New Billboard Transmits Audio Message Into Your Skull

[boloboffin]

And I want it outlawed.

New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman's voice right in her ear asking, "Who's there? Who's there?" She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, "It's not your imagination."

Indeed it isn't. It's an ad for "Paranormal State," a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby and residents who have to walk unwittingly through the area where the voice will penetrate their inner peace, it's another story.

Ms. Wilson, a New York-based stylist, said she expected the voice inside her head to be some type of creative project but could see how others might perceive it differently, particularly on a late-night stroll home. "I might be a little freaked out, and I wouldn't necessarily think it's coming from that billboard," she said.

What possible reason could I have for banning this technology? How about disturbing the peace? How about invasion of privacy? If there's a more private space on earth than my head, I'd like to know about it.

Of course, the first public use of this is by propagandists for the paranormal:

"We all know what you need to do for one of these shows is get people talking about them," said Guy Slattery, A&E's exec VP-marketing. "It shouldn't be pure informational advertising. When we were talking about marketing the show, nearly everyone had a connection with a paranormal experience, and that was a surprise to us. So we really tried to base the whole campaign on people's paranormal experiences."

The notion of this thing absolutely sickens me. I'm sitting here coming up with evil uses of this technology over and over again -- soldiers on a battlefield distracted by contradictory commands, police using this against protesters to incite violence. One of the more benign examples from the article is a grocery aisle filled with advertising beams for various products.

We literally will have to come up with the equivalent of tin foil.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I wonder if this could be used to transmit the ET Corn God Code?

 

[boloboffin]

I wonder if this could be used to transmit the ET Corn God Code?

Well, yes, of course.

But my article is from Advertising Age, a trade magazine for the advertising industry. This is real.

 

[bjb]

I know a lot of teachers who would love to use these in their classrooms.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I wonder how much one of these things costs? I had read about them over the past few years. I always thought it would be cool to point it down at the sidewalk from my 8th floor condo and talk to people on the street.

 

[boloboffin]

I wonder how much one of these things costs? I had read about them over the past few years. I always thought it would be cool to point it down at the sidewalk from my 8th floor condo and talk to people on the street.

It's called a cellphone.

Which makes me think of another abuse of this technology. Some [ruleX] up in an apartment, buzzing people with his inane thoughts at will. Kind of like the advertising industry.

 

[Daylight]

<evil thinking on>

If you went to some worship service you could have a lot of fun.

</evil thinking off>

 

[boloboffin]

Well, garbage in, garbage out. The Ad Age article is not describing the technology correctly. I still don't like it for all the same reasons.

The directivity (narrowness) of any wave producing source depends on the size of the source, compared to the wavelengths it generates. Audible sound has wavelengths ranging from a few inches to several feet, and because these wavelengths are comparable to the size of most loudspeakers, sound generally propagates omnidirectionally. Only by creating a sound source much larger than the wavelengths it's producing can a narrow beam be created.

Clearly, having loudspeakers twenty meters wide is not very useful. Therefore to make a narrow beam of sound from a small acoustic source, we instead generate only ultrasound.

The ultrasound, whose wavelengths are only a few millimeters long, are much smaller than the source, and consequently travel in an extremely narrow beam.

Of course, the ultrasound, which contains frequencies far outside our range of hearing, is completely inaudible. But as the ultrasonic beam travels through the air, the inherent properties of the air cause the ultrasound to distort (change shape) in a predictable way. This distortion gives rise to frequency components in the audible bandwidth, which can be accurately predicted, and therefore precisely controlled. By generating the correct ultrasonic signal, we can create, within the air itself, essentially any sound desired.

Note that the source of sound is not the physical device you see, but the invisible beam of ultrasound, which can be many meters long. This new sound source, while invisible, is very large compared to the audio wavelengths it's generating. So the resulting audio is now extremely directional, just like a beam of light.

I thought it was acting like some hearing aids, which transmit sound through the skull bones into the inner ear. Turning someone's head into your personal loudspeaker is pretty foul.

This is not much better.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

It's called a cellphone.

No, these wouldn't be people I know.

Which makes me think of another abuse of this technology. Some [ruleX] up in an apartment, buzzing people with his inane thoughts at will. Kind of like the advertising industry.

I could aim at at some chick, and then when a guy passes, I could say something like "Hey baby, take your top off", and she would think it was the guy who said it and then slap him. Or better yet, she would take her top off!

I'm a bad person.

 

[Brown]

My first thought upon reading the intial post was:

"John Anderton! You could use a Guinness right about now!"

 

[TragicMonkey]

I'm sure if this becomes widespread, someone will invent a hat or something that can block it.

 

[Fnord]

And I want it outlawed.

What possible reason could I have for banning this technology? How about disturbing the peace? How about invasion of privacy? If there's a more private space on earth than my head, I'd like to know about it.

Disturbing the peace ... maybe outside a commercial or business district, but inside a mall? Ain't gonna happen.

They're not removeing anything from your head, or reading what's in there. They are only beaming sound waves directly at you. This is no more an invasion of privacy than any telemarketing call, spam, or door-to-door surveyist or salesperson.

Of course, the first public use of this is by propagandists for the paranormal:

Could be worse ... could be "My Sharona" ...

