So here's something about me,
Yeah?
I'm like super deaf.
>> Really? >> Yeah.
I've got to turn my TV like, all the way up, >> BRIAN: Yeah.
and put on subtitles.
>> Oh see you do the same thing, right?
Oh, I can't understand anything that's going-Like, Game of Thrones?
It might as well be in, like, Chinese.
Yeah,
[unintelligible gibberish]
I start talking Chinese! [laugh]
[screaming] No! It's happening! >> BRIAN: [laugh]
It's happening in real life!
[Brian's voice echos in the distance] ♪ MODERN ROGUE! ♪
[robot voice] The Modern Rogue tries-
[cacophony of repeating robot voice]
♪ ["Lovely Rita" by Birocratic] ♪ So in 2012, the ultimate boogeyman appeared, in-
Babadook?
[laugh]
In my gut, I feel like there's every probability,
this is a total, wild goose chase, boogeyman story.
I don't believe that this is gonna be a real thing,
anyone's gonna face and have to deal with.
I really want it to be a thing.
Back in 2012, some Japanese researchers developed a speech jamming gun.
The idea is, you just aim it at whoever it is,
and they mentioned, in the context of, like, let's say there's a debate,
and one party is going over their time,
you just shut them down.
All of a sudden, they're like
[gibberish]
I wonder if it's THAT effective.
There's two aspects of it. First of all, let's talk about the societal implications.
If this was real, you could do crowd control,
you could take dissidents and shut them up in the middle of their speech.
This is the boogeyman story that I'm thinking of.
It's really insidious, because, it's something that,
really starts affecting how you think and speak.
>> BRIAN: Sure sure.
The problem is, when you see this in effect
there are characteristic ways people react,
that they can't get the words out.
And so it'll be pretty clear that somebody's using a speech jamming device on you, right?
Oh yeah, because the whole thing is that you can hear it
>> BRIAN: Right. >> Everybody else will be able to hear it as well, right?
No, that's the brilliance of the speech jamming gun.
See there's two technologies, we'll talk about the speech jamming in a moment.
But to me the cooler part is the directionality of it.
Focusing sound is problematic, because whatever speaker you have,
it's just gonna make a wave that goes farther and farther out.
You can get more directionality: instead of having one very loud speaker,
that goes out in a radial pattern, you can have an array of them
all kind of facing forward.
Think about like an array of LED lights.
>> Sure. >> BRIAN: If you have one LED light,
It just goes everywhere, but if you have an array, they all tend to kind of focus.
The problem is it's still fairly sloppy, and everyone can hear around it.
What you really want, is the ability to focus sound like a laser,
on one individual person.
So imagine—and in fact I've tried to think of ways to use this in a magic routine,
and I haven't cooked up anything yet.
But imagine an entire auditorium of people,
and I could have something pointed at one person,
who hears something that nobody else can hear.
And in fact, it's subjectively, it's said,
that it sounds like it's coming from the object behind you.
Like in the old Scooby-Doo cartoons, when they would do bad ventriloquism,
and make it look like it was coming out of a pot flower or something, right?
I think we need to do that in an episode, actually.
Uh, yes! Okay! >> JASON: An entire Scooby-Doo themed...
>> BRIAN: Yes!
JASON: A series of episodes? BRIAN: A scooby-doo series!
That would be amazing! >> Yes...!
But the technology to be super laser precise in sound direction, is...
Audible sound from ultrasonic sounds.
So here's the idea.
Ultrasound tends to be more directional than regular sound, right.
But still not directional enough, plus you can't hear it 'cause it's ultrasound.
But if you have two transmitters, each doing ultrasound,
that come together, you can precisely time them in a way,
that their interference pattern, generates audible sound,
♪ ["Twrk" by Tesk] ♪ that is only hearable to exactly one person.
Oh fascinating! >> Right?
So it is super precise. >> Exactly.
Now is that theoretical, or is that something they can do in practice?
