Mysterious Sounds and Scary Illnesses as Political Tools

By LISA DIEDRICH and BENJAMIN TAUSIG

OpEd New York Times, October 10, 2017

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/cuba-embassy-trump-illness.html?referer=http://m.facebook.com/

President Trump has long signaled his desire to reverse President Barack Obama's normalization of relations with Cuba, so it's no surprise that his administration has begun to do just that by withdrawing most employees from the United States Embassy in Havana.

But a part of the justification for the move — the reports that embassy employees were victimized by a "sonic attack" that caused a range of physical symptoms — fits a troubling pattern. It's just the latest example of the way Mr. Trump has attempted to harness vague, unspecified threats to inspire fear and advance his political agenda.

The Associated Press first reported on Aug. 10that State Department employees had been targeted by these attacks. According to the spokeswoman Heather Nauert, they caused "a variety of physical symptoms." It was also reported at this time that the State Department had already retaliated for these attacks by expelling two Cuban diplomats from the United States on May 23.

Since then, much of the news coverage of the incident has turned to a discussion of technical questions about sonic weaponry. A few articles quote experts who are skeptical, to put it mildly, but a majority of the coverage has accepted and even reiterated the State Department's explanation wholesale.

The truth is, the sort of sonic weaponry that might cause the concussions and persistent memory loss that the State Department claimed to have found in its diplomats doesn't exist, as far as experts in this field know. "Nothing about this story makes any sense to us," said a marketing director of a firm that manufactures acoustic devices, quoted in Wired. To imagine that such weapons have not only been covertly developed but also were then somehow hidden near the embassy is even more fanciful, for a variety of logistical and technical reasons. The fact-checking site Snopes.com provided a review of scientific data on sound and sonic weapons,concluding that it was false to claim that such weapons could be responsible for what happened to the United States diplomats in Cuba. Yet, this has not stopped the reverberation of sonic-weapon rumors. The press has continued to amplify the story, and the Trump administration has carried on with its narrative, even issuing aCuba Travel Warning based on the "specific attacks" that it says targeted embassy employees.

The State Department's explanation — that sound was used to make people sick — is perfectly tailored to frighten us. It plays on the well-established way humans tend to associate sound and illness with hidden, unknowable threats. Mr. Trump as both candidate and president has routinely exploited fears of vaguely defined hidden menaces as a justification for policy and politics.

None of this is to say that no attacks occurred — there may have been chemical exposure, for example. However, not only is the cause unknown (if there is one), but also no evidence of a deliberate attack has been offered.

Sound, despite being a physical material, is often described as intangible, simply because we do not see it. We distrust sound for its invisibility (consider the misery of hearing noisy neighbors but being unsure of what they're actually doing; consider the meaning of the term "hearsay"), just as we may be drawn to it for its mystery. Even though sound is measurable, we tend to experience it as spectral, as something beyond our rational understanding. It is thus the perfect stand-in for a Cold War-style cunning enemy, who is surely out there, doing something, even though we can never seem to pin him down.

Mr. Trump exploits people's preconceptions about sound in a manner similar to his exploitation of illness, to signify a hidden, never-quite-graspable threat to the nation. Like the unspecified (and perhaps unverifiable) sonic cause of these health attacks, the reported illnesses are vague and unspecific. Mr. Trump has often turned to illness politics — portraying his opponents as weak, sick and neurotic.

He didn't invent this political tactic. But he has enthusiastically embraced the approach. Mr. Trump and his campaign encouraged speculation that Hillary Clinton was hiding a secret, degenerative illness (Parkinson's, traumatic brain injury and epilepsy all circulated as possibilities), which if revealed would make most Americans realize she was not qualified to be president. Of course, these insinuations were most powerful precisely when nothing had been revealed and when speculation could thus fill in the blanks. Media coverage of these charges tended to focus on historical examples of sick presidents or presidential candidates, rather than on how Mr. Trump was deliberately playing upon fears of sickness — that is, engaging in illness politics. In this case, Mr. Trump didn't invent the story of the attack (it's relatively clear that somethinghappened at the embassy) but he has latched onto its vague description to raise alarm in a way that's broad and unsettling enough to provide support for any actions he wants to take in response.

