NEW YORK — As 15-year- old Eddie Holder sprinted from his apartment for school one recent morning, he held his hand to one ear to block out a shrill, piercing noise.
The sound was coming from a wall-mounted box, but not everyone can hear it. The device, called the Mosquito, is audible only to teens and young adults and was installed outside the building to drive away loiterers.
The gadget made its debut in the U.S. last year after infuriating civil liberties groups when it was first sold overseas.
Already, almost 1,000 units have been sold in the U.S. and Canada, according to Daniel Santell, the North America importer of the device under the company name Kids Be Gone.
The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear. It can be heard by most people in their teens and early 20s who still have sensitive hair cells in their inner ears.
Civil liberties groups in England, Australia and Scotland have expressed outrage over the device, and England’s government-appointed Children’s Commission proposed a ban. They describe it as a weapon that infringes on the basic rights of young people and claim it could have unknown long-term health effects.
The $1,500 device has also been challenged in some American cities and towns that have proposed installing it, with some criticizing the tactic as needlessly cruel.
Santell said the noise can be heard by animals and babies, but is bothersome only to children older than 12 and becomes unbearable after several minutes, making it a perfect teen-repellent. The sound is also used as a cellphone ring tone meant to fall on the deaf ears of adults and is a popular download on the Internet.
