Some of these weapons have been described as sonic bullets, sonic Grenade s, sonic Mines , or sonic Cannon s. Some make a focused beam of Sound or Ultrasound ; some make an area field of sound.
Although many real sonic and ultrasonic weapons are described as " Non-lethal ", they can still kill under certain conditions, so the term " Less-lethal " has been suggested for the sake of accuracy.
Extremely high-power sound waves can break the Eardrum s of a target and cause severe pain or disorientation. This is usually sufficient to incapacitate a person. At higher energy levels, a subsonic shock wave is theoreticaly powerful enough to do damage. The possible effects have been the subject of much speculation.
The EMF Dosimetry Hand Book will provide further results of the bio-effects and expectations of these weapons.
http://www.emfdosimetry.org/handbook4/handbook4.pdf
Less powerful sound waves can cause humans to experience nausea or discomfort. The use of these frequencies to incapacitate persons has occurred both in counter-terrorist and crowd control settings.
The possibility of a device that produces frequency that causes vibration of the eyeballs — and therefore distortion of vision — was apparently confirmed by the work of engineer Vic Tandy while attempting to demystify a “haunting” in his laboratory in Coventry . This “spook” was characterised by a feeling of unease and vague glimpses of a grey apparition. Some detective work implicated a newly installed extractor fan that, Tandy found, was generating Infrasound of 18.9 Hz, 0.3 Hz, and 9 Hz.
In 2005 CNN reported that the crew of the cruise ship '' Seabourn Spirit '' used a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to deter Pirates who chased and attacked the ship {Link without Title} . Its actual efficacy, however, has not been established.
The BBC reported in Oct 2006 on a 'mobile' sonic device which is being used in Grimsby , Hull and Lancashire and is designed to deter troublesome teenagers from lingering around shops in target areas. The device works by emitting an ultra-high frequency blast that teenagers or those under 25 are susceptible to and find uncomfortable. Age-related hearing loss apparently prevents the ultra-high pitch sound causing a nuisance to those in their late twenties and above.
The U.S. DOD has demonstrated phased arrays of Infrasonic emitters. The weapon usually consists of a device that generates sound at about 7 Hz. The output from the device is routed (by pipes) to an array of open emitters, which are usually one wavelength apart. At this frequency, armor and concrete walls and other common building materials allow sound waves to pass through, providing little defense. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/noise/research/lowfrequency/pdf/lowfreqnoise.pdf
Most of these are Science Fiction only. There are these types:
- Powerful low-pitched sound waves as a Shock Wave that blows enemies back. Fictional rifles that project sound to knock down or stun are featured in the 2002 movie '' Minority Report ''. These could be "on the horizon" for the real world, however, with:
- ---The Vortex Ring Gun , a weapon that fires an acoustic air vortex that knocks people down.
- ---Sonic bullets are being planned to be used in anti- Hijack packs in planes: see http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1564 .
- A tight beam of focused sound used as a weapon like the focused light in Laser guns.
- A powerful Ultrasound beam which can liquify living tissue.
- A powerful sound designed to get buildings or structures to Resonate and cause them to collapse.
The use of sonic weapons underwater has been widely speculated about.
- Ultrasound disintegration of solids in liquids is well known in industry, and could be adapted into a weapon.
- It has long been known that ultrasound in water will kill small water animals.
- There have been unconfirmed reports of Scuba Diver deaths and mass deaths of fish from being caught in powerful undersea ultrasound beams used by Navies for communicating with Submarine s. Also see Anti-frogman Techniques .
- It is suspected that massive Whale Beachings are caused by submarine sonar disorienting or deafening underwater mammals.
- Tiger Pistol Shrimp use a focused wave of sound to stun prey
- It is suspected that Sperm Whale s and Dolphin s use powerful ultrasound to stun or kill their prey.
- There have been unconfirmed speculations about development of lethal underwater ultrasound anti- Frogman weapons.
