On 23 May 2018, the US State Department issued a health alert for its citizens in China in response to what it said was a recent report of a US government employee in Guangzhou experiencing “subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure.”
According to the American Embassy in Beijing, the employee was flown back to the United States for treatment and evaluation after suffering from head trauma in what was described as a “mild brain injury.” Commenting on the episode, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as a “serious medical incident.”
The same alert from State reported that the government does not yet know the cause of the related symptoms. Although no similar reports have been received in other diplomatic installations in China, the report is being taken “very seriously.”
Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that the State Department “is working to determine the cause and impact of the incident,” and that the government “will be sending a medical team to Guangzhou early next week to conduct baseline medical evaluations of all Consulate Guangzhou employees who request it.” In the meantime, State advised all employees of diplomatic offices who experience “unusual acute auditory or sensory phenomena accompanied by unusual sounds or piercing noises” to not seek out the source, but instead to move to a location where they are not present.
China responded swiftly to the news. “We don’t want to see that this individual case would be magnified, complicated or even politicized,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters. “China has been investigating this matter in a very responsible manner, we haven’t found that any organization or individual has carried out such a sonic influence.” Wang finished by recominding the US carry out an “internal” probe into the case. “We would suggest the US side also carry out some internal investigations.” The rush to contain the incident and play down its significance isn’t surprising, considering the tensions rising between the United States and PRC during the past several months over everything from trade issues to relations with Taiwan. Recently, relations between the countries flared up again when the United States disinvited China from upcoming joint military exercises over China’s “continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea.”
The US was quick to point out the glaring similarity of the recent incident in China to similar events that transpired in Cuba beginning as early as 2016. Secretary Pompeo told the press that medical indications are “very similar” and “entirely consistent” with those experienced by American diplomats posted in Havana. At a surface level, the comparison seems pretty strong.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: American in China injured in “sonic attack” similar to Cuba. (Credit: Facebook/Malaysian Digest)
At a congressional hearing on the Cuban incidents in January of this year, US officials detailed how personnel experienced a variety of symptoms including sharp ear pain, headaches, ringing in one ear, vertigo, disorientation, attention issues, and signs consistent with mild traumatic brain injury or concussion. Almost all of the cases seemed to be triggered by some sort of “acoustic element.” Victims reported “high-pitched beams of sound” or a “baffling sensation akin to driving with the windows partially open in a car.” Although there has been only one reported victim so far in China, the initial assessment of the patient seems to be telling a similar story: Disorientation and brain trauma, preceded by a strange acoustic experience.
Drawing Up the Scenarios
Since it looks like strange sonic phenomenon are going to be a regular feature of working in US diplomacy, it’s worth looking into what exactly can be the causes behind these incidents. The Cuban affair ended in a dead end for US investigators, and remains a mystery. With the emergence of an incident with the same markers in another country, more clues could be unearthed to explain these bizarre patterns.
Anything but an Attack
One thing the recent news from China can almost certainly rule out is the psychological explanation. Some of the theories that came out following the Cuban cases were even more strange than the incidents themselves. A team of neurologists consulted by British media group The Guardian suggested that the health incidents were probably psychosomatic complaints, of the kind commonly known as “mass psychogenic illness.” One researcher by the name of Robert Bartholomew, author of the study Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior and an expert in the field of mass hysteria and mass psychogenic illness, stated that the Cuban incidents were an example of mass hysteria. In an American news report from October 2017, Bartholomew was quoted as saying: “I am convinced that we are dealing with an episode of mass psychogenic illness and mass suggestion. If these same symptoms were reported among a group of factory workers in New York or London, I think you would get a very different diagnosis, and there would be no consideration to a sonic weapon hypothesis.”
The reporting of another State employee suffering from the same symptoms, but thousands of miles away in Guangzhou, can put this theory to rest. How likely is it exactly that psychosomatic phenomenon are “targeting” US diplomatic workers? In the same vein, mass hysteria, typically a pretty random phenomenon, is hardly an explanation when considering this is the second time the State Department has experienced such a case almost a year after Cuba.
Americans pulled out from Cuba following alleged sonic attacks. (Credit: Facebook/Sergio Lacueva)
Sonic Weapons
When the reports from Cuba first came out in August of last year, many were quick to brand the incidents “attacks” without realizing the extremely low likelihood of this option.
To appreciate this fact, it’s worth understanding what exactly is meant by “sonic weapons,” what using them would entail, and what the results would be.
Sonic weapons all work by transmitting specific frequencies of sound in an order that can cause damage to human organs. This is not only limited to extremely loud, high-powered sounds that can destroy eardrums. There are several ways in which humans can be affected by abnormal sound emissions. Ultra-high frequency blasts for instance (around 19–20 kHz) can cause extreme discomfort. High-amplitude sound, or sound with extremely quick changes in frequency, if emitted at a specific pattern and at a frequency close to the sensitivity peak of human hearing (2–3 kHz), can also cause intense pain to humans exposed.
Some of the effects of noise weapons can be extremely serious. Studies conducted by the American Defense Department have found that exposure to high intensity ultrasound at frequencies from 700 kHz to 3.6 MHz can cause lung and intestinal damage in mice. Similar studies found that changes to heart rate patterns following certain forms of acoustic stimulation resulted in serious negative consequences. The more benign forms of these technologies have famously been deployed as a non-lethal means of deterring crowds and warding off enemies. Cruise lines have turned to sonic cannons to deter pirates while sailing near the Horn of Africa. Police forces around the world use these “noise cannons” on rioting protesters. A not so long ago example of this that drew national attention was the deployment of these devices at Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016.
(Credit: Facebook/Lesley Burton)
Some known instances of these long-range acoustic devices (LRADs) being used have produced symptoms reminiscent of what US government employees have reported in Cuba, and now China. Back in 2005, Israel deployed a crowd disbursement weapon, dubbed the “Scream,” against activists protesting the Gaza Disengagement and the West Bank Security Wall. Protesters covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds. Media personnel at the scene reported that even after he covered his ears, he continued to hear the sound ringing in his head.
So, yes, sonic weapons can certainly do some damage. There is precedence for such devices triggering the very symptoms reported by diplomatic workers. But these facts have to be put into perspective. A sonic attack would require the perpetrator deploy an LRAD or an equivalent device. Furthermore, and this is a very important point to consider, sonic weapons cannot be targeted with high precision. In Cuba, only individual workers were “hit” and the strange noises occurred only in specific rooms of installations.
October 2017: A “sonic attack” on US Diplomats in Cuba. (Credit: Facebook/News Related)
Although the exact circumstances of the Guangzhou incident aren’t yet known, since only one victim has been reported, it is safe to assume that the abnormal noises were also isolated to one specific area. These facts in and of themselves pretty much preclude the sonic weapon explanation.
The much more likely explanation—which will hopefully be given much more focus this time around by investigators—involves some type of equipment malfunction that consequently emitted these damaging sounds. Following Cuba, this possibility was looked into deeply by researchers at the University of Michigan. The team showed how certain audio devices, if placed too closely together, could result in interference that could trigger audible, irritating noise. If any “attack” did take place, it was likely an intelligence operation, namely the placing of surveillance devices in the building by Cuban agents that then experienced this unique interference glitch. The news from Guangzhou now makes it all the more likely that it may in fact be American equipment that caused the issue in the first place.
The most important thing at this point is for no one to jump to conclusions. When analyzing a phenomenon as strange as this, a little bit of prudence will go a long way.
