The Sound of Protest: The Personal Audio
When it comes to getting the word out during civil protest and incidents of disobedience, or even when you just need to get a lot of people to hear you, the go to has been something like above.
Most people when they have something to say and need to say it on the move aren’t audio engineering experts and don’t have the access to funds or the crews to build massive PA’s. So, they reach for the nearest and easiest thing: The bullhorn.
The design hasn’t changed much from ancient times when someone would shout into a cone. Aside from adding a microphone, speaker and amplifier with a battery pack, the principle is just the same: Sound is directed through the horn towards the audience. It sounds amplified because you are forcing the sound pressure wave in a direction by using the sides of the cone. Modern bullhorns boost this with a speaker being powered by either a alkaline or lithium battery pack, and some have separate handheld mics to speak into.
And, they are pretty affordable relatively speaking. Mini ones go from $15 all the way to $150 for the fancy heavy duty versions. And they are very user friendly.
They distort badly, have relatively weak batteries and when you are holding one, it doesn’t make it very easy to walk around without being noticed. And sometimes, you really DON’T want to broadcast what you are going to do else someone else tries to stop you before you get there. They create the image of a “trouble maker” and baby boomer politicians love stereotypes and triggers to use as an excuse to put down a person’s voice.
But, there is a new and even better way: The Bluetooth battery speaker
This is just an example (not an endorsement) of what has become the underdog of public address. These little speakers can pump out audio quality that was unheard of 10 years ago, and with lithium batteries can last 5 to 10 hours depending on the model. One unit I own fits in the palm of my hand, but can produce volume so loud that I can hear it at 65dB (decibels) in another room across a 1200 ft/sq apartment with the doors closed!
And, they are lightweight. Bullhorns are heavy and cumbersome. A Bluetooth speaker can fit in the palm of your hand and blast out everything from protest music and pre-recorded chants to your own voice (By using a microphone to speaker app on your phone, where your phone is the handheld speaker). The volume is loud and many speakers on the market have amazing audio quality in such a tiny package.
And the price? I was able to pick up my battery operated Bluetooth speaker for $9 on Amazon. The price ranges vary, but read reviews. Some are underpowered, but many are incredibly loud for what you see.
But you can do more than just play music and use it as a microphone source to save your voice. You can weaponize this: Shut down counter protesters and, with others having Bluetooth speakers and a simple app, you can literally shut down someone else’s PA or bullhorn (depending on how many speakers you have working in tandem or the size of your PA)
All you need is your trusty speaker and a tone generator app. I use Function Generator on the iTunes store
Apps like these allow you to play tones and audio signals such as white noise and pink noise through your Bluetooth speaker. These apps were made for audio engineers to calibrate equipment, but you can use them to disrupt.
One function is by using the frequency generator to play any selected frequency at high volume. Just crank up the volume and use the frequency setting to find the most offensive tone. It can be ear piercing! And, the more power there is, the more dangerous it can be! And, it works with ANY audio output. But be careful! When playing these at high volumes, you can cause permanent hearing damage depending on the power of the amplified speaker, so NEVER point it at you or anyone you don’t wish to hear it.
The other feature is the white noise generator, which plays groups of frequencies to create a sort of masking effect, covering a large swath of frequencies to negate ambient noise. This kind of tone generator is used to help people fall asleep or to tune PA’s, but with many people on their portable Bluetooth speakers playing it or having it played out of a PA system, you can literally negate a counter protester’s bullhorn or voices! This is because two sources of sound cannot exist at the same time. The SPL (or sound pressure level) is literally air pressure, and if you have one source pushing out a frequency that is the same as the other, aimed at one another, they will literally cancel each other out!
The police and military has used these technologies for a while to sedate crowds and to mess with press and media coverage of incidents for decades. But, when you can get 5 or 10 or even 100 people on the same page with the same app, you will find that your voice can be heard for as little as a $10 amazon gift card ,and your vocal cords will thank you!
And, before anyone asks: No, you cannot connect multiple speakers to one phone’s Bluetooth link. Audio in Bluetooth 4.0 and below will only send one stereo signal out from a device at a time, even when you can connect 7 or 8 devices.
Also, the bonus is that if you are ever stopped on your way to or from a protest or incident of civil unrest, a Bluetooth speaker in a backpack is common. A bullhorn is not.
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