Sound energy is currently being explored for a number of different purposes, ranging from tactical weapon development to energy production and even as a means unto itself for lift and propulsion.

In a militaristic sense sound waves contain within them the inherent nature to disrupt cellular bindings and, as explored through tests on laboratory animals, can actually cause internal damage and bleeding if directed at a high enough frequency at a living creature. While this has little practical application at this time outside of a military application it is still a field being explored by some developers.

Alternatively sound energy has been proven as a source of energy that can easily be utilized in enclosed energy production systems such as a Sterling engine. The Sterling engine, designed originally as a stem engine for transportation, relies upon the heating and cooling of liquids within the structure to turn a piston and generate energy. Sound waves at the right frequency have been determined as an adequate source to produce the heat necessary to the Sterling’s power production process to not only generate power but also excess heat, potentially meaning both a supplemental clean power source for individual homes as well as an additional heat generator to be used to offset water or air heating costs.

In a pure transportation sense sound energy has even been found to be capable of generating lift and propulsion directly upon objects. By utilizing supersonic waves traveling at a frequency of over 20,000 fluctuations per second Tokyo researcher Yoshiki Hashimoto has successfully been able to levitate a number of objects vertically and subsequently move them through three dimensional space by utilizing the highly controllable nature of the supersonic sound waves. In an industrial sense this could lead to much more efficient production of high-tech computer equipment that is normally highly sensitive to any tactile contact and due to the levitating device’s high mobility and relatively low energy draw can easily be used in a number of different settings without extensive re-development of existing manufacturing plants.

Other studies into sound energy include the usage of various high-frequency waves to actually cancel out other sound pollution that is generated daily from daily life in urban settings. This is particularly helpful in areas where cars and other sources of loud sounds can have their noise at least partially negated by corresponding frequencies, much like noise cancelling headsets utilize a soft “white noise” to eliminate other sounds around a listener.

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