Voices in Your Head: Why Not Everything We Hear Is Really There
The human ear is remarkable, but there are sounds beyond our comprehension—and sounds that exist only in our minds
In August 2017, the U.S. government expelled 15 Cuban diplomats in retaliation for what it described as harassment of its staff at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. The curious part was the nature of this harassment: a sonic weapon.
For a year or so, U.S. staff had been reporting a variety of debilitating symptoms. These ranged from nausea and dizziness to deafness. Nearly two dozen U.S. staff and several Canadians were affected. U.S. officials claimed to not know the means, the methods, or how the attacks were being carried out. Cuba denied knowledge of any attack, but in retaliation, the United States expelled the Cuban diplomats and withdrew two-thirds of its own staff from the embassy in Havana.
Here is a short clip of the sound embassy workers reported hearing, as well as a description of the symptoms they experienced:
