Yeah, it's a damned shame. All we want is some frigging NEUTRALITY when news places report the news.

      It's gotten horribly bad these days. When's the last time some news was reported without the "personal" slant added in? Good thing Reuters is still around. I also think (for the most part) the BBC does a good job.

    • Re:Newsweek Objectivity (Score:4, Informative)

      by guttentag ( 313541 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @11:37PM (#3969953) Journal
      I was working for washingtonpost.com (officially called "Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive" because the organization was responsible for both publications' sites) when The Post announced its alliance with MSNBC.

      One of the provisions of the alliance was that Microsoft would publish Newsweek.com. The first reaction I heard from my coworkers was a concern for Newsweek's objectivity, or at least the appearance of objectivity. The Post's top brass assured everyone that the deal would have no impact on Newsweek's objectivity. I'm not saying it has; just putting a little insider kerosene on your fire.

      One of the other provisions was that washingtonpost.com would feature Windows Media clips of Washington Post reporters on MSNBC. We were instructed to embed the video in our templates and also call a .js file hosted on MSNBC's site. The sole purpose of the .js file was to weed out non-Windows browsers. For instance, I visited the page (on our site) with a Mac and was redirected to an MSNBC page stating "Windows Media Player is not available for the Macintosh." I showed this to one of the top editors, who replied our users should know better than to buy a substandard computer. I then downloaded Windows Media Player for Mac from Microsoft and demonstrated that the video works perfectly if you take the .js reference out. The next morning the multimedia editor was waiting at my desk to get the details, and later began re-encoding the video files in Real format -- over Microsoft's loud objections.

      Bottom line: Microsoft tried to use its deal with The Washington Post to prevent non-Windows users from viewing Post reporters on The Post's own site. I can only imagine what goes on at "newsweek.msnbc.com."

      • guttentag typed: Bottom line: Microsoft tried to use its deal with The Washington Post to prevent non-Windows users from viewing Post reporters on The Post's own site. I can only imagine what goes on at "newsweek.msnbc.com."

        Excellent information, I appreciate the insider's perspective on that deal.

        I've been opposed to the MSNBC agreement from day one for obvious reasons. I usually disagree with Ralph Nader, but he gave a pefect quote about Microsoft in 1995 or 1996...

        "When you move from conduit to content, as Microsoft is doing--into publishing, into cable, encyclopedias, etc. you get another abuse of concentrated power. We've always believed the conduit should be separate from content."

        I agree with this 100% and honestly think it should be made into law. Dangerous ground.

        Back in 1995 or 1996 Microsoft came within a few million dollars of buying Turner Broadcasting (CNN, TBS, TNT, et al.). The Turner agreement was that Microsoft would basically purchase them for something in the area of $12 billion, then Microsoft's Turner subsidiary would use that money to buy bankrupt CBS. Imagine what kind of Microsoft we'd be dealing with if that agreement hadn't collapsed. Scary to even consider.

  • Isn't there a risk that your head [fast-rewind.com] might explode if someone play's Immigrant Song [216.117.145.32] by Led Zeppelin? [led-zeppelin.com]

  • artist's rendition (Score:5, Funny)

    by jjeffries ( 17675 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @09:52PM (#3969679)
    Here [duneinfo.com] is an rare drawing of the initial design...

  • Can you hear me now? (Score:4, Funny)

    by anaesthesia ( 595444 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @09:55PM (#3969682)
    Good.. Can you hear me now?..Good..
  • I recall that this technology has also been explored by the military. Last I heard, it was to be used to confuse troops on the other side -- "what's that noise", "where's that coming from?" , and so on.
  • I can see it now... kill yourself...kill yourself...turn the wheel of youre car hard right...NOW!

  • Reminds me of... (Score:2, Informative)

    by OneFix ( 18661 )
    That scene in Real Genius [imdb.com]...You know... ...
    Mitch: And from now on, stop playing with yourself!
    Kent: It is God! ...
  • Our local Ralphs supermarket recently installed flat-panel LCD screens on every register to show advertising to the people waiting in line to check out. Video I can tune out, you simply look away, but they added audio. You can't not pay attention to audio, which is why I am now boycotting Ralphs. I still think consumer boycots are the best way to go. Here's my boycot list:

    Shell - Bastards wouldn't let me use their bathroom because they close them at 10pm.
    Arco - Deceptive pricing, $0.35 if you use an ATM card, noted in very small print on the pump.
    TNN - Put a black bar that blocks content without adding anything extra.
    Movies on TV - "Edited for Time", removing content to put in commercials or fit a schedule.

    What else do people boycot?

    Travis

    • What else do people boycot?

      Ridiculous boycott lists.

      (Seriously, I can think of about a dozen other things or companies that need boycotting more than "Movies on TV" and "Shell because they won't let you use the bathroom.")

