Annoying mosquito buzzer draws tourists
May 28th, 2009 by James
Remember the mosquito buzzer that a park in Tokyo installed to prevent loud young people from gathering there at night? Well, it turns out all the media attention is actually causing many young people to visit the park at night, just so they can hear the sound made by the rare device:
Local residents aren’t particularly pleased with the presence of these tourists, but it does seem that many of them quickly leave after experiencing the annoying sound.
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I’m loving the irony!
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It’s a yankee magnet!
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I came across several of these during my trips to Tokyo (one in some alley near a dept store in Ueno, another in Odaiba), and they’re not annoying, they’re debilitating.
Firstly, it’s not simply a “noise”, it’s a pulsing. Something like this:
|>-|>-|>-|>-|>-|>-|>-|>-|>-
Bang loud, quickly fades out, and then repeats, probably 2-3 times per second. Also, I don’t know at how many decibels those things shoot out their god-forsaken noise, but it goes straight to my inner ear and made me disoriented and physically nauseous within a minute or so of exposure.
It’s less of an anti-loitering machine and more of a military sound-weapon. I’m not totally against the idea, just make the things emit a solid square wave and TURN DOWN THE DECIBELS. It felt like the sound waves coming out were pressure waves. The things as they are need to be fucking outlawed, they’re HORRIBLE.
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According to Wikipedia, “The Mosquito” emits sound at 85-94 decibels.
http://www.esoundproof.com/Screens/Basics/Academy/Sound%20Measurement/Decibels/dBChart.aspx
Note that sustained exposure to 90 dB may cause permanent hearing damage, is similar in loudness to truck traffic, and is louder than a lawnmower. 85 dB is when OSHA requires hearing protection in factories. And they stick those speakers usually just overhead on a walkway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito#Health_effects
“…the ultrasound affects not only hearing. Disruption of the equilibrium senses, as well as other extra-aural effects are well known. With the sound levels that can be reached by the device, the onset of dizziness, headache, nausea and impairment is to be expected. This is not the limit of the total risks to safety and health.”
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There are some of these in my town centre… Northampton, UK.
If I ever bought a gun, those G*dd**n M****rf*****g things would be my first targets…
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