[AFP, 21.11.2008]
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A long-range acoustic device (LRAD), hooked up to a humble MP3 player, blasts the target with a precise beam of sound, which can be turned up to excruciatingly painful levels should an attacker get too close.

Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS) hires out three-man teams of ex-military personnel bearing LRADs on ships and has been inundated with work as the piracy problem off Somalia worsens.

“It’s very effective up to 1,000 metres and excruciating if you get within 100 to 200 metres if it’s at full power. It would give you more or less permanent hearing damage,” APMSS chief executive Nick Davis said.

“At two miles they sounded the general alarm. The pirates slowed down at around 600 metres and continued to 400 metres, waving AK47s. The pirates then turned away. A good encounter,” he said.