
US diplomats mysteriously go deaf, Cuba suspected of using sonic weapons - abhi3
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cuba-us-diplomats-go-deaf-state-department-sonic-weapon-heather-nauert-donald-trump-raul-castro-a7885551.html
======
libria
Something similar happened to the US Embassy in Moscow. The Soviets smuggled a
tiny, unpowered antenna inside and were able to eavesdrop on conversations by
bathing the embassy in microwave radiation.

During this period, some of the staff reported feeling nausea, some were found
to have notably elevated white blood cell counts, and Ambassodors Stoessel,
Thompson and Bohlen later died of cancer.

~~~
blueintegral
There's no evidence that nonionizing radiation like microwaves can cause
cancer. I think that was probably more likely due to the fact that everyone
back then smoked about 4 packs a day.

~~~
gh02t
Plus that bug was a backscatter radio. It didn't actually emit radio waves on
its own, it just resonated in response to a carrier wave. The Soviets had to
illuminate it with a 330 MHz radio signal from outside, but that's not
ionizing.

~~~
flavio81
If you look at the design of said device (invented by Lev Sergeivich Termen
aka Leo Theremin), you'll suspect that it will require a pretty _powerful_
microwave beam to work.

~~~
gh02t
[Probably] not enough to cause any harm. RF isn't dangerous until it is
powerful enough to cause local heating and obviously this wasn't _that_
powerful. I can't really find much info on how much power Theremin's bug took,
but modern backscatter radios usually operate at very low power, at the level
of ambient RF from normal radio etc but can transmit 10 km or more. Based on
other designs I've seen I suspect it wouldn't actually take much, though that
is just an educated guess.

------
zapperdapper
Interesting one. I remember I went to the local One Stop with my son - he was
about 15 at the time. He couldn't bear standing outside - he said the noise
was unbearable. I said "what noise"?

Apparently they used some kind of sonic device that emits sound that can only
be heard by teenagers, and it was incredibly effective - they wouldn't hang
around outside the shop more than a moment longer than necessary. I do wonder
whether it caused any damage though?

One Stop was later bought by Tesco and they got rid of it.

~~~
smileysteve
I (31m) can hear high frequencies

\- Last night, an ecigarette's capacitor/resistor (from 20 feet off)

\- Home Depot has high frequency bird detractors

\- A friend has a heart condition and a phone addon to help manage it.

\- TVs w/ bad speakers/signals/lighting

\- Some fluorescent lights.

The worst part is that it hurts, it's like nails on chalkboard you feel it
inside when it happens, almost debilitating, and definitely hurts the balance.

~~~
freehunter
A few years back I had a monitor at work where I complained to my boss that it
was emitting a high pitched whine. I was about 10 years younger than anyone
else on the team, and no one else could hear it. The PC technician I called to
look at it couldn't hear it. Needless to say it didn't get replaced, that is
until we got a summer intern. The first time the intern walked past my desk
she asked "how can you stand that sound?" and I had her go to my boss to say
the same thing. My boss got another intern from another team to listen and
confirm, and I got a replacement the next week.

It's one of those sounds you can never drown out, it's such a unique
frequency.

~~~
SilasX
Advice for next time: you don't have to depend on a human's word. You can use
a real-time analyzer [1], now available in smartphone apps. They display the
frequency spectrum of ambient noise.

We had a similar situation at our office, were the smoke detector was emitting
a steady whine that only a few employees (including me) could hear. One
skeptic was finally convinced by getting out an RTA app and seeing the big
spike at 12 kHz.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-
time_analyzer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_analyzer)

