The Sounds That Haunted U.S. Diplomats in Cuba? Lovelorn Crickets, Scientists Say
In November 2016, American diplomats in Cuba complained of persistent, high-pitched sounds followed by a range of symptoms, including headaches, nausea and hearing loss.
Exams of nearly two dozen of them eventually revealed signs of concussions or other brain injuries, and speculation about the cause turned to weapons that blast sound or microwaves. Amid an international uproar, a recording of the sinister droning was widely circulated in the news media.
On Friday, two scientists presented evidence that those sounds were not so mysterious after all. They were made by crickets, the researchers concluded.
That's not to say that the diplomats weren't attacked, the scientists added — only that the recording is not of a sonic weapon, as had been suggested.
Alexander Stubbs of the University of California, Berkeley, and Fernando Montealegre-Z of the University of Lincoln in England studied a recording of the sounds made by diplomats and published by The Associated Press. "There's plenty of debate in the medical community over what, if any, physical damage there is to these individuals," said Mr. Stubbs in a phone interview. "All I can say fairly definitively is that the A.P.-released recording is of a cricket, and we think we know what species it is."
Recording of "sonic attacks" on U.S. diplomats in Cuba spectrally matches the echoing call of a Caribbean cricket (open, DOI: 10.1101/510834) (DX)
Previously: US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
A 'Sonic Attack' on Diplomats in Cuba? These Scientists Doubt It
Cuban Embassy Victims Experiencing Neurological Symptoms
Computer Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind the 'Sonic Attacks' in Cuban Embassy
Sonic Attack? U.S. Issues Health Alert After Employee Experiences Brain Trauma in Guangzhou, China
Two US Diplomats Evacuated From China Amid 'Sonic Attack' Concerns
Latest Explanation for Cuban Embassy Symptoms: Microwave Weapons
Related Stories
The US believes several State Department employees at the US embassy in Havana were subjected to an "acoustic attack" using sonic devices that left at least two with such serious health problems they needed to be brought back to the US for treatment, several senior State Department officials told CNN. One official said the employees could have suffered permanent hearing loss as a result.
The employees affected were not at the same place at the same time, but suffered a variety of physical symptoms since late 2016 which resembled concussions.
Conspiracy theory fodder, or actually possible?
alt links:
https://archive.fo/yZB5q
https://web.archive.org/web/20170809231552/http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/09/politics/us-cuba-acoustic-attack-embassy/index.html
The State Department has not provided further details about the medical condition of the affected staffers. But government officials have suggested anonymously that the diplomats may have been assaulted with some sort of sonic weapon.
Experts in acoustics, however, say that's a theory more appropriate to a James Bond movie.
Sound can cause discomfort and even serious harm, and researchers have explored the idea of sonic weaponry for years. But scientists doubt a hidden ultrasound weapon can explain what happened in Cuba.
"I'd say it's fairly implausible," said Jürgen Altmann, a physicist at the Technische Universität Dortmund in Germany and an expert on acoustics.
Once again, the New York Times gets it wrong. James Bond is not the movie genre they're looking for.
mrpg also brings us this less-critical AP report, What Americans Heard in Cuba Attacks: The Sound.
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
"A team of computer scientists from the University of Michigan may have solved the mystery behind strange sounds heard by American diplomats in Havana, who later suffered a variety of medical disorders.
Professor Kevin Fu and members of the Security and Privacy Research Group at the University of Michigan say they have an explanation for what could have happened in Havana: two sources of ultrasound — such as listening devices — placed too close together could generate interference and provoke the intense sounds described by the victims."
Original URL:
Computer scientists may have solved the mystery behind the ‘sonic attacks’ in Cuba
This is an update of previous stories here:
US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
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
A U.S. government health alert has sparked comparisons to symptoms experienced by State Department employees in Cuba:
US officials have issued a health alert after a US government employee stationed in southern China reported "abnormal sensations of sound and pressure" that indicated a mild brain injury.
The official, assigned to the city of Guangzhou, reported a range of physical symptoms from late 2017 through to April 2018, and was sent back to the United States for assessment, the State Department said. The US Embassy in Beijing learned on May 18 that the clinical findings of the evaluation matched that of a "mild traumatic brain injury," an embassy spokeswoman told CNN.
The alert will raise comparisons with a series of unexplained incidents in Cuba that led to the withdrawal of most US personnel from the embassy in Havana. The cause of those incidents, reported in late 2016 and early 2017, still remains a mystery.
[...] The State Department said in its Wednesday statement that anyone who experienced "unusual acute auditory or sensory phenomena" while in China should move away from the source of the noise.
Also at BBC, CNBC, South China Morning Post, and MarketWatch.
Related: US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
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
Cuban Embassy Victims Experiencing Neurological Symptoms
Computer Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind the 'Sonic Attacks' in Cuban Embassy
Two American diplomats stationed in China were reportedly evacuated from the region after being sickened by a mysterious ailment linked to odd sounds.
