Image credit – Sunmist/Wikipedia
The frequency of sound is wide and as we get older, there are certain frequencies that we will no longer be able to hear or hear as well compared to when we were young. This seems to be something that Philadelphia officials are taking advantage of when they decided to install a device called the Mosquito in its parks.
This device has been designed to emit a very loud and blaring sound emitted at a very high frequency that only people aged between 13 to 25 can hear. This sound is played continuously from 10pm at night up to 6am in the morning. The idea behind the installation of these devices is to deter youths from hanging out in the park late at night and potentially committing crimes such as vandalism.
However, it seems that not everyone is too thrilled by the device, in which to date there are about 31 of such devices installed across the city’s parks. According to Philadelphia councilwoman, Helen Gym, “In a city that is trying to address gun violence and safe spaces for young people, how dare we come up with ideas that are funded by taxpayer dollars that turn young people away from the very places that were created for them? … I don’t think that this project is going to go any further until it meets with the full scrutiny of the public and that we have some serious attention paid to whether this is the best use of our money.”
Some have argued that this is also a form of discrimination, where it has been stated that older people can cause trouble as well, but yet these devices do not target them.