As I understand that this is in practice, and has been played with,
and actually exists, and from what I've heard,
there are even special megaphones being developed,
or maybe they're already out there, that are used for hostage negotiations.
You want to be able to shout, just at that one person,
and not have anyone else hear what you guys are talking about.
And then point it at the actual hostage, and go, "Okay. We're bluffing."
>> BRIAN: [laughing] >> "We want you to—on the count of three,"
"kick him right in the balls."
So that's the one part, is the directionality.
And the other part is the speech jamming part,
which, I've experienced, you- Have you ever experienced this?
Brandt told me I've experienced it. I don't really remember it.
You have no memory.
It was like three years ago?
Go ahead, you talk in to there and, give it a try.
Okay, I have-ehh. This, this doesn't, yoo-ou...
Guh-I don't... >> BRIAN: [laughing]
Much like your sense of balance, does not exist in a vacuum,
it's not like you plant your two feet, and now you're standing.
Instead your body is constantly reading the feedback.
It's constantly adjusting.
And likewise, even now as I'm talking, there's part of my brain,
that's coming up with the words, and the other part of my brain,
is monitoring my tone of voice, whether I'm too loud or too quiet.
So, you're very accustomed to feedback.
In the case of a speech jammer, there's another signal that's overriding your primary signal.
And I experienced this for the first time...
I toured with Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn and Brad Paisley for an entire summer.
That was a weird summer. >> BRIAN: It was a weird summer.
And at one point, they asked me to introduce one of the opening acts,
and they handed me this microphone,
it was the first time I'd ever experienced this phenomenon,
and it was a giant, you know, thirty thousand seat arena/stadium,
and they're like "Yeah, yeah, just introduce,"
and the first word came out.
And about two hundred milliseconds later
I hear my own voice bigger than God, slapping me back in the face.
And I was like,
"Oh dear..."
Like, it's way- >> So, you just have to shut it out.
Exactly.
And so what I had to do, was had to come up with something that I knew so well,
and rehearse it to where I could disengage.
I could, no matter what was happening, I could keep on delivering this speech.
[heavy echo] "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Astro Arena!"
[heavy echo] "Please welcome back so and so."
And it was very, very hard,
but I feel like I've got it down.
Now whenever you're using your own voice,
I understand that the delay to the auditory feedback,
so you can monitor your own speech,
is 0.001 seconds.
But, whenever you are a victim of speech jamming,
for an adult, it's usually around 200 milliseconds when it's the most effective.
But as you get older, it can go up to, like, 400 milliseconds.
Because you're getting dumber. >> Yes.
Slower. >> Yes.
Okay.
And so it varies based on your age.
Now the one thing I know for sure, is that you have to have a loud enough signal,
that it overrides your own ability to hear yourself.
Most of the people who have tried this at home, have probably grabbed their earbuds,
put it in, tried the app, and they're like, "I don't get it. I'm able to talk just fine."
>> JASON: Right. >> That is completely because your voice,
is loud enough, that the outside influence is not overtaking it.
Right, and that's why a lot of hearing-impaired people have trouble speaking.
Now, this is also called, Delayed Auditory Feedback.
And it was originally developed as something to treat stutterers.
Really? >> Yeah.
It would help them slow down, think about what they were saying,
and start speaking normally.
And what's odd, is that non stutterers... kind of has the opposite effect.
Well, I was about to say.
So stuttering, it might be implied,
and we have no idea we're talking about. >> JASON: Yeah. Now we're conjecturing.
But it might be implied stuttering is, to some degree,
a mismatch of the feedback you're getting from what you expect,
and then that's what makes it difficult, to stop and start again.
That's what they're saying.
One of the things this makes me think of,
how different milliseconds effect different ages,
like 200 milliseconds for an adult, 400 for an older adult, etc.
There's also the mosquito sound that only teenagers can hear,
have you heard about that? >> Yeah! Yeah.
As a matter of fact, there are teenagers that set it as their ringtones,
that they're able to hear messages coming in, and older people cannot.
Was a little bit bummed to realize, that uh,
Couldn't hear it?
there's a—yeah. A little bit.