  • Prior art (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SocialWorm ( 316263 ) on Sunday July 28, 2002 @10:53PM (#3969834) Homepage
    Conspiracy buffs have been claiming that the NSA, or scary government organization of your choice, has had technology of this exact sort for several years. I remember reading a "report" on it back in '98 or so. See http://www.angelfire.com/nj/kristinashomepage/soun d.html [angelfire.com] for a more recent bit on the subject. It has a more insidious use for this technology not mentioned here:
    A person could be tricked into thinking
    that God is speaking to them, for example. Depending on the targeted person's state of mind, he or she could be manipulated into doing something that he or she would not normally do.
    • Yes yes, there was an x-files episode where once the government started beaming messages into your head, unless you travelled in a westerly direction at 100 miles per hour, your head would explode, or something like that. One of the more bizzarre plotlines.
  • Oldest story where they used the same mechanism (modulating an audio signal onto an ultrasonic frequency and sending it to people) is a story by L. Spague de Camp, _The Exalted_, first published in 1940. (Fun story, by the way; my copy is from _The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology_, edited by John Campbell, Simon And Schuster. Publication date is roughly 1952.)

    "There's the soft-speaker, for instance-"
    "What's that?"
    "It's like a loud-speaker, only it doesn't speak loudly. It throws a super-sonic beam, modulated by the human voice to give the effect of audible sound-frequencies when it hits the human ear. Since you can throw a supersonic beam almost as accurately as you can throw a light beam, you can turn a soft-speaker on a person, who will then hear a still small voice in his ear apparently coming from nowhere..."
  • I think this would be really handy for home theater setups. Most of the places I've lived just aren't set up right to have proper surround sound. The rear speakers just don't really have any place to go, and even if they did, the wires would be really obnoxious. Often times the front left and right speakers can't be pushed out far enough to really give the proper seperation, either.

    But, by using this technology, all you'd have to do is point these high-freq speakers at the spots from which you want the sound to come and *poof* you've got a virtual-speaker there.

    They're saying that there are issues with reproducing bass signals, but that's where your subwoofer comes in. Now, that is often the uglies part of the system.. big and bulky, but if you could find somewhere for that to go, then that should make up for the lack of bass from the high-freq speakers. Sort of like those Bose systems with the little satelite speakers and the sub. Together, the system sounds really good.. but unplug the sub? It's not a pretty sound..
  • That's the quickest way to get these dick-heads to leave you hanging on the phone. Just tell 'em you're broke.

    You don't even get a chance to start a sob story about it either. They figure they'rte going to give you the same warm welcome they've been getting all day and they slam the phone in your ear.

    Its great. Word gets around and they don't call anmore.

    • Junkbusters has an excellent anti-telemarketing script [junkbusters.com] that I'm going to put into employ when I move back to my home state in a few weeks.

      It's got some pretty cool stuff. Like, if they don't answer certain questions correctly (or at all), you can tell them that they are now open to a lawsuit. And be right.

  • Way to block it out? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sean23007 ( 143364 ) on Monday July 29, 2002 @12:13AM (#3970054) Homepage Journal
    The article fails to mention whether or not there is a way to block the sound. It doesn't really go in depth as to how the thing actually works. Does it actually beam the sound "into" your head (like it says in the article), or does it transmit the apparent source of the sound to a point within your ears? If it is the latter, simple headphones or earplugs should prevent you from being able to hear it, but in the case of the former, it seems as if we will have no escape from advertisements in the future.

    If anyone has any more real information about how this supposed breakthrough actually works, I'd love to see it.
  • This will no doubt comprise the superliminal branch of their three-pronged attack.

  • to beam "helpful suggestions" to drivers in front of me that are driving like idiots...

  • As soon as someone shoots one of these things at you, just pull out yours and fire it right back at him only reamplified =)

  • Check out Audio Spotlight (Score:2, Informative)

    by emin ( 149044 )
    As the headline of the story says, check out Audio Spotlight from MIT. I was lucky enough to see Joseph Pompei (the inventor of Audio Spotlight) give a demonstration and it was amazing. The technology works as promised: it produces a directed beam of sound which can make noises come from anywhere in the room you want. Furthermore, Mr. Pompei struck me as an exceptionally competent researcher. He had looked at a lot of issues like what kind of frequency response you can get (bass is harder to get than treble), whether the ultrasound causes long term damage (not according to a Harvard study), and how to manufacture (short answer: lots of DSP chips).

    I don't new about the guy Newsweek talks about, but the technology is real and I'm looking forward to hearing it.

  • Hmmmmm (Score:2)

    by nizo ( 81281 )
    People hearing voices in their head? Wow talk about old news, they used to burn people for that kind of thing..... Though I have to admit, making a product you can sell based on this is pretty slick (well aside from whoever makes boatloads of money from things like Thorazine).

  • Vandalism... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by j_kenpo ( 571930 )
    Wow, devices that beam sound directly at me used for advertising... in the past vandalism on billboards were pretty amusing, if not unsightly. If people start to vadalize these devices, say by cracking them with bats so we dont have to hear any unwanted advertisements, Id say vandalism will have taken on a new role, going from destructive to useful.

  • The company website (Score:2, Informative)

    by NickDngr ( 561211 )
    For those who are interested in things such as white papers on the technology, go to American Technology Corp. website [atcsd.com]. I used to work there... the article does not do it justice.
  • Google on "Voice to Skull" technology - and be afraid...

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