~~~
aoeusnth1
Wow, 12 kHz is not audible to most adults? That's pretty surprising.

~~~
tripzilch
When I checked this, as a fun experiment to do with kids (they love "winning"
this game, after all), is that yes while I'm technically able to hear 15-16
kHz, there's a _very_ steep drop-off in sensitivity already quite a bit below
that. I needed to turn up the volume on a pure sine-wave quite high (which the
kids hated immediately) to be able to hear it somewhat clearly.

So if you add in ambient noise (in lower frequencies), that could plausibly
drown out a 12 kHz noise very well, for older adults (I'm mid 30s myself).

Interesting side-note: Turns out that the low end drop-off (at about 20-25 Hz
or so) is not very age-dependent at all (at least when I tested these
"against" a 13-year old's hearing). You need quality headphones for this, most
speakers will distort/resonate some higher frequency harmonics, which you can
always clearly hear. It was very interesting to hear something that was
clearly a very very low frequency _tone_ turn into a sort of rapidly
fluttering/beating sensation at the cross-over frequency, you can feel it
beating slightly on your eardrums, but it doesn't translate into a "tone-like"
sensation any more.

And yes we made sure to not do it for more than a few seconds, to not
accidentally cause hearing damage--though with good closed headphones we
didn't need to turn it that high, as the effect wasn't so much that the
perception of the tone "disappeared", rather change into a different type of
sensation.

------
jayess
There's more to this story. Hearing loss is one issue, but Cuban intelligence
will do random things to US diplomats just to mess with them. From what I
understand, families of diplomats have been sent back to the US because of the
problems. One story I've heard from a reliable source is that they'll break in
to your home while you're out and shave your cat, just to remind you they're
watching, among a myriad of other things.

~~~
slezyr
Hm.

Sounds better than russians, who defecated in living room.

> Breaking in to diplomats’ residences and leaving “calling cards” such as
> rearranging the furniture or leaving lights on. Nothing is taken, leaving no
> doubt that it was not a robbery. In one case, the US defense attache’s pet
> dog was killed; in another, an intruder defecated on a diplomat’s living
> room carpet

[https://qz.com/914634/the-tactics-russian-intelligence-
uses-...](https://qz.com/914634/the-tactics-russian-intelligence-uses-to-
harass-foreign-diplomats-according-to-estonia/)

~~~
mi100hael
Killing a man's dog should be a capital offense.

~~~
JBlue42
Cops in the US kill dogs every day.

[https://puppycidedb.com/](https://puppycidedb.com/)

[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/what-
do...](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/what-dog-
shootings-reveal-about-american-policing/533319/)

------
ChuckMcM
Curious, I'll be interested to hear what the root cause is if they publish
that information.

I played around with 'ultrasonic projection' for a bit, which involved two
ultrasonic emitters that were emitting the same carrier wave, then the phase
of one gets modulated by an audio signal. At the point where the two beams can
be heard at the same time, you get the classic mixing effect where the
interference between the two beams is the audible input signal. That
"projected" the sound (or transmitted depending on your definition) to a
remote location without the intervening folks hearing it. Of course to make it
work you need pretty strong carriers and that has the effect of deafening you
even if you can't hear it.

Thinking about that experiment though I wonder if you shot a high power beam
at a window if you could use the resonance to pull off audio without having a
tell tale laser bouncing off of the window. (mix the reflected ultrasonic
signal with the echo to extract any modulation from the window).

And all of that has me wondering if it would be useful to create an inaudible
sound detector / meter to let you know there was a sound around you that you
couldn't hear.

------
exergy
Wow. This sounds horrifying. I have mild tinnitus that causes me endless grief
(a lot of it mental: "I'll never be able to enjoy my music properly", but also
trouble sleeping.)

This is just many levels worse. And bizzare! What possible gain could you
derive from harming some poor sods who are only there to do a job?

~~~
Raphmedia
You might want to try some of those :

[https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/neuromodulationTonesGenera...](https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/neuromodulationTonesGenerator.php)

[https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteBurstsNoiseGenerator....](https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteBurstsNoiseGenerator.php)

[https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/impulseNoiseGenerator.php](https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/impulseNoiseGenerator.php)

[https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php](https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/whiteNoiseGenerator.php)

I also find that playing a tone that is similar to my tinnitus for a while and
then turning it off helps my brain to ignore the tinnitus. I use
[http://onlinetonegenerator.com/](http://onlinetonegenerator.com/) and set it
around 4020 Hertz

~~~
renaudg
Even better, this free implementation of Acoustic Neuromodulation which seems
to work on most people with tonal tinnitus :
[http://generalfuzz.net/acrn/](http://generalfuzz.net/acrn/)

I don't want to draw too much attention to it though : it's probably
infringing on a patent by the original researchers, who sell the official
treatment device for a fortune.

~~~
Raphmedia
You can get the same frequencies pattern in the first link that I linked if
you click on "Try the original sequence — Neural Hack" in the text or if you
set all the slider to 0 except for the yellow one.

The website recommends : "Use this sound generator as you like. It probably
makes sense not using all sliders at the same time. Start with all sliders set
to zero, then select the slider(s) that mask or blend with your tinnitus best.
Set their levels to the minimum setting, mixing to your tinnitus so you can
just hear it. You will then achieve the most efficient masking sound and the
lowest fatigue. When using all the sliders, make sure to try the Animation
feature, set to its maximum speed. The effect is interesting."

