Editing Microwave auditory effect (section)

==Electronic warfare==

In 2003–04, WaveBand Corp. had a contract from the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] for the design of an MAE system they called [[MEDUSA (weapon)|MEDUSA]] (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) that was intended to temporarily incapacitate personnel through remote application.<ref name=sbir2003>{{cite web | title=Navy search database – summary report: Remote Personnel Incapacitation System | work=SBIR/STTR Search Database (Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer) | publisher=[[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] | url=http://www.navysbirprogram.com/NavySearch/Summary/summary.aspx?pk=F5B07D68-1B19-4235-B140-950CE2E19D08 | access-date=12 January 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214192436/http://www.navysbirprogram.com/NavySearch/Summary/summary.aspx?pk=F5B07D68-1B19-4235-B140-950CE2E19D08 | archive-date=14 February 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Reportedly, Sierra Nevada Corp. took over the contract from WaveBand.<ref name=NewSci20080703>{{cite news | url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14250-microwave-ray-gun-controls-crowds-with-noise.html | title=Microwave ray gun controls crowds with noise | last=Hambling | first=David | date=3 July 2008 | work=[[New Scientist]] | access-date=12 January 2014 }}</ref> Experts, such as Kenneth Foster, a [[University of Pennsylvania]] bioengineering professor who published research on the microwave auditory effect in 1974, have discounted the effectiveness of the proposed device. Foster said that because of human [[biophysics]], the device "would kill you well before you were bothered by the noise". According to former professor at the [[University of Washington]] Bill Guy, "There's a misunderstanding by the public and even some scientists about this auditory effect," and "there couldn't possibly be a hazard from the sound, because the heat would get you first".<ref name="IEEE2008">{{cite web|last1=Heger|first1=Monica|title=Why Microwave Auditory Effect Crowd-Control Gun Won't Work - Experts say you'd fry before you heard anything|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-microwave-auditory-effect-crowdcontrol-gun-wont-work|website=[[IEEE Spectrum]], July 208|publisher=IEEE|access-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213023658/https://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/why-microwave-auditory-effect-crowdcontrol-gun-wont-work|archive-date=13 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Microwave effects have been proposed as the cause of otherwise [[Havana syndrome|unexplained illnesses of U.S. diplomats in Cuba and China]] occurring since 2017 and 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/science/sonic-attack-cuba-microwave.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage|title=Microwave Weapons Are Prime Suspect in Ills of U.S. Embassy Workers|first=William| last=Broad|newspaper= New York Times|date=September 1, 2018| access-date=2018-09-01|language=en}}</ref><ref name="WilliamsHerb">Katie Bo Williams & Jeremy Herb, [https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/us-investigating-mysterious-directed-energy-attack-white-house/index.html US investigating possible mysterious directed energy attack near White House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429175852/https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/us-investigating-mysterious-directed-energy-attack-white-house/index.html |date=April 29, 2021}}, CNN (April 29, 2021).</ref><ref name=NatAcademies>''[https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25889/an-assessment-of-illness-in-us-government-employees-and-their-families-at-overseas-embassies Consensus Study Report: An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209002236/https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25889/an-assessment-of-illness-in-us-government-employees-and-their-families-at-overseas-embassies |date=December 9, 2020}}'', Standing Committee to Advise the Department of State on Unexplained Health Effects on U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies, of the [[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine]] (2020).</ref> However, this explanation has been debated. Bioengineer [[Kenneth R. Foster]] noted of the health effects observed in the diplomats, "it's crazy, but it's sure as heck not microwaves."<ref name="Kaplan2018">{{cite news |last1=Kaplan |first1=Sarah|last2=Achenbach |first2=Joel |title=Scientists and doctors zap theory that microwave weapon injured Cuba diplomats |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-and-doctors-zap-theory-that-microwave-weapon-injured-cuba-diplomats/2018/09/06/aa51dcd0-b142-11e8-9a6a-565d92a3585d_story.html |access-date=9 December 2018 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=September 6, 2018}}</ref> As of October 2021, a microwave cause remains one of the major hypotheses.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Havana Syndrome: Over 200 Cases Documented Yet Cause Remains A Mystery : Consider This from NPR|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/10/19/1047294190/havana-syndrome-over-200-cases-documented-yet-cause-remains-a-mystery|access-date=2021-11-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-06-02|title=Microwave weapons that could cause Havana Syndrome exist, experts say|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/02/microwave-weapons-havana-syndrome-experts|access-date=2021-11-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>