EVER FEEL LIKE you just want a little peace and quiet? Well, it could be yours – with the judicious deployment of what researchers claim is a novel new weapon.

Japanese scientists Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada have unveiled a speech-jamming device which they say can prevent individuals from talking without causing them any harm or pain.

It works simply by recording the person’s voice, then playing it back to them with a tiny delay of around 0.2 seconds. This makes it difficult for them to continue speaking. Kurihara and Tsukada write:

In general, human speech is jammed by giving back to the speakers their own utterances at a delay of a few hundred milliseconds. This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort.

Both recording and playback are directional, meaning the gun can be used on individuals without disrupting others around them.

This promotional video released by Tsukada outlines a number of possible uses for the gun, including tedious lectures and irritating mobile-phone users. So where can we get one?

YouTube/tsukalab