This pattern of suggesting that the United States is under threat from vague and indeterminate dangers — secret illnesses, mysterious sounds — creates a political atmosphere almost miasmic in its effects. There are many facts we do not yet know about the Cuba incident. However, the pattern so far fits Mr. Trump all too well: Raise the volume on a fanciful scary story and tie it to an already desired policy shift in a way that appears to justify that shift. We shouldn't fall for it.

...........................

Lisa Diedrich is a professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies at Stony Brook University and the author of "Indirect Action: Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, AIDS, and the Course of Health Activism." Benjamin Tausig is an assistant professor of ethnomusicology at Stony Brook and the author of the forthcoming book "Bangkok Is Ringing: Sound, Protest, and Constraint."

New York Times: científicos dudan de ataques sonicos a diplomáticos en Cuba

¿'Ataque sónico' a diplomáticos en Cuba? Estos científicos lo dudan

Por CARL ZIMMER 9 de octubre de 2017

Tomado de: https://www.nytimes.com/es/2017/10/09/ataque-sonico-a-diplomaticos-en-cuba-estos-cientificos-lo-dudan/?em_pos=small&emc=edit_bn_20171010&nl=boletin&nl_art=2&nlid=938499&ref=headline&te=1

In English: https://www.nytimes.com/es/2017/10/09/ataque-sonico-a-diplomaticos-en-cuba-estos-cientificos-lo-dudan/?em_pos=small&emc=edit_bn_20171010&nl=boletin&nl_art=2&nlid=938499&ref=headline&te=1

El Departamento de Estado retiró a su personal no fundamental después de que diplomáticos presentaran síntomas médicos misteriosos.

Un enigma científico yace en el corazón de una extraña confrontación entre Estados Unidos y Cuba.

Según el Departamento de Estado, casi dos docenas de diplomáticos en la embajada estadounidense en La Habana han padecido una serie de síntomas médicos misteriosos, que incluyen pérdida de la audición y dificultades cognitivas.

Después de llegar a la conclusión de que su personal estaba bajo un ataque invisible, el departamento retiró al personal no fundamental de La Habana y lanzó un comunicado para exhortar a los estadounidenses a no visitar la isla. El martes, el gobierno de Trump expulsó a quince diplomáticos cubanos de Estados Unidos.

El Departamento de Estado no ha ofrecido más detalles acerca de las condiciones médicas de los empleados afectados; sin embargo, funcionarios del gobierno han declarado de manera anónima que los diplomáticos podrían haber sido atacados con algún tipo de arma sónica. No obstante, los expertos en acústica dicen que esa es una teoría que parece sacada de una película de James Bond.

El sonido puede causar molestia e incluso daño severo y los investigadores han explorado la idea de armamento sónico durante años. Sin embargo, los científicos dudan que un arma de ultrasonido oculta pueda explicar lo que sucedió en Cuba.

"Yo diría que es bastante improbable", dijo Jurgen Altmann, físico de la Universidad Tecnológica de Dortmund en Alemania y experto en acústica.

Durante décadas, los investigadores militares han tratado de transformar el sonido en un arma no letal que pueda detener a los soldados enemigos en batalla.

"¿Para que contraatacar con batutas y pistolas si podrías usar algo más simple, como un generador de sonido?", dijo el Dr. Geoffrey S. F. Ling, neurólogo en la Universidad Johns Hopkins y antiguo director de la Oficina de Tecnología Biológica de la Agencia de Proyectos de Investigación Avanzados para la Defensa.

El Pentágono patrocinó el desarrollo de bocinas de alta frecuencia para mandar ráfagas de sonido de largo alcance. La Marina los utilizó para mantener a raya a los piratas, mientras el ejército los envía a los puntos de revisión. En años recientes, la policía ha utilizado los llamados aparatos acústicos de largo alcance para dispersar a las multitudes, como a los manifestantes en Ferguson, Misuri.

Sin embargo, estas armas funcionan porque son insoportablemente ruidosas y si una hubiera sido utilizada para atacar diplomáticos en Cuba, no habría lugar a dudas. Así que la especulación se ha virado hacia otra posibilidad: un aparato que produce un sonido fuera del rango del oído humano.

