5: Hearing Voices at the Store

A grocery shopper
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Will shoppers like this suddenly start hearing things if audio advertising becomes popular?

­This may not sound so scary, and once you know what's going on, it isn't. But it might be a little unsettling to be walking in a store and hearing voices asking you to buy things. If you look around, you won't see anyone speaking, and none of the other shoppers will seem alarmed -- no one else can hear it but you.

A company called Holosonics developed the Audio Spotlight system, which uses tiny speakers to focus sound into a very narrow beam. Ultrasonic frequencies are too high for the human ear to hear, but as the sound travels from the Audio Spotlight system's speakers, air distorts the sound and makes it audible. It's perfect for in-store advertising, but you'd have to be standing in the right place to hear it. You can learn more about it if you read, Can companies beam advertisements into my brain?

Perhaps hearing voices isn't frightening, but what about having your computer taken away? Keep reading to learn more.