AIBU to report the fuckwit with an anti child alarm next to the school?

[YetAnotherUser]

So, walking my youngest to school over the past few days I've been noticing a high pitched whine. I didn't pay it much attention at first, but it happens every time we walk past a pair of semi detached houses (unclear which one it is).

It appears someone has installed one of those anti-child alarm things, RIGHT NEXT TO A FUCKING SCHOOL. I'm in my mid 30's and can hear it quite clearly, goodness knows what it must be like for the actual children it's supposed to repel as they walk to their place of education

If it is a anti kid one it would make more sense to have it on a timer to turn ou outside of school hours.

we have one of these to stop cats shitting in the garden. It's motion activated. you really can't report it.

There used to be one of those to deter teenagers from hanging around certain parts of the town where I was a student. The noise was horrible and if I was nearby for an extended time I would get a migraine. I’m not sure if it was the actual noise or being tense from hearing it, but the end result was the same.

I don’t think they should be be legal. I can still hear them in my 30s and they make me so uncomfortable.

If there was a repellent that didn't hurt other people's ears, then I'd be all for it. The thing with the water pistol is it's a deterrent, and cats will want to avoid it in the future. Cats are very wary of going somewhere where they had a bad experience. That's why so many cats hate the vet.

Given that you're in your 30s and can hear it I suspect it's an anti-cat alarm not an anti-child one

I'm 30 and can hear some of them, all be it very faintly.
I can hear up to about 15khz, so it's the the ones that siren between 17 and 15khz.

The anti cat things are antisocial and dont even work on all cats anyway.

They give me headaches, which was particularly annoying when both NDN and opposite house set them up so I couldn't walk out of my house without setting them off.

I must admit, I've never noticed people keeling over on the pavement outside - are you exaggerating the effects at all? If not, then I hope you don't drive!!

I'm not exaggerating and high pitched noise has put me on the floor (volume can also do it - thanks hyperacusis). I do drive, but my car filters out noise really well (I also ride motorbikes, my helmet dulls the noise).

I have never heard of an anti child (or cat) alarm but my GP's lives were made a misery when a school was built a few hundred yards from their home. The children would not only congregate, but kick a football against fences/cars/houses and knock the door and then run off. Many of the residents were elderly and it really affected their way of life and I would probably have bought an alarm had I known it existed.

Whatever the alarm is, if it is activating when people walk past on the pavement, high enough off the ground for an adult to hear it, it is, at best, poorly fitted and the householder should be told to adjust it.

And yes, if you are one of the poor sods the manufacturers choose to pretend don't exist, and you can hear the fucking things, they are painful to hear. Sharp, brain piercing, eye watering, lancing pains. You remain rattled for quite a while after you walk out of range.

So if you own one to protect your gardens from cats, please make sure you have aimed them nice and low, within the bounds of your garden rather than at the heads of passers by - where no cat will hear them anyway!

You are supposed to be able to set cat scarers at a frequency that humans cannot hear but cats can.

In practice, that's not the case.