I probably can't either. >> Actually hold on, let me see.
The app is called 'mosquito sounds'.
And it's got-It's basically a soundboard that has different tones,
and it says what years you should be able to hear them at.
[soul crushing dread] Ohh... >> BRIAN: [laughing]
This is the part that I'm sensing- >> Oh, do you want to try this?
Yes, yes. >> Okay.
Don't press the one that says, just,
"Summon all of the mosquitoes in the area."
[laughing] Turns out I have the wrong app!
Just a, "I am the Mosquito God!"
I turn into swarm.
[laughing]
One kilohertz is everyone. You should be able to hear this.
Okay.
[a distinct lack of one kilohertz]
Sorry, it's not on.
Oh! I was, I was like...
>> BRIAN: There's a big button that says play.
"I'm deaf!"
[laughing]
"I can't hear it! BRIAN!!"
[laughing]
All right, here we go.
[1kHz tone]
I hear that. >> Sure, yes.
Okay. This is if you're less than a hundred years.
You should be able to hear this.
[2kHz tone]
>> JASON: Definitely. >> BRIAN: Easy.
90 years. [4kHz tone] >> Sure. >> Yep.
80 years.
[6kHz tone]
70 years.
[8kHz tone]
This is happening faster than I'd like. >> It is.
60 years.
[10kHz tone]
Okay.
Yeah, like it's a video game.
I know! It's like, you know, the challenge stage.
50 years.
[12kHz tone]
Okay, alright. >> Okay, okay.
(worriedly) 45 years...?
[14kHz tone]
Yep. >> BRIAN: Was that easy to hear?
Yeah, ish.
I can hear the beginning clip, and the end clip of it.
>> JASON: Oh yeah? >> But in the middle it's,
it's, it's very difficult to hear. >> Really?
>> Yeah.
[14kHz tone]
Oh my god, yeah, wow. All right, well this is under 40.
We're now- >> Okay.
[15kHz tone]
Okay, okay. >> You-Wait, you can?!
Yeah, I can you hear that. >> Wow.
Under 30.
[16kHz tone]
You didn't hit play, did you?
Did you play? >> I did, I did, I did, I did!
No.
Ooooooh
20... [17kHz tone]
We'll at least put it in here.
18... [18kHz tone]
So I guess I'm on track, yeah.
Like, around the 45 year mark is where it gets really hard for me.
Yeah, okay.
So for the speech jammer... 300 milliseconds.
300?
You're halfway to old.
Okay.
You want it to be as loud as possible. >> Okay.
So these are not noise canceling, but you'll notice that they should,
completely plug out the outside world. >> Yep.
So I should be considerably quieter. >> Okay.
And then—what do you—what are you gonna, are you gonna read?
♪ ["Melanin" by Mt.Fujitive & ntourage] ♪ I am going to read, an excerpt from...
Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 1
As read, during the example show on Netflix.
Oh, yeah, no no no. I re-I.
When we first saw it, we're like, "Is he having a seizure? What's happening?"
Yes!
Tributaries follow him to Rome. To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?
>> EXAMPLE SHOW: You blocks, you stones,
you worse than senseless things.
Is this Shakespeare? >> O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
It is Shakespeare. >> Knew you not Pompey?
All right, here. Read it first, just straight.
Okay. "Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?"
"What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?"
I want you to genuinely put yourself in the moment, >> Okay.
where it's like, you're trying to sell it as an actor.
>> BOTH: Okay.
You start, and we'll see if you can figure out when I start. >> Okay.
"Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?"
"What tributaries follow him terr-Romm, To grace in captive bonds his chariot-whe-eels?"
"You mm-b-blocks, you-stones, you worse than se-ense less-things."
"O, you hard hearts!"
Okay, slow it down, to like 200.
Speed it up to 200. >> Oh. Yeah, yeah.
(with delay) "Knew you not Pompey?"