Una posibilidad es el infrasonido, un sonido de baja frecuencia que no puede ser escuchado por humanos. Un informe del Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Ambientales de la Salud en 2002 señaló que los militares han tratado de crear un arma de infrasonido, pero no habían tenido éxito porque es difícil centrar la longitud de onda. El principal efecto del infrasonido en humanos "parece ser molestia", concluyó el informe.

El ultrasonido es una opción más probable. Si el ultrasonido alcanza frecuencias mayores a 20.000 hercios —más allá del oído humano—, puede dañar tejido si se produce con suficiente poder.

Los doctores dirigen ondas de ultrasonido para deshacer cálculos renales. Hace décadas, los investigadores crearon en el laboratorio un rayo de ultrasonido intensamente poderoso que puede matar a un ratón a poca distancia.

Los rayos de ultrasonido menos poderosos no causan daño y tienen una gran variedad de usos médicos, como los muy comunes escaneos médicos. Sin embargo, hay evidencia anecdótica de que a ciertos niveles, pueden hacer que la gente se sienta muy incómoda.

Steven L. Garrett, quien enseñaba acústica en la Universidad Penn State antes de retirarse el año pasado, solía hacer demostraciones de rayos ultrasónicos a sus alumnos. Varias veces sintió náuseas y tuvo dolores de cabeza, al punto que decidió utilizar equipo de protección.

"No los usábamos a menos que nos pusiéramos tapones de oído y orejeras", dijo.

Desafortunadamente, anécdotas como esta conforman casi todo lo que los científicos saben sobre los efectos del ultrasonido en la salud. "Los datos son muy pocos", dijo Timothy Leighton, profesor de Acústica Ultrasónica y Submarina en la Universidad Southampton.

Es difícil conseguir que la gente que dice presentar síntomas quiera ser voluntaria para los estudios, agrega. Y aunque también los militares trataron de desarrollar armas con base en sonidos fuera del espectro del oído humano, abandonaron la mayoría de los proyectos en la década de los noventa.

Incluso si alguien más ha tenido éxito al desarrollar un arma ultrasónica, dicen los investigadores, las leyes de la física hacen improbable que el aparato pueda dañar a diplomáticos a la distancia.

"El ultrasonido no puede viajar grandes distancias", dijo Jun Qin, ingeniero acústico de la Universidad de Illinois. A mayor distancia, más débil es el sonido. Además, señaló el Dr. Garrett, la humedad de un lugar como La Habana lo debilitaría aún más.

Por otro lado, la mayor parte de un rayo de ultrasonido rebotaría en el exterior de un edificio. El poco sonido que atraviese tendría una frecuencia más baja y menos dañina.

Una manera de superar estos obstáculos sería utilizar un arma más grande; pero un vehículo enorme con un cañón de sonido gigante encima al frente de las casas diplomáticas probablemente no pasaría desapercibido.

"Si te refieres a un rifle de rayos que golpea a alguien con ultrasonido que no se puede escuchar a cientos de metros… eso no es posible", dijo el Dr. Leighton.

Por otro lado, un aparato que emita ultrasonido instalado dentro de un edificio, podría estar suficientemente cerca y ser bastante poderoso para ocasionar daños a los moradores. Aunque, incluso una pared interna bloquearía sus ondas.

Un emisor más pequeño colocado más cerca, quizá en la almohada de alguien, podría hacer el trabajo, dijo el Dr. Qin. Sin embargo, es difícil imaginar que algo así pudiera pasar inadvertido. En teoría, un edificio podría estar lleno de pequeños emisores; no obstante, los expertos dicen que es poco probable.

A pesar de que el ultrasonido puede causar muchos de los síntomas que se reportaron, no hay evidencia de que pueda causar daño cerebral leve.

"No conozco ningún efecto acústico que pueda causar síntomas de contusión", dijo el Dr. Altmann. "El sonido que viaja por el aire no puede sacudir tu cabeza".