The two Americans evacuated worked at the American Consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou, the New York Times reported Wednesday, adding that their colleagues and relatives are also being tested by a State Department medical team.
American officials have been worried for months that American diplomats and their families in Cuba -- and now China -- have been subjected to a "sonic attack," leading to symptoms similar to those "following concussion or minor traumatic brain injury," the State Department said in a statement Tuesday.
The new cases broaden a medical mystery that began affecting American diplomats and their families in Cuba in 2016. Since then, 24 Americans stationed in Havana have experienced dizziness, headaches, fatigue, hearing loss and cognitive issues, the State Department said.
[...] The nature of the injury, and whether a common cause exists, hasn't been established yet, the department said.
Previously: Sonic Attack? U.S. Issues Health Alert After Employee Experiences Brain Trauma in Guangzhou, China
Related: US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
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
Cuban Embassy Victims Experiencing Neurological Symptoms
Computer Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind the 'Sonic Attacks' in Cuban Embassy
Spooky Theory on Ills of U.S. Diplomats in Cuba (archive)
During the Cold War, Washington feared that Moscow was seeking to turn microwave radiation into covert weapons of mind control. More recently, the American military itself sought to develop microwave arms that could invisibly beam painfully loud booms and even spoken words into people's heads. The aims were to disable attackers and wage psychological warfare.
Now, doctors and scientists say such unconventional weapons may have caused the baffling symptoms and ailments that, starting in late 2016, hit more than three dozen American diplomats and family members in Cuba and China. The Cuban incidents resulted in a diplomatic rupture between Havana and Washington.
The medical team that examined 21 affected diplomats from Cuba made no mention of microwaves in its detailed report [open, DOI: 10.1001/jama.2018.1742] [DX] published in JAMA in March. But Douglas H. Smith, the study's lead author and director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a recent interview that microwaves were now considered a main suspect and that the team was increasingly sure the diplomats had suffered brain injury. "Everybody was relatively skeptical at first," he said, "and everyone now agrees there's something there." Dr. Smith remarked that the diplomats and doctors jokingly refer to the trauma as the immaculate concussion.
Strikes with microwaves, some experts now argue, more plausibly explain reports of painful sounds, ills and traumas than do other possible culprits — sonic attacks, viral infections and contagious anxiety. In particular, a growing number of analysts cite an eerie phenomenon known as the Frey effect, named after Allan H. Frey, an American scientist. Long ago, he found that microwaves can trick the brain into perceiving what seem to be ordinary sounds.
Mentioned in the article: JASON, which is also investigating the attacks and considering the possibility of microwaves causing the symptoms.
Previously: US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
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
Cuban Embassy Victims Experiencing Neurological Symptoms
Computer Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind the 'Sonic Attacks' in Cuban Embassy
CIA director "fuming" after Havana syndrome strikes team member in India
A US intelligence officer traveling in India earlier this month with CIA director William Burns reported experiencing a mysterious health incident and symptoms consistent with so-called Havana syndrome, according to a report by CNN. The officer received immediate medical care upon returning to the US.
The case raises fears that such incidents are not only increasing, but potentially escalating, unnamed officials told CNN and The New York Times. The new incident within Burns' own team reportedly left the CIA chief "fuming" with anger.
The director's schedule is tightly guarded, and officials do not know if the affected intelligence officer was targeted because the officer was traveling with the director. If the health incident was an attack carried out by an adversarial intelligence agency—as feared—it's unclear how the adversarial agency learned of the trip and was able to prepare an attack. It's also possible, however, that the officer was targeted for other reasons and without knowledge that the officer was traveling with the director.
[...] The incident is the second high-profile case in less than a month. On August 24, another so-called "anomalous health incident" affecting US embassy staff in Hanoi, Vietnam, came to light. It is still unclear how many staff members were affected in that incident, but NBC News reported that two US personnel were medevaced out of the country.
Previously:
US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
U.S. State Department Pulls Employees From Cuba, Issues Travel Warning Due to "Sonic Attacks"
Latest Explanation for Cuban Embassy Symptoms: Microwave Weapons
"Sonic Attack" Recording Made by Diplomats is Actually a Recording of Crickets
Mysterious health "attack" cases rise to 130, US officials confirm
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:21PM (1 child)
I've been attacked by crickets in Kowloon, Djibouti, and Abu Dhabi. The creatures are found in Paris, London, and New York. They are everywhere, but you can never see them, until they attack. Then, it's too late. You're already surrounded before you see the first one. Crickets. Why do I never get silly snakes, like that non-Indian Indiana Jones? Snakes. They a bit sneaky, but not nearly so sneaky as crickets. Most people think that the cricket noise just means they are horny. Well, I'm here to tell you that the cricket noise means you are about to be raped, endlessly, for days and days. It makes the alien anal probes look like innocent pre-teen fondling. Crickets. Oh, God, why does it have to be crickets - again?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:54PM
You should keep some mantises. They're fascinating creatures, and they'll take care of your cricket problem.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:33PM (10 children)
How appropriate. Crickets is the same as the US government's response to these attacks.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:23PM (2 children)
Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, for instance, there are very few rich natural resources in Cuba. So I'm unclear why you think that congress, primarily driven in these matters as per usual by the rich looking to get richer, would have any reason at all to "respond."