>> BRIAN: [laughing]
(with delay) "Many a time and oft, have you climb'd up to buh-walls and battlements"
(with delay) "To towers and windows, yea,"
>> BRIAN: Timeout, timeout.
'Cause here's what you're doing, and this is a smart strategy,
To get a footing you're increasing your volume,
Oh am I?
so that you're able-'cause you're shouting.
So it's like I want you to try to, you know. Don't let yourself hear your own voice,
and see if you can make it work.
"Wherefore rejoice? What conquests brings he home?"
"What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?"
(with delay) "You blocks, you stones, you worse-senseless things."
(with delay) "O you hard-hearts, you cruel... men, f-Rome."
"Knew you not Pom...-pey?"
"Many a... time, and o-... Many a time and oft have you climbed,"
"up to w-w-w..."
"Ma-..."
(with delay) "-up to walls and battlements."
(with delay) "To towers and windows, y-y-yea, t-to chimney-tops."
"Your infants in your ar-..."
Okay, all right, all right, all right.
That's 200 milliseconds, that's prime time.
Let's see what happens if I speed it up to 100 milliseconds, okay?
Okay, here start from the beginning again.
"Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?"
"What tributaries follow him to Rome?"
(with delay) "To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?"
(with delay) "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!"
(with delay) "O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,"
"Knew you not Pompey? Many a-..ti-ime of-and oft,"
"have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chim-ney-...tops."
"Your infant's in your arms."
All right, that's pretty good.
Man, you could tell that you had a lot more control this time.
I was practicing more, and I was more, like...
I think I knew how to, kind of fight it? And I think I was fighting,
>> BRIAN: Yeah. I shouldn't have been, but...
But you could definitely tell, a difference between the performance before, and after.
Yeah.
All right, let's try 300 milliseconds.
(with delay) "Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?"
(with delay) "What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?"
(with delay) "You blocks, you stones, you s-s... worse than senseless things!"
(with delay) "O you hard hearts,"
"You cruel men of Rome-You knew, knew you, knew you not Pompey?"
"Many a time and oft have you climb'd up to walls... battle-ments,"
"To towers s-and windows, yea, to... chimney-...tops."
Is it worse, is it harder at 300?
It was hard! Yeah, was that really 300?
Uh yeah, that's 300.
Let's go to like, 500.
Let's try that.
"Wherefore rejoice? What conquests bring he home?"
"What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?"
[cacophony of attempts, starting in unison and drifting out of sync]
So what was the sweet spot?
♪ ["Morena" by emune] ♪ Is 200 definitely the hardest?
I think that was the one that I had the most trouble with.
Here just talk to me cool like a normal person.
Okay. Yeah, I don't know that that's gonna bo-...
>> BRIAN: [laughing]
I was about to say, I don't know that that's gonna bo-...
I don't know that that's gonna-, bother me-much.
Oh wow, it's actually mmmore di-fficult...
To speak extemporaneously?
Yeah, yeah. I-I thought it was supposed to be more difficult when you're just,
when you're just reading. But it's...
It's almost like it's cancelling out the words as I'm th... thinking of them?
Yeah.
When I'm reading them, you know how you can... go on a-au-au...
On autopilot, when you're just reading? And you don't even know... what you're reading?
Yeah.
Well now. I'm just kind of...
F-f-f... Wu-argh....
>> BRIAN: [laughing]
It's like I can't think of the words!
It's amazing, cause I can see you getting frustrated,
and literally exhausted from the effort.
Yeah. Because it's like I'm thinking of the word, and then suddenly the word I just said,
nudges it out of the way.
And, and... and it's, it's like the words are,
f-f-f....fighting
I'll bet subjectively this is a lot of what it's like to be a stutterer,
before you learn the tricks to get the words out.
That's gotta be incredibly, shr-...
f-frustrating.
[laughing]
Okay, I wanted to test extemporaneous speech versus a script,
that you already know backwards and forwards.
So, if you don't mind, I'll give it a try, and I'm gonna see...
Because I figure I'll do my fire-eating talk,
because I've done it a million times, right?
I've heard it a million times.