The notion of this thing absolutely sickens me. I'm sitting here coming up with evil uses of this technology over and over again -- soldiers on a battlefield distracted by contradictory commands, police using this against protesters to incite violence. One of the more benign examples from the article is a grocery aisle filled with advertising beams for various products.

Contradictory commands? The message would have to be louder than the gunfire, explosions, and screams of the dying to get through on the battlefield.

Police inciting people to riot? They don't need this device for that purpose. All they have to do is shout a few racial epithets, turn the media cameras on, and wait for the inevitable.

We literally will have to come up with the equivalent of tin foil.

They're called "Earplugs."

 

[slingblade]

They're not removeing anything from your head, or reading what's in there. They are only beaming sound waves directly at you. This is no more an invasion of privacy than any telemarketing call, spam, or door-to-door surveyist or salesperson.

Can I turn it off at will, or will it finish playing in my head until I leave the area?

If I can't turn it off, hang it up, refuse to open it, or slam the door, it is not the same.

 

[calebprime]

Speaking as a continual wearer of earplugs, there are much worse things already going on in the environment. Plus, this transmits on a narrow beam, so it would seem easy to step outside the path of it.

I would love to hear the silence if they banned reverse warning beepers and leaf-blowers--these cause pervasive noise-pollution day in, day out, if you live anywhere near civilization. A real torture if you're trying to hear your own imaginary music in your head.

Second, I would love it if there was a general moratorium on the playing of recorded music in buildings and enclosed spaces--again, this is much more invasive.

Many a dinner out gets wrecked by the music they play in the restaurant.

Smooth jazz is the worst.

And then, no more music while you're on hold! That's torture.

Oh, and they should taser motorcyclists and motorists without adequate mufflers.

This technology fascinates me.

Boloboffin, have you actually been targeted by such a device? Why the passion?

It sounds too expensive and specific to be much of a nuisance. It's the general obliviousness about noise that bothers me most, not the prospect of hearing audio on a narrow beam...

 

[tkingdoll]

Are we sure this is real and not a clever PR stunt? A friend of mine who knows this technology says it's not massively reliable in open spaces. It needs a very quiet environment. I think they're exaggerating to promote the movie.

 

[Checkmite]

I dare one of these dweebs to broadcast messages into my skull. I would have a convenient mental breakdown and subsequently sue for millions.

 

[bokonon]

I'm sure if this becomes widespread, someone will invent a hat or something that can block it.

I think they're called "headphones."

 

[fuelair]

And I want it outlawed.



What possible reason could I have for banning this technology? How about disturbing the peace? How about invasion of privacy? If there's a more private space on earth than my head, I'd like to know about it.

Of course, the first public use of this is by propagandists for the paranormal:



The notion of this thing absolutely sickens me. I'm sitting here coming up with evil uses of this technology over and over again -- soldiers on a battlefield distracted by contradictory commands, police using this against protesters to incite violence. One of the more benign examples from the article is a grocery aisle filled with advertising beams for various products.

We literally will have to come up with the equivalent of tin foil.

For those who follow advertising, communication tech and SF, this is not a surprise. Old line advertisers have been upset for several years that print was going out of favor and uninteresting ads could be bypassed in so many ways. I was actually in a meeting about 5 years ago with a group of about 60 ad and com types - discussing thin screen LCDs (forgot the acronym) when an old guy (about my age or so in years - but not otherwise)essentially calls out : "The government needs to pass a law that makes people have to watch the advertising". Followed by reasons (ads cost money, ads help pay/pay for what the customer is reading/watching/playing with)

 

[shadron]

Speaking as a continual wearer of earplugs, there are much worse things already going on in the environment. Plus, this transmits on a narrow beam, so it would seem easy to step outside the path of it.

Ummmm, that's not what the description above said. It says that the beam becomes the speaker, so the sound appears to be coming from whatever space the beam is passing through (I would guess it would be like a straight line of invisible speakers). It would, I assume, drop off with distance just like any speaker would unless you moved parallel to the line, perhaps faster since it would be omni-directional rather than being focused by a cone in the manner normal speakers are. It would make a groovy sound system, but the novelty would probably soon wear off. I wonder what the frequency response characteristics are.

 

[boloboffin]

Boloboffin, have you actually been targeted by such a device? Why the passion?

LOL, I've not been targeted by such a device. All the voices in my head are the ones firmly under my control.

Having seen the real explanation of the technology, I've lowered my Defcon level. It was probably more a purity reaction than anything. How dare some idiot company use the bones in my skull as their personal speaker system?

Of course, that's what happens now, isn't it? The inner ear uses three bones to interpret sound. Any sound (nuisance or otherwise) is using parts of my body to transmit their message.

And I can also think of benign uses of this, like advertising stupid shows, in walkthrough attractions like haunted houses, or a replacement for Bluetooth cellphones (the audio transducer used in some applications could be a lot smaller than a Bluetooth earpiece).

It just seems underhanded, that's all. I expect that this could be banned in community zoning codes, much the same way some zoning prohibits large signage or specifies a grass/pavement ratio. But the Minority Report world of scanned retinas and targeted advertising in public is really not that far off.