Sound has been used as a powerful deterrent throughout history, but new advances in technology are producing ever more effective – and dangerous – devices, writes the RBMA Daily Note’s Chris Hatherill.  


When activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society went up against the Japanese whaling fleet this January, they faced rough Antarctic seas, powerful water cannons and a new weapon that’s being used with increasing frequency around the world: sound.

Mounted onboard the Japanese ships was the new standard in acoustic armament: the LRAD, or Long Range Acoustical Device. Manufactured by the American Technology Corporation, LRADs are circular super- speakers which “use directionality and focused acoustic output to clearly transmit critical information, instructions and warnings with a maximum output of 152 decibels”. Think of it as a Notting Hill Carnival truck, squished into a 40-inch disc – with the significant advantage that it can be aimed. Like any self-respecting speaker stack, it emits a focused noise beam loud enough to cause pain and permanently damage hearing if you don’t move out of the way.

In the recent battle in the Southern Ocean, the Sea Shepherd activist Steve Roest was knocked over by the force of these sonic blasts,while helicopter pilot Chris Aultman felt the full fury of an LRAD as he hovered near a Japanese harpoon ship. “At first it was just a loud noise,” he told reporters. “Then they turned up the volume and we could feel it  in our legs and chest.”

Beyond the Japanese whalers, buyers include the US Navy, various cargo and cruise lines concerned about pirates, and even Sea Shepherd themselves – who have confirmed they now own an LRAD but have not used it, quote, “yet”. Other customers are the US Army and homeland security agencies, who have fired it at targets ranging from Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah to protesters at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh. When it comes to sound, it seems we’re all guinea pigs.

While powerful, the LRAD is no longer the loudest soundsystem on the block. That dubious honour goes to Ultra Electronics’ Hyperspike, currently listed as the world’s loudest Acoustic Hailing Device by Guinness World Records, which cites its “laser-like beam” and notes that “its output equivalent is 182 dB and, under optimal conditions, it can transmit audible voice communications to a target over a distance of more than 3km”. Useful for festivals, then.

Reportedly more unpleasant are devices designed as close-range deterrents. These range from the infamous “Mosquito” noise box that’s used to discourage trouble-makers at shopping malls, to the “Inferno” sound barrier. After volunteering to test the latter, Wired journalist Sharon Weinberger wrote: “I’m not sure words can do justice to what can only be described as the most unbearable, gut-wrenching noise I’ve ever heard.”

In his book, Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear, Steve Goodman (aka London-based dubstep producer Kode9) examines the way these and similar sonic weapons and tactics have been used throughout history – and how similar sounds can be used in music with the opposite effect. The same frequencies, he argues, that have been used as weapons to inspire fear and dread are the very ones that he and other producers use in their music. Writing about what he calls the politics of frequency, Goodman is clearly fascinated by “proactive tactics that grasp sonic processes and technologies of power and steer them elsewhere, exploiting unintended consequences of investments in control”.

One example is the vocoder – used to good effect by everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Cher – which, Goodman writes, has its roots in the military: “The vocoder [can] be tracked from a speech encryption device during World War II to the spread of the vocodered voice into popular music.” Covering everything from sonic booms to sub-bass, Sonic Warfare makes an excellent starting point for anyone with an interest in how music and sound combat have crossed paths, and where both might take us next.

With seriously scary stuff under development – flesh-liquefying sound beams, for one – it’s interesting to note that current systems such as the LRAD are basically just amazing speakers. With their ability to focus sound, it’s surely only a matter of time before we see them being “deployed” to outdoor festivals and illegal raves, thereby potentially ending complaints about noise from the neighbours.
When writing about the effectiveness of sonic weapons in repelling Somali pirates, Lloyd’s List, published by the maritime insurers Lloyd’s of London, notes that “LRADs generate noise levels of around 150 dB, which is well above the maximum legal limit in the music clubs so popular with young people today”. But perhaps there is still a way to go before frequencies become the ammunition of choice: “Readers of an age to remember 1970s rock shows by the likes of Motörhead and The Ramones regularly subjected their tender ears to blasts measured at around 148 dB for those at the front, and thoroughly enjoyed it.”