Posted on 03/01/2012 9:37:41 PM PST by DogByte6RER
How to Build a Speech-Jamming Gun
Japanese researchers build a gun capable of stopping speakers in mid-sentence.
The drone of speakers who won't stop is an inevitable experience at conferences, meetings, cinemas, and public libraries.
Today, Kazutaka Kurihara at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tskuba and Koji Tsukada at Ochanomizu University, both in Japan, present a radical solution: a speech-jamming device that forces recalcitrant speakers into submission.
The idea is simple. Psychologists have known for some years that it is almost impossible to speak when your words are replayed to you with a delay of a fraction of a second.
Kurihara and Tsukada have simply built a handheld device consisting of a microphone and a speaker that does just that: it records a person's voice and replays it to them with a delay of about 0.2 seconds. The microphone and speaker are directional so the device can be aimed at a speaker from a distance, like a gun.
In tests, Kurihara and Tsukada say their speech jamming gun works well: "The system can disturb remote people's speech without any physical discomfort."
Their tests also identify some curious phenomena. They say the gun is more effective when the delay varies in time and more effective against speech that involves reading aloud than against spontaneous monologue. Sadly, they report that it has no effect on meaningless sound sequences such as "aaaaarghhh".
Kurihara and Tsukada make no claims about the commercial potential of their device but list various aplications. They say it could be used to maintain silence in public libraries and to "facilitate discussion" in group meetings. "We have to establish and obey rules for proper turn-taking when speaking," they say.
That has important implications. "There are still many cases in which the negative aspects of speech become a barrier to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, " they point out.
Clearly, speech jamming has a significant future role in contributing to world peace and should obviously be installed at the United Nations with immediate effect.
I’m at a loss for words ... ping
SpeechJammer: A System Utilizing Artificial Speech Disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback
http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.6106
I could use that for a few of my classes.
Actually, similar items have been in use for years as Phys ops
I’m sure that this is teleprompter-compatible. In my version of a bureaucracy that produces thousands of pages of regulations a year, mandating every teleprompter to be equipped with one would be top priority.
Psy ops
I would be curious to experience this myself. Can’t be that hard to create a tool to record and play delayed by 0.2 sec.
I say surround a certain Teleprompter with them.
And the Senate.
And wherever Puhlousey is
However. You can condition yourself to ignore it with practice.
/johnny
i have this problem in the communications room in my office. The idiot that programmed our phone system has the two phones on the console on separate numbers. The result is that when you page somebody your voice comes out of the other phone a fraction of a second later. I have to plug that ear in order to make a page.
i have this problem in the communications room in my office. The idiot that programmed our phone system has the two phones on the console on separate numbers. The result is that when you page somebody your voice comes out of the other phone a fraction of a second later. I have to plug that ear in order to make a page.
Looks like this same idiot is messing with your postings too!
I’m wondering if they could get this thing downsized a bit and built into the TV remote?
“I would be curious to experience this myself. Can’t be that hard to create a tool to record and play delayed by 0.2 sec.”
A speaker [(1100f/s) * (0.2s) = 220f] away from you and a mic?
The real irritating part is when, after a few seconds it says “Turn down your radio, caller!”
I need one of those at home. Damn.
Closely mocking a speaker is a venerable method of discombobulating same. This simply mechanizes the mocking.
110 feet away. You have to account for the return travel time of the rebroadcast from the speaker.
“This simply mechanizes the mocking.”
Will not work on progressives. They are constantly engaged in self-parody.
Ah, the old “annoy your sibling on road trips by repeating everything they say” game.
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