Por todas estas razones, dicen los expertos, las armas ultrasónicas no deberían encabezar la lista de las explicaciones posibles por la pérdida de la audición y los dolores de cabeza o cualquier otro síntoma que se haya observado en los diplomáticos.

"Creo que estas personas recibieron algo que los dañó", dijo el Dr. Qin. "Pero pudo haber sido algo del medioambiente". Las posibilidades incluyen toxinas o infecciones por virus o bacterias que pueden dañar el oído.

El Dr. Leighton dijo que la ansiedad contagiosa u otro elemento psicógeno no podía descartarse. "Si provocas ansiedad en la gente porque está siendo atacada con un arma ultrasónica, esos son los síntomas que obtienes", dijo.

Revisar todas esas posibilidades sería difícil en este momento.

Si una misteriosa arma ultrasónica de tecnología de punta hubiera sido utilizada, tendría que haber sido fácil obtener evidencia durante el ataque, dijo el Dr. Garrett. Los micrófonos de teléfono celular muchas veces son sensibles al sonido ultrasónico, señaló, y las aplicaciones disponibles para iPhone podrían haberlo develado.

A los investigadores ahora solo les queda examinar a los diplomáticos con daños físicos reveladores, como tímpanos dañados.

"Creo que perdieron su oportunidad" de encontrar la causa, dijo. "Habría sido muy fácil".

A scientific view on the inexplicable sonic weapon

A mysterious international dispute that threatens the recently thawed diplomatic relationship between the United States and Cuba came to light in a 10 August 2017 story first reported by the Associated Press. The report focused on a series of seemingly related illnesses suffered by American and Canadian diplomats serving in Cuba. The original reporting included what later appeared to be speculation from unnamed United States government officials that some form of heretofore unknown sonic weapon was to blame:

In the fall of 2016, a series of U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation into the case. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of President Barack Obama's reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Some of the U.S. diplomats' symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been attacked with an advanced sonic weapon that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences.

The U.S. State Department later walked back claims that they specifically had concluded a sonic weapon was at play, saying through a spokesperson that "we do not know who or what is causing these incidents". Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has described the incidents as "health attacks", and Cuba denies any involvement. As reported by the Associated Press on 18 September 2017, the range of symptoms is nonspecific and vague:

Of the 21 medically confirmed U.S. victims, some have permanent hearing loss or concussions, while others suffered nausea, headaches and ear-ringing. Some are struggling with concentration or common word recall, the AP has reported. Some victims felt vibrations or heard loud sounds mysteriously audible in only parts of rooms, leading investigators to consider a potential "sonic attack." Others heard nothing but later developed symptoms.

In sum, the symptoms (none of which are universal to all cases) that have been used in the defense of the claim that a "sonic weapon" was used are as follows:

Hearing loss, Nausea, Vertigo, Headaches, Ear-ringingConcentration and memory problems, Brain swelling or "damage to the central nervous system""A more serious illness that involved a blood disorder"

Further clues into the nature of the attack, including the occurrence of an audible noise in some cases, were provided first by a 20 August 2017 CNN report, reporting that some diplomats heard "a deafeningly loud [but unidentified] sound similar to the buzzing created by insects or metal scraping across a floor". CBS News reported:

Some felt vibrations, and heard sounds — loud ringing or a high-pitch chirping similar to crickets or cicadas. Others heard the grinding noise.

The reports of screeching noises in some and no noise in most initially led both government and media speculation that a "silent" audible device was most likely used (there are ranges of noise close to audible sound that can be heard by some but not others). The two options, then, would be an infrasonic device (below the audible frequency humans hear) or ultrasonic (above that range).

The debate about which brand of inaudible noise would be used generally boils down to this: infrasonic waves capable of affecting humans covertly would need to be extremely close to the victim or unrealistically large, and they would not be able to produce a targeted attack, instead affecting a larger and thus more indiscriminate area. Ultrasonic waves could be targeted, focused, and beamed from further away, but are unlikely to cause a bulk of the symptoms ascribed to them and unless the device was physically touching the victim.

