Would you use a speech-jamming gun?

Researchers say they have developed a device that can stop speech. (iStockphoto)Tired of those people who won't stop talking in inappropriate places, like cinemas and libraries?

Two researchers from Japan may have a solution for those chatterboxes - a speech-jamming gun.

Kazutaka Kurihara, of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada, of Ochanomizu University, have developed a device that replays a person's words back to them almost immediately after they're spoken.

The effect is similar to feedback on a cell phone, which makes it very difficult for the person speaking to continue their conversation.

"Human speech is jammed by giving back to the speakers their own utterances at a delay of a few milliseconds," the pair said, in a paper based on their preliminary research. "This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears immediately" when they stop speaking.

Their device, called "SpeechJammer," can be directed at a single person, like a gun. It is equipped with a directional microphone and speaker. Only the person at which it is pointed will hear their own utterances replayed to them, the researchers say.

Would you use a speech-jamming gun to stop someone from talking? Why or why not? Whom would you use it on? Are there better ways of dealing with those we wish would stop talking? Let us know what you think by taking our survey and adding your thoughts in the comment field below.

(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)