Gizmodo is reporting that recent patents filed with the US Patent office by Raytheon’s show a new type of riot shield that uses low frequency sound pulses to disrupt breathing and render someone unconscious.
There are already loud sound weapons which are turned on rioters which can cause people to throw up or get blasting headaches. but on this particular weapon, the patent points out that the sound waves used to incapacitate someone are not very powerful, so while protestors might pass out from oxygen deprivation, their eardrums will remain unfazed.
They further report that the shields can be networked together acoustically so that they can increase their range and effectiveness. This could have major ramifications for the future of crowd control, with protestors being dispersed quickly and quietly without being able to effectively challenge the technology at all. The use of sound, so far, can be countered by wearing earplugs or at least slightly mitigated by covering your ears.
