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Comment by t413 | Hacker News Reader

Those 'ultrasonic deterrents' should be completely illegal to deploy on/near any publicly accessible property. Having run into them many times over the years here in the US they're horrifically loud, painful, and less of a deterrent and more a punishment for having less-degraded hearing.

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Completely agreed. There's this road I sometimes have in my running route where one of the residents there put one of these things in their front yard. It hurts my ears and, I'm afraid, my longer term hearing if it happens often enough. It's really loud.

Who'd think it okay to inflict this sort of thing on people of _any_ age? It's also a blatant attempt at age discrimination.

I used to go to the same food court nearly everyday for lunch during work. They had birds wander in, little sparrows, that would peck at the crumbs. Not that many of them if any at all.

They deployed a constant sweeping high pitched noise emitter to combat the birds and it's impossible to be in the area now. I just can't imagine how they're legal or even sensible.

I wonder if perhaps it wasn't a ploy to get the court to slow down and get the tenants to leave so they can redevelop it. It's been a local institution for some time.

Agreed. I'm well beyond being a teenager, but I still hear these things. Some stores put them near their entrances and it's never a pleasant surprise.

Indeed. I'm 34 and can still hear them.

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