~~~
renaudg
Yeah, except that the frequency pattern for ACRN needs to be centered around
each person's particular tinnitus frequency, which the mynoise generator
doesn't allow.

~~~
renaudg
I love mynoise though, when I'm fed up with ACRN this generator does a pretty
good job too :
[https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/windchimesGenerator.php](https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/windchimesGenerator.php)

------
Chardok
"US investigators have concluded that the country's diplomats were being hit
with an advanced device that can send out sound that is inaudible but can
cause huge damage to the ears of a person around them, which appears to have
been left either inside or near the diplomats' houses"

So is this an actual device they found or is it something they theorized
existed? Does this technology exist now? If so, that is unsettling!

~~~
jerf
"Does this technology exist now?"

Oh, yeah, easily. You could quite easily put together such a device yourself.
Just put out a 130dB noise for someone in a frequency they can't hear. You can
still damage their hearing.

You can play the same game really easily with eyes, too. Put out a very, very
bright light in some parts of the UV spectrum and the eye completely can't
detect it, won't even close the pupil, but it'll still be damaged/destroyed.
You may recognize this as "the reason why the tell you to be very careful
during eclipses".

I can't guarantee someone hasn't found some new "advanced" spin on this, so
maybe it is an "advanced" device, but the simple case is trivial.

~~~
united893
If you break into someone's home with the intention of causing irreparable
damage, why not just poison them? What's the point of using a fancy high tech
device?

Anyhow, it sounds like a device you can't hear can damage your hearing. It
also looks like a device you can't see may damage your vision.

(Edit: Got downvoted, oh come-on, you guys can't take a dad-joke)

~~~
devrandomguy
A $10 PCB is so much simpler than poison. Easier to acquire, safer (for the
attacker) to store and deliver, harder to recognize as a weapon (think wifi
router case). And perhaps most importantly, you can include a remote kill
switch in case you need to abort the op or temporarily evade an inspection.

Wow, this actually is quite horrifying. Makes me want to go full cyborg.

~~~
jasonjayr
Many years of cartoon villains has taught me that including self-destruct
buttons on any of your devices will typically cause them to be used
prematurely.

~~~
devrandomguy
And not one of those villains ever thought to trap the button. Pull to disarm,
push to receive flashbang.

------
Torai
Some of the comments:

> Syphilis, if not treated in time, can cause damage to hearing. That is the
> most plausible explanation.

> Come on, isn't high tech USA capable of detecting high frequency sound?

And what sense would make for Cuba to invent something like that, and then use
it to annoy its biggest enemy so far?

~~~
SilasX
Those are really good points. To borrow from the saying, I'd sooner believe
that

a) diplomats to a poor country engaged in risky off-books behavior,[1] than
that

b) the same poor country deployed bleeding-edge sonic weapons against foreign
VIPs during a sensitive, once-in-a-lifetime reopening of relations.

[1] Edit: okay, never mind; syphillis takes way too long for that to happen.
Still, b) is very unlikely and needs a lot more evidence before we believe it.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14980882](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14980882)

~~~
true_religion
Bleeding edge? This is just a loud speaker system.

~~~
SilasX
Remember, it's a system that they can't trivially detect with audio equipment
that shows that "yep, loud sound with high frequency in that room".

------
theGimp
The Cuban regime is despicable, but I don't see what they have to gain by
targeting diplomats -- particularly US diplomats.

I'm inclined to believe the theory that the damage is inadvertent.

~~~
devrandomguy
Perhaps it was not government sponsored, but rather an attack by one or more
local extremists, of some sort.

~~~
riskable
Guerrilla radio? Not rebels, decibels.

------
londons_explore
I wonder if this was deliberate?

It could be some kind of spy device, for example an ultrasonic mapping device,
inadvertently caused hearing loss.

~~~
duxup
I am not in the industry, but just off hand testing a crazy spy device on
embassy staff of another country, on your home turf, in a way they would
notice it would seem to sort of let the cat out of the bag.