--
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:39PM (1 child)
You're wrong there. It is warm, close to the US and controls one side of the straits of Florida. To be able to own that island again would be very attractive to US moneyed interests. It would be America's Shenzhen: Rather safe in terms of social unrest, lower labor and production costs and located just outside, and a cat's jump away, from US laws and regulations.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:58PM
You're entitled to your opinion, but as there's no evidence supporting your opinion, and quite a bit supporting mine, I'm just going to go with "lol" here. 😊
--
Reality is that thing which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:32PM (5 children)
Probably because there is an adult somewhere in the US government that has decided that as Cuba has no possible reason to attack US diplomatic staff, in Cuba with some sort of "acoustic weapon" like a fictional super-villain, there is another, more sensible explanation.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:46PM (1 child)
After listening to the sound, I realized I've heard an industrial sound which sounds exactly like it: An old bench-top ultrasonic cleaning machine probably suffering noise leakage due to its age. I don't know the specific frequency used by the model but ultrasound is in the 20-400 KHz range.
Crickets my fucking ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:08PM
and we do know that people south of the north american border loves to clean.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:50PM
Oh yeah? I'm all ears. Just let me turn down the Cricket Variations of the 1812 Overture.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @05:25PM (1 child)
Probably because there is an adult somewhere in the US government that has decided that as Cuba has no possible reason to attack US diplomatic staff
It doesn't have to be Cuba, just because the attack took place there. I believe since then there have been other issues, for Americans in China as well as Cuba (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/02/health/cuba-china-state-department-microwaves-sonic-attacks/index.html), Canadians (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cuba-sonic-sound-attacks-canadian-diplomats-1.4289996) and possibly others. This could be Russia/China/Some-other-Country/Some-NGO-Terrorist-Group/Kim Jong Un/whoever, and may not even be sonic (the article in the 2nd link indicates a microwave weapon is the suspected weapon of choice, with no idea who might be wielding it). Based on their other behaviors (posioning dissidents, murdering journalists, shooting down commercial passenger aircraft, annexing swaths of other countries, etc.) my money is on Russia, but really, it could be any group with the knowhow to build such a weapon, so I wouldn't rule out Kim Jong Un or someone else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @05:31PM
correction: the 1st link above points to an article discussing such attacks in China as well as Cuba, and suggests a microwave weapon as the prime suspect.
(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Monday January 07 2019, @01:50AM
Actually it's a portent of the imminent arrival of Krikkit One in search of the Wikkit Gate.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:43PM (2 children)
Find an annoying insect and play it's call at really high volume.
Plausible deniability preserved.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Sunday January 06 2019, @07:19PM
I had that idea for submarines. Use nature's sounds for echolocation. But they're probably already doing that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @10:51PM
"No Collusion! No Collusion!" Wrong insect?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @07:19PM (3 children)
https://www.nature.com/news/2007/070716/full/070716-15.html [nature.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @09:04PM (2 children)
What do you expect from epsilons?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday January 06 2019, @10:17PM (1 child)
I expect them to be greater than zero. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @07:22PM
but only just
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:07PM (1 child)
I have one question. Was it a common field cricket or a snowy tree cricket and what is its name?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @03:01AM
Jimminy.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:33PM
The commies have Crickets of Mass Destruction!
Invade!
We'll call it the Bay of Pigs invasion and...... what?
...
Oh.
Really?
...
Huh.
......................................
Nevermind.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday January 07 2019, @06:00AM
How's this for a CT?
Let's say Russia because of their long history with Cuba, and their everyone's favorite bad guy on both sides. Remember Regan was a hardliner against Russia.
So here goes. This also gives plausible deniability to the Cubans.
Cuba lacks the tech and will to actually harm U.S. diplomats, so Russia deploys a new Sonic Weapon without their knowledge (but likely with their implied permission), the sound can't be recorded on standard recording devices, say cellphones and commercial grade mics as it is beyond their range. The diplomats hear a sound and record it because it seems to occur when they get the symptoms described.
The recording turns out to be Crickets because the side effect of the Super Secret Commie Sound Weapon is that it either irritates or arouses the Crickets.
Hey, I'm not good at CT, and this is my first attempt. So go easy, mkay?
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @08:10AM
*crickets*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @05:10PM
Just like the American diplomats in Canada that thought they were being bugged by sophisticated electronics in Canadian coins. OMG! Except they weren't. The coins were just commemorative coins with some colour on them.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday January 07 2019, @11:58PM
... the crickets, I mean. They're just chattering about the fine sonic weapon they developed. Who better an expert?
This sig for rent.