3 ms·

I remember when, as a student commutting between home and the university, I was very often going to a high-speed train station equipped with "mosquito" devices

I remember when, as a student commutting between home and the university, I was very often going to a high-speed train station equipped with "mosquito" devices (actually the normal speakers were used to emit the "mosquito" sounds as well). Maybe I was particularly sensitive but these sounds were sucking all the energy out if me (each 30 seconds when they were occurring), and I was feeling extremely depressed and tired. Looks like what the poor mice are experiencing. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the brain suffers some kind of damage because of these sounds, either directly, or through damage to the inner ear sensorial cells... I'm sure it was "mosquito" signals, because I used a sound spectrometer app on my smartphone and I could clearly see the peak around 18kHz appearing every 30 seconds on the spectrogram.

varenc 3y ago
18kHz is inside the human hearing range, though at the far end. The ultrasonic sound in these mice experiments was 3.2 MHz, for 50ms duration, and pulsed 10 times a second. Not sure if the 18kHz sound you were subjected to and this mice experiment are comparable in terms of effects. (but I have no doubt that a consistent 18kHz chirp would be quite unpleasant and draining).
jeroenhd 3y ago
The frequencies used in this research are several orders of magnitude higher. I doubt they'll have a related effect. I wouldn't worry about brain damage. Tbose mosquito signals are intended to be painful and distracting, though, so it's no wonder your body is responding negatively to them. They're bound to take a mental toll and I can't fathom why such ultrasonic weaponry is even allowed in public places in the first place. The whole thing was designed to be an age discrimination tool. I can only imagine what would happen if one would design a system that intentionally causes discomfort only among the elderly. I'm pretty sure it'll be banned immediately over public health concerns.
- henearkr 3y ago
  Yes, I would really like to participate in an effort to ban them. I'd also like to start something like a cooperative map of mosquito locations around the world, so that sensitive people can avoid these places/businesses and/or take protective measures (like putting on earplugs, or even just earphones, etc) when passing by.

varenc 3y ago

18kHz is inside the human hearing range, though at the far end. The ultrasonic sound in these mice experiments was 3.2 MHz, for 50ms duration, and pulsed 10 times a second. Not sure if the 18kHz sound you were subjected to and this mice experiment are comparable in terms of effects. (but I have no doubt that a consistent 18kHz chirp would be quite unpleasant and draining).

jeroenhd 3y ago

The frequencies used in this research are several orders of magnitude higher. I doubt they'll have a related effect. I wouldn't worry about brain damage. Tbose mosquito signals are intended to be painful and distracting, though, so it's no wonder your body is responding negatively to them. They're bound to take a mental toll and I can't fathom why such ultrasonic weaponry is even allowed in public places in the first place. The whole thing was designed to be an age discrimination tool. I can only imagine what would happen if one would design a system that intentionally causes discomfort only among the elderly. I'm pretty sure it'll be banned immediately over public health concerns.

henearkr 3y ago
Yes, I would really like to participate in an effort to ban them. I'd also like to start something like a cooperative map of mosquito locations around the world, so that sensitive people can avoid these places/businesses and/or take protective measures (like putting on earplugs, or even just earphones, etc) when passing by.