What can silence a person who is firmly convinced that they want to listen to him?
These are the words of Japanese researchers Kazutaki Kurihara from the Japanese Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada from Otyanomizu University, the creators of the amazing SpeechJammer device - "speech jammers."
The operation of the device is as follows - it is worth directing it to the "talker", and he immediately starts to stammer, stop and, as a result, becomes silent. As the inventors themselves say, this effect is not associated with pain or physical discomfort, it's all about how the person speaks.
In order to speak normally, a person must hear himself - which is, most importantly, when he said. If, if this happens, he hears his speech even with a slight delay, then the connection between the speech apparatus and the brain is disrupted. A person becomes simply not sure of what he is saying and becomes silent.
SpeechJammera works like this: a directional microphone "listens" to the speaker, the electronics calculates the required delay (several factors are taken into account here, the main of which is the distance to the "chatterbox"), the average delay is about 0.2 s. And then, through a highly directional speaker, the device outputs the words in the direction of the speaker. Multiple sensors and a laser rangefinder provide the necessary support for the microcomputer. The maximum effective range of the device is still thirty-five meters.
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Interesting: the tests-experiments carried out showed that the greatest efficiency of the device is achieved when the “talker” reads the text written on paper, but the spontaneous speech “muffles” worse. And if the "chatterbox" is just talking nonsense, then the device becomes practically useless. Experiments have also shown that constantly changing the delay of the audio output makes the device more efficient.
The use of such a device is possible at rallies, especially violent skirmishes at debates and other meetings. The inventors hope that their device, in certain situations, can replace the harsher ways to "silence the talker."