- The UPSS/IAS diver-detecter .
- In the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes respectively, the rat-like Skaven use sonic weapons in the form of The Screaming Bell, while the Emperor's Children chapter of the Chaos Space Marines also utilizes an array of dangerous sound-based artillery. Also, Eldar Howling Banshee aspect warriors have access to a helmet that amplifies their voices, stuning and confusing their opponents at close range.
- In the novel and anime '' Trinity Blood '' the "Silent Noise" system uses the sound of altered church bells as a weapon. It is controlled by playing an organ and depending the length of the song, can destroy a single building to entire cities.
- In Ayn Rand 's novel Atlas Shrugged Project X was a sonic weapon with an effective radius of up to 300 miles. It was used in an attempt to keep the population in line.
- The Powerpuff Girls and Black Canary (a fictional Superheroine from DC Comics ), have the ability to utter an ultrasonic scream (referred to simply as Ultrasonic Scream in The Powerpuff Girls case and "Canary Cry" in Black Canary 's case).
- Minmei , a fictional pop singer in '' Macross '', whose song causes an adverse reaction when broadcast against enemy Zentraedi .
- In the '' Dune II '' video game, House Atreides has access to a Sonic Tank, with the ability to devastate any vehicle or troop with little resistance. The Film by David Lynch also feature hand held weapons that amplify the users voice.
- In '' RahXephon '', Dolem and the RahXephon sometimes sing while attacking. Some of them turn the song itself into a weapon that inflicts damage by sonic or other means.
- In the book '' The Calculus Affair '', in the series of books entitled '' The Adventures Of Tintin '', Professor Calculus develops a sonic projector that has the potential to destroy entire cities.
- In , the Global Defense Initiative employs a powerful sonic weapon mounted on a tank called the Disruptor, much like the Sonic Tank from Dune II .
- In Dark Reign The Freedom Guard has the Seismic Tank, a sonic based wave that fires a (presumably) infrasonic wave at its target devastating anything in its path.
- In the '' The Runelords '' fantasy series by David Farland , the Wolf Lord, Raj Ahten, discovers he is able to use his heavily augmented Voice Endowments to harm enemy soldiers and even--at the proper resonating frequencies--to reduce city walls to rubble.
- In the manga and anime seires " Naruto ", many villagers from the Land Of Sound implement sound into their combat in various ways. For instance, The villager Dosu Kinuta wields a sound amplifier on his arm, allowing the motion of his attacks to create sound waves that disrupt the target's inner ear and thus, their coordination and balance.
- In the computer games City Of Heroes and City Of Villains , two villain groups, the Council and the Gold Brickers , utilize sonic guns. Additionally, ranged sonic attacks are available to the primary ranged archetypes of both games.
- In the film Mars Attacks! , Slim Whitman music causes the martian's heads to pop.
- In Joss Whedon's television series Firefly , Alliance 'Feds' use non-lethal sonic weapons to incapacitate criminals. The Hands Of Blue utilized a lethal version of the same technology.
- In , the Geonosians use sonic weapons that can reduce solid materials, such as rock and bones, to dust.
- In 's plasma weaponry.
- A sound weapon is developed by the Germans in the movie .
- On the ABC television series '' Lost '', the camp of the " Others " is surrounded by a ring of Pylon s. Crossing between two pylons activates a sonic pulse that causes a lethal Cerebral Hemorrhage .
- The Batman Beyond villain Shriek uses a variety of sonic weaponry.
- Japanese metal band Sigh used sonic weapons on their 2005 album Gallows Gallery
- In the RTS game Empire Earth , the ultra Cyber 'Tempest' has a special ability called the Resonator.
- In the popular BBC series Doctor Who , The Doctor uses a device known as a Sonic Screwdriver which has been used for quite a few things in the Doctor Who universe. Apparently from the return of The Master in Series 3, the upgrade from the Sonic Screwdriver is the Laser Screwdriver.
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