Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: MEDELMA@CMS.CC.WAYNE.EDU (Michael Edelman) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Lethal sound Message-ID: <1991Jan23.043152.7183@cbnews.att.com> Date: 23 Jan 91 04:31:52 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 17 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Michael Edelman I recall reading many years ago of a French or perhaps Belgian inventor who developed a number of offensive and defensive devices for what might be called "sound warfare". He was able to produce intense (>160dB) low frequency sound fields through the use of air horns, and tested their effects on human and animal targets. Lower levels produced discomfort and disorientation as the middle ear organs were affected; higher levels actually produced injury and death in animals. The inventor also patented a number of designs for soundproofing. In WWII, the Germans worked on an "acoustic cannon" design that was supposed to focus the blast of a small explosion at a distance. This proposed AA weapon never became operational. I came accross in in one of the Ballintine Books WWII series- I think it was entitled "Secret Weapons" or similar. --mike edelman medelma@cms.cc.wayne.edu medelma@waynest1