Scientifically Possible Sound-based Incapacitation

Question

Ok so, recently I just rewatched the first Kingsman’s movie (the first one to be released, not the first canonical one) again with my mates for the first time in years and because my attentiveness has improved so much since the last time I saw the film 6 years ago, I noticed certain things about the film that I missed the first time I saw it. One of those things was the (fictional) science behind the main villain’s ultimate weapon, the SIM cards. It apparently emits a high-frequency sound wave that causes anyone who listens to it to grow increasingly violent and aggressive and begin attacking anyone in sight without remorse. This wasn’t the first time I heard of sound-based mind control though. The mythological Siren has a physiological, gender-specific version of this ability, and even the blue-skinned seafolk from Wakanda Forever (that I forgot the names of) had the ability to emit strong sound waves that pacified several marine officers and caused them to walk off their ship.

So the idea of sound-based mind control is so cool that I decided that I wanted to include a character in my Science-fantasy story with the ability to sing and put people in such a relaxed state that they just stop what they’re doing and admire the song in place, giving the singer the chance to either kill them with shards of ice (she has additional water powers as well), or just have her subordinates do it for her.

Is there any possible way to make such an ability compatible with real-world physics? I know scientists found a way to control a tiny Nematode Worm using Ultrasound, but I don’t suppose there’s a way to make this possible for humans?

Link to article about the mind-controlled worm

https://www.engadget.com/2015-09-16-sound-wave-brain-cell-control.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH1vaoV1wYfN_hiA_RTaJX-rJXhkX4wAXIuBYxWdv4USFO_S_oZAS3YfayeJw44v9QZJKiQdYkjly1Li8zaiurj-WjYMH0h1It5ef_E-vVcIC8nn7TgncP-u56Y4hTlE3GjhKSKtJnXqu1hnifSacwBuhu8nEL8SGoQsntoBkmS3&guccounter=1

Extra notes

1. The article above talked about how scientists could control the worms actions with ultrasound, but I’m honestly content with a sound-based ability that merely pacifies/sends the target to sleep

2. The character I want to give this ability to is part of an organisation that has access to a multitude of advanced pieces of technology, including megaphones. If this ability really is possible, how would megaphones affect it? It would certainly increase the range of the singer’s voice, but would the distortion effect created by it lessen its effectiveness?

Answer 1

Short answer: Yes, it is possible.

Long answer: There is something called binaural sounds, if you look it up on the internet you will find a lot of false information, lies and snake oil salesmen. The reality (or at least what I know is real) is the following. The effect is produced when specific frequencies are used taking advantage of human stereoscopic hearing, can induce physical effects such as dizziness or blurred vision, has an effect quantifiable by an electroencephalogram, were investigated by DARPA, there is no scientific consensus of why it happens although it is known more or less how to cause it, in theory you can make lethal weapons with it (as far as I remember there was an accidental death by this), they were used for a while as "auditory drugs" although I am not sure to what extent it is only suggestion, currently this technology is used in non-lethal weapons that cause dizziness, nausea and blurred vision (the technology is already in use).

Disclaimer. This is theoretical only, I take no responsibility for harm that a would-be supervillain causes to himself or others.

All that would be required to cause a scenario like the one you describe would be to find a combination of frequencies that affects the amygdala (an important part of the human brain, not the ones in your throat) specifically one that initiates the anger pattern. The anger pattern is one of the components of the luca-fluid response and as the name suggests is responsible for the violent response this is basically the response to attack a perceived threat, but when chemically or surgically altered the functioning of this results in hyper aggressiveness towards everything as everything is recognized as a threat, this is one of the many possible psychotic manifestations when something is altered in the brain, additionally it is very possible that this is accompanied by mild hallucinations.

As a bonus, this is not the only thing you can do by this means, for example Klüver-Bucy syndrome is given by an alteration of the limbic system (is responsible for all primary emotional responses, things like hunger or threats for example among many other things) is characterized by hyperphagia (eating non-stop / insatiable hunger) and hypersexuality (uncontrollable sexual desire) although the original discovery was made by completely destroying the limbic system (also caused visual aphasia), specifically to predators/dangers) so it is possible with a more selective alteration to only cause some symptoms (yes, I just said that something basically out of a hentai is possible to do in reality).

Honestly the least realistic part of all this is that cell phone speakers could reach pure frequencies with the precision needed to do that. As a final note to wannabe genocidal supervillains reading this: just use a virus and that's it.