This is a well-rehearsed speech, that I've given a lot of times.
I'm gonna do my best to try to, disengage from what I'm hearing.
Instead just be on autopilot. >> Okay.
In fact, I'm actively, the trick I'm gonna use, is I'm gonna be thinking about the motions,
that I do with my hands,
and hopefully my conscious mind will be engaged with that thought instead.
Okay. >> All right.
The concept,
(with delay) of resistance to fire, is one as old as his-his-to-ry-
F---!
There goes that.
All right, here we go.
Okay, try it again.
The concept, of resistance to fire, is one as old as history itself.
(with delay) As far back as the Ancient Greek tra-...edy, Medea...
(with delay) references are made to holding a bar-
Doesn't help.
Holding a bar-... mm-hmm
References are made to a holding of...
(with delay) a bar of red hot... My God...
(with delay) Uh. References are made to holding a bar of red hot iron...
which was used to prove (with delay) innocence or sin-...sincerity.
(with delay) Thefirstwrittenaccountofafireeater-...
The first written account of a fire-eater however, o-occurs in 1607,
(with delay) when Sir Henry Wotton wrote of an English sailor-
I'm doing the same trick, where I'm shouting so I can get some kind of feedback.
All right, here we go.
The first written account of a-hot...
The first written accou- of a fire-eater how-ha.
(with delay) The first written account of a fire-eater hey-a... however,
(with delay) occurs in 1600s,
when Sir h-Henry Wotton, wrote of the Engleess...
So here's what happens.
You...
♪ ["Revenge of the Little Bird" by baaskaT] ♪ You want to extend a consonan...
long enough, that it syncs with what you're hearing.
Yes. >> Right.
Again, I gotta feel like,
this is what it's like to be afflicted with stuttering.
(with delay) By the 18-...
(with delay) By the 1800s, the popula-
By the 1800s, we come to a time... that some
[laughing] people call the golden age of fire—
I have said this speech!
A lot, a lot, yeah.
(whispering) I've said the speech for 20 years.
(whispering) By the 1800s-eds, we come to a deci-... We come to a time that some peop-pyule call...
[laughing] the golden age of fire-eaters.
A time, when performers haaad names like Yama Deva, and Chingling Phu,
and Xavier Chopper, the Fire King.
It's-...when the focus of fire eating,
(with delay) was shifted away from the tolerance of heat and pra-... flames,
(with delay) but instead moved towards the artistry and skill...
(with delay) with which they manipulated them.
(with delay) By the 1920s, the popularity of fire-dy... firedy, farh...
>> JASON: Fardy, farrhhhdy far.
[laughing] By the 18-hund-... I just...
By the 1800s, the popularity of fire-ee-e-eating, had taken a nosedive.
In fact Harry Hou-ud-... Harry H-
[laughing]
In fact, Harry Houdi-iii-iii-niiii, of all peeeoo-
[laughter of despair]
I can't. I'm calling it.
All right.
This sh-- works, that's all I'm gonna say.
I'm gonna say, I'm shutting down... political protests. >> Two hundred-
I'm going to stop fire-eating magic shows.
Now you've given your weakness. Anyone, when you're performing a show,
can use that on you.
I'll tell you what...
200 milliseconds-
>> That's the sweet spot. Hold on, I have to amend my original position.
Because I was talking about how,
This probably wouldn't be the most effective tool for political dissidents,
but on a petty level?
If you could buy one of these for 200 bucks,
>> JASON: Or build one? >> And you can mess up other performers,
at like, talent show competitions.
I want one for myself... for you.
I guess we got a build one now, right? >> JASON: I think so.
Okay, all right, all right.
Project!
The concept, of resistance to fire is one as old as history itself.
>> BOTH: As far back as the Ancient Be- >> BRIAN: Okay. Don't you can't manually do it.
[laughing]
— VIEWER-SUBMITTED CAPTIONS APPROVED BY BIZARRE MAGIC — [branding furnace hissing]
[unintelligible talking, static, and wind]