Larry
|
Theoretically, music can be played loud enough to kill a person, or at the very least, sweep them off their feet from the reverberations and crash them into a wall. Theory, though, is as far as this gets because we don’t have any speakers that can produce music loud enough for any detrimental effects other than hearing loss. So far, the loudest sound system can reproduce music at 177.6 decibels. To compare, a 747 jet engine produces sounds at 140 decibels.
Even though we have no sound systems that can produce music loud enough to kill people, we do have weapons that use sound as their primary force. The difference is that they don’t use music. They use monotone sound of very specific frequencies. These devices, known as sonic cannons, have been used by the military and once by Pittsburgh police to break up a crowd of violent protestors in 2009. The actual name of the device is the long range acoustic device, or LRAD. The speaker of the LRAD is specially designed to focus sound in a single direction. It was originally designed for long-range communication. The LRAD can send sound at up to 2 miles distant. When used as cannon, the sounds reach 145 to 151 decibels and are effective at up to 1,600 feet. The sound produced by the LRAD is high-pitched at 2,800 to 3,000 Hertz. The sound is said to be “painfully loud” and can cause permanent hearing loss, but not death. It is used to disrupt crowds by making them disburse or busy themselves trying to cover their ears.
 Posted 5355 day ago
|