By Peter Pae
Los Angeles Times
Published June 25, 2002

The shrill cry of a baby can be one of the most annoying sounds of daily life, but it is music to Pentagon strategists.

An electronics company, American Technology Corp., has turned the wail of a baby into a weapon that fires "sonic bullets," narrow beams of noise that exceed the human threshold of pain. It can incapacitate people or compel them to flee.

"It gives you the equivalent of an intense migraine headache," said Elwood G. Norris, the company's chairman and inventor of the device. "It's just totally disabling."

Norris uses 50 different sound tracks, or sonic bullets, in his new weapon. For instance, it plays backward the sound of a baby crying at 140 decibels, or 20 decibels above the threshold of pain. The noise-level is similar to that of a passenger jet taking off. Pentagon officials see many uses for Norris' invention, such as controlling unruly crowds, foiling hijackers and keeping potential suicide bombers at bay. A commercial variant also may have applications in movie theaters, vending machines and retail stores.