Audio Spotlight As A Weapon?

Bleeding Edge

from the ah,-military-uses dept

Last year we had an article about some researchers working on “audio spotlighting” technology that would let them focus sound in a very pinpointed way. At the time we said such technology could be used to let everyone in a car listen to their own radio station. It seems that the technology is coming along quite well. However, beyond the car version, or setting up targetted marketing kiosks, another company with a similar technology is turning it into a weapon. They’re talking about creating an “accoustic assault rifle” that could be aimed at someone to “cause them pain”. There’s also the useful effect of scaring the living daylights out of someone by making them think that someone else is there when they’re really alone. Sounds like a really bad movie.