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posted by mrpg on Saturday February 17 2018, @08:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the signal-to-noise-ratio dept.

Diplomats and other victims of mysterious "sonic attacks" at the American embassy in Havana, Cuba are experiencing neurological symptoms months after being affected:

A preliminary case report on the victims of mysterious "health attacks" in Havana, Cuba details the results of extensive clinical evaluations, concluding that the individuals appear to have sustained "injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma."

The report offers the first medical glimpse of the victims—US government personnel and their families who were serving on diplomatic assignment in Havana. From late 2016 to August 2017, they reported experiencing bizarre and inexplicable sonic and sensory episodes. The episodes tended to include directional, irritating sounds, such as buzzing and piercing squeals, as well as pressure and vibrations. Afterward, the victims developed a constellation of neurological symptoms.

In clinical evaluations of 21 of 24 individuals affected, an interdisciplinary team of doctors at University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine retrospectively pieced together symptoms—an average of 203 days after individuals were exposed. They found that the most common issues persisting more than three months after exposure were cognitive impairment (17/21); balance issues (15/21); visual (18/21) and hearing (15/21) problems; sleep impairment (18/21); and headaches (16/21).

Previously: U.S. State Department Pulls Employees From Cuba, Issues Travel Warning Due to "Sonic Attacks"
A 'Sonic Attack' on Diplomats in Cuba? These Scientists Doubt It


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:16PM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:16PM (#639508) Journal

    If not, the known LRADs could not be involved.

    Why would you suspect a KNOWN LRAD was used? Do Cuban's patent their clandestine tools with the US Patent Office?
    They would change any known design to be far less detectable.

    The statement was asserted that there was no such weapon known. Yet two seconds of google search shows that there are several such things from many manufacturers both in the US and other countries that are on the market.

    Who knows what else is in the inventory of government agencies, or embedded in the walls of the long vacant embassy. People in the embassy did hear things, loud things, things so loud they would overrun any available microphone and not be recorded.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:44PM (#639518)

    The statement was asserted that there was no such weapon known. Yet two seconds of google search shows that there are several such things from many manufacturers both in the US and other countries that are on the market.

    Sadly, none are capable of violating the laws of physics.

    embedded in the walls of the long vacant embassy.

    There's no plausible scenario where this proposed "sonic weapon" could have originated from outside the building.

    At 50kHz, you're losing 2.4dB/M due to the absorption coefficient of air and a building is going to have a minimum STC rating (for audible frequencies) of 50dB. At ultrasonic frequencies, the absorption coefficient of a building is 1.0 or above. I've worked with shotgun mics (interference tube like the LRAD but in reverse) and parabolas and you'd not stand outside a building and record a conversation occurring inside.

    People in the embassy did hear things, loud things, things so loud they would overrun any available microphone and not be recorded.

    Nobody is disputing this.

    I've already suggested microwaves, as did this AC. [soylentnews.org] Which seems more likely, sonic weapon or microwaves? [nytimes.com]