TULSA -- A constant high-pitched noise in a Tulsa neighborhood has a local family fed up.
Through research, the Bryants found out that their neighbor has an Ultrasonic Dog Barking Deterrent.
The family said it is hurting their kids' ears and is forcing them to stay inside.
"My daughter started complaining of just having ear pain and just a very annoying noise that hurt her ears every time she went in the backyard," Sandra Bryant said.
Marina Bryant, a senior in high school, describes the sound as "atrocious." She said it sounds like the high-pitched tones people play on their phones.
"It's more high-pitched than the phone ones and then it's way louder," Marina Bryant said. "You can hear it in the front yard. You can hear it anywhere."
Marina Bryant said she can hear it when she plays with her dogs in the back yard and when she is doing her chores and walking to her car in the front yard.
Her parents, Chuck and Sandra, cannot hear it at all.
Around the same time the teenager started complaining about the noise, the Bryant family noticed a box in their neighbor's window.
The Bryants thought it was a security camera at first, but after some research, Chuck Bryant was able to put two and two together.
"I Googled 'anti-loitering' and a picture of the device that is up in the window there came up and it looked identical that was in the window," Chuck Bryant said.
The device is called an Ultrasonic Dog Barking Deterrent. The website that sells it says it puts out a high frequency tone to keep dogs from barking but can also be put into an anti-loitering mode for teenagers.
"It might be damaging to hearing," Chuck Bryant said.
The website said the tone can be altered to different frequencies, so teens and pet cannot adapt to the sound.
"It doesn't affect our dogs at all," Chuck Bryant said. "I don't think it affects any of the other neighborhood dogs."
The neighbor was contacted about the device and it has been unplugged since.
The Bryants want to warn others to think twice before using one of these devices.
"Before using this device, just consider that it could have a detrimental effect on young people, especially children," Chuck Bryant said.
A spokesman for the Tulsa Police Department said he had never heard of anything like this device before. He said he was unaware of any state laws or city ordinances it breaks.
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