Maybe they got what they wanted but it seems like it would be strange to test
it like this, particularly when the folks using it might be easily identified
(assuming it is Cuba).

~~~
londons_explore
> testing a crazy spy device

I can imagine they had probably tested it well beforehand, just never done
extended tests to discover that it caused hearing loss.

------
yardie
This sounds less like sonic weapons and more like faulty equipment nearby. US
diplomats have been gone from Cuba for decades are now only coming back within
the last year.

------
londons_explore
There are lots of devices which emit sounds just outside the human hearing
frequency range.

For example, most mobile phone power supplies emit a lot of noise around 25kHz
(and a few which are faulty drop down below 18kHz and become audible to young
people).

I wonder what hearing issues all these devices together might cause?

~~~
sethammons
When my phone is full and still on the charger, the whine is intolerable.
Three chargers so far have done this. Not sure if it is the same thing. I
consider my hearing sub par and I'm in my mid thirties.

~~~
nf05papsjfVbc
"Coil whine": Look for chargers which don't have this problem. I've heard that
Anker has chargers without this problem though I have not used them and can
not, therefore, personally vouch for them.

~~~
throwanem
I've never had this trouble with Apple chargers. I've also heard good reports
of Anker products, but never tried them myself.

In extremis, you can open up a charger and pot the coils yourself with hot
glue, epoxy, or some other nonconductive polymer. Just be sure to disconnect
it from power first, lest you inadvertently get your own batteries charged.

------
StringyBob
Perhaps an overly powerful carrier wave for a passive acoustic bug e.g. a non-
RF version of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_\(listening_device\))
?

------
Tepix
I'm wondering if very low or very high frequencies are used. Either way you
could probably build a detector that emits an _audible_ alarm once such
frequencies are detected at high intensities.

Are whales and fish suffering similarly due to extreme noise in the oceans?

~~~
Sleeep
Some evidence suggests sonar may have negative effects on marine mammals.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_and_sonar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_mammals_and_sonar)

------
binarymax
One thing not specified in the article (unless I missed something)...is this
permanent hearing loss, or temporary?

------
Nomentatus
I presume this is very low-frequency sonar that could therefore penetrate
walls. They wanted to know whether the diplomats were at home, so they could
enter and explore, plant bugs, etc at will. Including planting very small bugs
in clothes that would be worn to work, probably.

------
flavio81
Three words:

MKULTRA electronic warfare.

This program tested many electronic devices to annoy target subjects.

The russian also had their own, google the "LIDA Machine" (also patented in
the US).

------
_Codemonkeyism
Cui bono?

The US? Cuba? Russia?

------
kalleboo
> You could quite easily put together such a device yourself. Just put out a
> 130dB noise for someone in a frequency they can't hear.

Or Real Soon Now™ you'll just be able to buy a uBeam

~~~
dang
Please don't post snarky comments about flamewar topics.

We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14980809](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14980809)
and marked it off-topic.

------
purple-again
A bunch of married men contract STD that goes untreated for obvious reasons
sounds a lot more plausible then Russia testing out its new weapon on our
diplomats.

Anyone know if any of the diplomats were female?

~~~
matt4077
Syphilis only causes hearing loss in its tertiary stage, if at all.

It takes years or decades to get to that stage, and it's impossible to get
that far without experiencing other, serious symptoms first.

So, no: the chances of this being Syphilis is 0%.

------
alexandercrohde
What the hell. What possible good for Cuba could this do? (Don't answer that,
none, it's time to accept the post-war era is here and you should get your
power-game urges out in a video game)

However, I think you could make something to pinpoint high-pitch sounds
relatively easily (< $200) and get a little more conclusive evidence.

------
riskable
There are lots of things that can cause hearing loss but I think the most
_illogical_ reason would be some sort of high-tech spying device or weapon.
That's just silly.

A more reasonable explanation would be tropical diseases:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4222184/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4222184/)

My money's on West Nile Virus (WNV) because it can be completely asymptomatic
_until you suffer hearing loss_. Since WNV has been detected in Cuba
([https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16707068](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16707068))
it seems plausible.

Then plain old opiate/heroin usage:

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21586255](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21586255)

...but it's not like we have an opioid epidemic or anything!