Before diving into this research, two variables related to sound are necessary to understand what follows. These include the frequency of the noise — defined by the number of waves per unit of time — and also its power, determined by the amount of energy each wave carries. The former is reported in Hz or kHz, with infrasound including noise below 20 Hz, and ultrasound encompassing noise above 20 kHz (20,000 Hz). (The latter is reported in decibels or dB.)

Below, we detail the main research regarding the primary symptoms discussed in the reporting of the Cuban "health attacks", finding a.) that the evidence is fairly weak for both ultrasound and infrasound as the cause for a majority of the symptoms listed and b.) that none of the symptoms can be described entirely by either only infrasound or only ultrasound.

Hearing Loss

Poorly explained by infrasound
Not explained by ultrasound

The source most commonly cited in news reports suggesting that infrasound can cause hearing loss is a 2001 review conducted by the NIH, which stated (with heavy qualification) that research, while sparse, shows "physical damage to the ear or some loss of hearing has been found in humans and/or animals at levels above 140 dB". The 140 dB measurement is no minor omission of detail, as 140 dB infrasonic waves projected covertly at any distance are essentially impossible. The actual studies reviewed in this NIH document generally suggest the opposite: low-frequency, high-power noise will not cause hearing loss, temporary or otherwise, if below the considerably high energy of 150 dB.

Ultrasonic sound is widely considered to be irrelevant to hearing loss. Another 2001 review by Jürgen Altmann, an acoustic weapons expert and physicist at Germany's Technische Universitaet Dortmund and who investigated the bulk of the literature up to that time, concluded that at ultrasound "the ear is essentially untouched" if levels are below 140 dB.

Fatigue, Headaches, Ringing Ears, Vertigo, and Nausea

Not explained by infrasound
Inconclusive evidence regarding ultrasound

Based on the reviews performed by both the NIH and by Altmann, there is no scientific consensus on fatigue, headaches, ringing ears, or vertigo as they apply to infrasonic noise. The only symptom in this category discussed as a possible result of infrasonic noise is nausea. Per the NIH:

There is no agreement about the biological activity of infrasound. Reported effects include […] nausea, vomiting, and bowel spasm. 

Altmann (and many others) argued that the gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, and bowel spasms in particular, while frequently reported in the press, have been overblown and cannot conclusively be tied to infrasonic sound:

The vertigo and nausea effects in the journalistic articles ascribed to intense infrasound cannot be confirmed. On the other hand, low [but still audible] frequencies of 50-100 Hz at 150 to 155 dB caused mild nausea.

Many of the above symptoms (headaches, ringing ears, nausea, and fatigue), however, were once referred to in the literature as "ultrasonic sickness". This suite of symptoms and their ties to ultrasonic noise was based on numerous reports from workers in proximity to a variety of ultrasonic devices or tools. Altmann has argued that this literature is hard to interpret as these environments contain significant audible sound, as well. A 2013 review of the effects of ultrasound on humans makes a similar argument:

Many studies confirmed the appearance of subjective symptoms of exposure to noise emitted by ultrasonic devices like dizziness, balance disturbances, tinnitus and fatigue. It is assumed that those symptoms result from the effect of noise on the vestibular system; however, further studies are necessary. […]

According to the results of studies in the 1960s and 1970s, "audible" components of the noise spectrum are, above all, responsible for subjective symptoms among workers exposed to noise emitted by ultrasonic devices.

Concentration and memory problems

Poorly explained by infrasound
Poorly explained by ultrasound

There are few human studies addressing the neurological effects of infrasonic sound on cognition. Within those, a few single studies demonstrate a connection between infrasound and cognition on humans and animals. Overall, however, most research demonstrates no connection at all, and none have suggested permanent or persistent issues after exposure, as stated in the National Institutes of Health's 2001 review:

In several experiments to assess cognitive performance during exposure to infrasound […] no reduction in performance was observed in the subjects. Sole exposure to infrasound at 10 to 15 Hz and 130 to 135 dB for 30 minutes also did not produce changes in autonomic nervous functions.

In terms of ultrasound, the 2013 review noted that many concentration issues could be associated with the symptoms of "ultrasonic sickness" without being directly caused by the noise itself:

It is worth mentioning that some subjective effects of exposure to ultrasonic noise such as fatigue, headache, discomfort or irritation may disturb human cognitive functions.

