Hearing microwaves
Stories from Physics
for 11-14
14-16
During the Second World War, radio operators reported being able to perceive microwaves as auditory stimuli. The effect has been recreated under laboratory conditions and a number of people reported buzzing or knocking sounds when exposed to microwaves. It is thought that the sound is produced because microwaves can cause a small heating effect in tissue in the head leading to thermal expansion that generates an audible pressure wave.
References
C. K. Chou, A. W. Guy, & R. Galambos, Auditory perception of radio‐frequency electromagnetic fields. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 71, no. 6, 1982, pp. 1321-1334.
