New York ? Forget tear gas and mace. The cops' LRAD sound cannon is really making some noise ? and potentially blowing out Occupiers' eardrums
Riot police have begun deploying a non-lethal weapon called a long range acoustic device ? LRAD, for short ? against Occupy Movement protesters across the country. The controversial crowd-control device, which blasts targets with powerful sound waves capable of causing "extreme pain,"?can sometimes even lead to permanent hearing loss. The device?has been spotted during the recent evictions at New York's Zuccotti Park and Occupy Oakland's encampment. Here's what you should know: ?
How does it work?
LRAD systems are used by airports "to sonically deter birds from residing in the paths of aircrafts," says Roberto Baldwin at Gizmodo. But when used for crowd control, the LRAD is aimed like a beam to debilitate anyone within its 300-meter range with high-pitched frequencies.
What happens when the cannon is aimed at you?
You might get a headache, feel extreme pain, or even lose your hearing. Think of it this way ? a conversation in a restaurant is roughly 60 decibels. A dishwasher is 80. A live rock concert is 110. And?"human discomfort" starts when a noise hits 120 decibels ? imagine a chainsaw. Still, that's "well below the LRAD's threshold," says Baldwin. Permanent damage starts at 130 decibels, and at 140 decibels, targets "could potentially lose their balance and be unable to move out of the path of the audio." While a military-grade LRAD 2000X can go north of 160 decibels, Baldwin says police generally use a less potent version of the device, the LRAD 500X.
And LRADS have been used on Occupiers?
They have. In the clearing of protesters from Zuccotti Park earlier this week, the "NYPD descended on the park with deafening... LRAD noise cannons and several stadiums' worth of blinding Klieg lights,"?says Philip Gourevitch at The New Yorker.
Is there any way to protect yourself?
There's a simple, if inelegant solution: "To counter the sound cannons, simply purchase a few packages of ear plugs," says DJ Pangburn at Death + Taxes. Though if an LRAD cannon is ever pointed at you, you'd still be smart to get out of the way.
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