This body of research refers to the transient appearance of these symptoms when in direct contact with that sound, and makes no suggestion of prolonged memory problems like word recall. Outside of occupational studies that lack relevance to sonic weapon development and by their nature include audible sound as well, there is little evidence in humans to suggest that ultrasound can be the cause for permanent neurological damage.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Poorly explained by infrasound
Not explained by ultrasound

Altmann, author of the 2001 review of acoustic weapons, told the Associated Press:

I know of no acoustic effect or device that could produce traumatic brain injury or concussion-like symptoms.

The only real mechanism for a damage to the internal organ system such as the brain would be through some sort of powerful internal vibration caused by the strong vibration of the sound waves themselves. Scientists agree that this would best be achieved by infrasound, but the evidence that such frequencies could actually make this happen is quite limited and derived almost entirely from studies on animals or anecdotal reports.

A 2009 review published in the journal Military Medicine notes that "remarkable properties have been attributed to infrasound, including the capacity to 'debilitate people for hours and even days,' with 'pulsing in their internal organs and blurred vision, both of which can lead to …, in rare cases, death,'" but this review also highlights the reality that there are nearly no studies to back up such claims. In fact, studies performed as far back as 1978 and as recently as 2009 conclude that an infrasonic weapon used to harm major organ systems would be implausible — if not completely impossible.

In terms of ultrasound, it is essentially impossible for this kind of energy to penetrate into the human body without direct contact, as the waves dissipate rapidly through the air (and, it should be noted, pretty rapidly within the body as well). Responding to questions that ultrasonic waves could cause brain damage,  Robin Cleveland, a professor of engineering science at the University of Oxford, told the Guardian he doesn't buy it: "The sound would have to enter the brain tissue itself […]. If there's even a tiny bit of air between the sound and your body it doesn't get through."

Blood Disorders

Not enough information

Without knowing more than that a victim experienced "a more serious illness that involved a blood disorder" it is hard to confidently assess plausibility of this this kind of disease except to say that the reasons ultrasonic noise do not explain brain damage would likely hold for any illness that requires sound to penetrate into the body. According to the NIH, the most consistently reported effect of infrasonic noise (though the mechanisms remains unclear) seem to be changes in blood pressure and respiratory rate, which could perhaps be linked to other diseases indirectly. There is no existing evidence that links noise of any kind to the development of a blood disorder.

In the End, Neither Infrasound or Ultrasound Work as an Explanation

Taking even the most tenuous scientific research at face value, an ultrasonic device could be responsible for the transient occurrence of fatigue, headaches, ringing ears, vertigo, and nausea and (even more dubious) concentration and memory issues. Taking a similarly loose approach for infrasound, this kind of noise could cause hearing loss, nausea, and (most dubiously) some form of organ discomfort or damage. Neither can explain all of the symptoms.

Further, there is no real way to create a covert version of either device. F. Joseph Pompei, a former MIT researcher and current chief executive officer of a company that develops devices that focus sound into narrow, targeted beams, told us that a focused or controllable beam of 20Hz (infrasonic) sound would require an array of subwoofers "the size of a stadium". 

Conversely, he told us, for an ultrasonic device to penetrate into the body at all, the victim would either have to be submerged in water (which can carry those waves with less energy loss) or have the device in physical contact. This, as well, seems unlikely to be a covert choice for an attack.

"It sounds very appealing and interesting, but I find it hard to believe that there actually is such a device,"  John Oghalai, Chair of the Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Southern California, told The Verge.

Collectively, the scientific research — which in many cases notes that anecdotal and inaccurate reports in newspapers have long obfuscated the actual science behind the plausibility of such a device — demonstrates that no single brand of sound could create the range of symptoms described by the victims of the Cuban health attacks, and even if they could, a covert device would be hard if not impossible to design. As such we rank the specific claim that an inaudible sonic device adequately explains the health attacks Cuba as false.

 

Filed Under: Concussion Cuba Health Attacks +2 More

Fact Checker: Alex Kasprak

Featured Image: cigdem / Shutterstock.com

Published:Sep 25th, 2017

Sources:

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