I don't see this being abused... :)

I visited a modern Aquarium last year and they were doing some neet stuff with sound. Above many of the displays was a parabolic reflector that directed a beam of sound ONLY to the area immediately in front of the display. If you moved 1' away you don't hear anything, but if you are within the zone you could hear the presentation clearly. One room had 5 or so displays all talking at the same time, but instead of a cacophony of sound, all you could hear was the people milling around until you stepped into one of these zones.

Practical application #1: Cubicles. Luckily I have an office with a door, but as I walk down the rows of cubes I hear 10 different songs playing from 10 different cubes, all of which are annoying other workers who don't want to hear any of it. Earphones aren't always practical (or comfortable).

For sound in your head, this beats the old analog method of sharpening the end of a wire hangar, placing it on a spinning LP and putting the other end in your mouth.

You might also be able to project silence. Imagine stage hands at concerts having an area of sound projected out of phase allowing them to talk without having to scream over the music.

Maxwell Smart's dome of silence it almost here.

And I thought the voices in my head were already bad.

I can imagine walking down a sidewalk and being barraged by soundblip advertising from the stores I walk in front of. Or...by their competitors across the street. Un-nice.

Also, what happens if some dumbass kid gets ahold of this and shoots Metallica at 130 decibals at passing motorists? This is a dangerous technology. I hope it gets some lawmaker attention before it gets public.

yea, good idea, I think lawmakers are great at taking technology advancements to the next level :/

Honestly, if a kid is going to disrupt traffic, he's going to disrupt traffic. When I was a kid it was dragging black socks with white stripes across the road with fishing line. and last time I stopped by the mens-ware department there wasn't a registration line by the argyles.

Anybody else have Kate Bush's "Experiment IV" start playing in their head while reading this?

"They told us
 All they wanted
 Was a sound that could kill someone
 From a distance.
 So we go ahead,
 And the meters are over in the red.
 It's a mistake in the making."

slashdot comment has the full text

you'd never know meeting this guy that he's a brilliant inventor. he's got the aura of a car salesman. but then you talk to him, and realize that the burly dude in the bad suit is about to blow everything you think about sound out of the water.

If memory servers, there is an old William Gibson novel where a kid uses similar technology and uses sound to kill those around a girl he is stalking. When the hero of the story gets ahold of the device, the reader learns the sound was a recording of the girl's voice saying "I love you".

Also, imagine advertising uses.

Want to dispurse a crowd? How about 200 dec. of nails on a blackboard.

Because only those in the "line of fire" get their heads exploded, those on the sidelines feel no pain and can happily justify fellow citizens pain through whatever rationales the goverment provides.