I hate audio animal repellers (files.catbox.moe)

submitted 2 days ago by user224@lemmy.sdf.org to c/rant@lemmy.sdf.org

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Usually they're tolerable, just annoying.

The screenshot is from one I found installed outside Lidl (supermarket) now, above the entrance. Probably loud enough to "cover" the entire parking lot. Loud enough to get painful after a few seconds. Sweeping between 15.5kHz to 18.7kHz. For comparison, a CRT TV is around 15.7kHz.

I wonder if not caring about loudness of these higher frequencies contributes to hearing damage among people.

Lower frequency, but also awfully loud buzzers can be found in trains near doors, working as a warning when the doors are closing. Thankfully, this probably annoyed some of the staff enough for them to start taping these over.
But those are loud enough to sound distorted.

Anyway, I just hid behind a corner where I couldn't hear it that much while waiting for the manager to call us in.

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[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 17 points 2 days ago

noise pollution is pollution all the same

[-] ThePancakeExperiment@feddit.org 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

They did install something like this one time at one of my local supermarkets to deter loitering teenagers, I have sensitive ears and am not even close being a teenager anymore but could hear this shit and it was loud as fuck. Went shopping elsewhere...

And then there are some cars which give off really annoying high pitched sounds to fend of rodents or something, at least that is what I guess. Really awesome when you have to work near a patking lot...

None of my coworkers can hear any of it, but they never wear hearing protection and some of them are nearly deaf.

[-] raltoid@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Those anti-teenager ones are only put up by sociopaths, or people who should not be allowed to make executive decisions regarding own life.

Because kids younger than teens also hear them, and they can often damage the hearing of babies and toddlers.

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Possibly adults too. I tried to find limits, but there's many different standards. Most seem around 70 - 75 db for up to 20kHz, then wary between 85 - 110db above that, which is... quite the range.

But also, these are probably rather meant for work environments, so possibly 8h/day with ear protection. Only ICNIRP mentions limits for public, being 70db up to 20kHz and 100db up to 100kHz.

The lowest I found is quoted from USAF in this review of standards of 85db up to 40kHz.

The US Air Force retains an exposure limit of 85 dB for all frequencies from 12.5 to 40 kHz. This recommendation is based on the founding work of Acton and Skillern

Now, for example this piece of shit boasts 130db in 20 - 27 kHz range: https://www.leaven.com/en/product-213036/ULTRASONIC-PESTREPELLER-LS-968.html

[-] Adudethatis@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 days ago

Some are designed to scare teenagers away. (Or annoy them to the point of leaving) I wonder If these devices sweep a range in order to maximize efficacy

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 5 points 2 days ago

Teenagers fear the 15kHz wave

[-] workerONE@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

How did you even know what this was? Can you hear it?

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 days ago

I can hear them, too. The upper limit for what humans may be able to hear is around 20 kHz, so 15.5 kHz is well within range.
Of course, not everyone can hear them. Some folks just don't have the same range, but in particular also the older you get, the less flexible the eardrum becomes, which zaps that range, too.

And yes, they sound fucking awful and give me instant headache, which is perhaps unsurprising as that's literally how they deter other animals. I wish they were illegal or at least regulated to actually be out of hearing range.

[-] Eheran@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Where is that?

this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025

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