Ultrasonic Tracking: Are our phones really listening to us?

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2018

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Did you know your phone is a really good listener? Apps on your phone might be sending and receiving data over ultrasound. Ultrasonic communication is used for everything from tracking your daily habits to enabling light shows at music festivals. We hear from Yale Privacy Lab's Sean O’Brien and Michael Kwet, and privacy and technology counsel Katie McInnis. We also discuss the more positive uses of data over sound with LISNR CEO and co-founder Rodney Williams. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced out of the studios of Defacto Sound and hosted by Dallas Taylor. Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook. Consider supporting the show at donate.20k.org Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/ultrasonictracking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's a new year and many of us are committing to exercising and eating healthier.
0:04.8	But another crucial part of staying healthy is keeping on top of your doctor appointments.
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0:19.7	That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash H-E-R-T-Z.
0:24.1	Zocococ.com slash Hertz.
0:34.6	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
0:37.4	The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.
0:41.3	I'm Dallas Taylor.
0:43.3	Put yourself in a shopping mall.
0:46.3	What do you hear?
0:47.3	Maybe the sound of close hangers sliding across a rack?
0:50.3	Or a cash register ringing up a purchase.
0:56.9	Maybe it's rustling shopping bags.
1:00.7	What you probably don't hear is this.
1:13.6	Just on the edge of human hearing, at around 18,000 to 20,000 hertz, data is being transmitted over sound. It's called ultrasonic communication, even though it might be audible to a child or someone
1:19.0	with excellent hearing.
1:21.1	The sample you just heard has been pitched down so the rest of us can hear it.
1:29.3	Ultrasonic tracking is sci-fi, right?
1:31.9	It's the kind of thing that seems like it comes out of a comic book or a movie, and I think
1:37.4	that gets under people's skin.
1:39.7	That's Sean O'Brien from Yale University's privacy lab.
	...

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