Master Blaster: Ultra Sonic Weapons...

Do you remember when pirates attacked the cruise liner "Spirit" off the coast of Somalia back in November? (Refresher here.) The pirate aspect of that story got so much attention that it was mentioned almost in passing that they were thwarted with a sonic weapon (and rightfully so - nothing feeds the imagination quite like a Somali pirate). Prior to this, my only memory of sonic weapon usage was back in the first Iraqi war where ultra sonic weapons brought charging Iraqi foot soldiers to their knees, vomiting out their guts before they were bulldozed into the sands of time.

So what the hell is a sonic weapon? The main problem for us civilians is that no one knows exactly where to draw the line between science fiction and what is currently sitting on the seat of some armored vehicle rumbling through Tikrit this afternoon. Some of these weapons have been described as sonic bullets, sonic grenades, sonic mines, or sonic cannons. Some make a focused beam of sound or ultrasound; some make an area field of sound. One concept is to blowout someone's eardrums open and render them imbalanced (and in agony) - this is pretty much considered science fiction in the open air, but using extreme sonar waves to bleed the ears of underwater targets is a longstanding practice. The more prevalent concept is to cause extreme nausea and discomfort using extremely high or low sound frequencies.

Wikipedia states, "The U.S. DOD has demonstrated phased arrays of infrasonic emitters. The weapon, about the size of a truck, 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 vibrate, and therefore provide no defense. The frequency is chosen to be near the resonant frequency of internal organs, causing illness, deafness, and internal injuries."

Wikipedia also states, "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 England. 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, .3 Hz, and 9 Hz - which, combined, generate a frequency of 0.56 Hz."

And don't forget this morsel: The 2002 French film Irreversable used (real, not fictional) extremely low-frequency sound during the opening 20 to 30 minutes to create a state of disorientation and unease in the audience.

But back to our pirates. Supposedly, they were stopped in their tracks by an LRAD (long range sonic device) that was on board the "Spirit". Since when did cruise liners carry these? Can't seem to find anything about that except this little item. Of course, It's only a matter of time before the pirates don't get ahold of one of these master blasters. Fairness in all things.

Certainly we're looking at the crowd control of the future here. So next time you go to a massive street protest or a post Lakers game parking lot stampede, and your eyeballs start quivering or your eardrums explode, don't panic... relax: you've just been zapped by an ultrasonic weapon silly!