# Do ultrasonic bug repellers work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 29, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703 "2004-09-29T18:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aaronsca\_hotmail.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@aaronsca\_hotmail.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaronsca_hotmail.com)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703/1 "2004-09-29T18:49:42Z")
In The Straight Dope article entitled, “Do ultrasonic bug repellers work?” at: > **[Do ultrasonic bug repellers work?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341567/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work)** > > Dear Cecil: > A friend of mine has been having some trouble lately with that perpetual pest, the mosquito. He remembers reading somewhere — as do I — about some kind of ultrasonic transmitter used... Cecil asserts that “ultrasonic mosquito repellers all have one thing in common: none of them work. At all.” This isn’t necessarily true anymore. According to this article: [http://www.channelone.com/power/2001/10/03/larvasonic/](http://www.channelone.com/power/2001/10/03/larvasonic/) A fifteen year old boy invented a ultrasonic mosquito larvae killer. It works by transmitting the resonant frequency of the mosquito larvae’s internal organs, bursting them open and giving the pests what they deserve! FWIW, Aaron M. Scarisbrick Boise, Idaho ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703/2 "2004-09-29T19:56:47Z")
A $4000 machine that you have to dip into standing water within about 18 inches of where mosquito larvae are growing isn’t exactly the same thing as a “repeller” for the flying adults. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703/3 "2004-09-30T00:19:43Z")
I’d just like to contragulate the apocyphal Cecil on his fine lines. With a seer like that, it tempts me to shut my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703/4 "2004-09-30T09:46:58Z")
What about the rodent repellers? Someone please tell me that these things have _some_ effect (other than placebo for my frazzled nerves). I have a few in my house. We had a couple of mice after a holiday last year and trapped them. I bought a few plug in things and we haven’t seen one since. Is this just coincidence? Now I’m all scared and the evenings are getting darker… ☹ A lecturer I had in Psychoacoustics said that the frequencies used, at least in the big warehouse repellers, are effective because the rats/ mice find the loud (to them) noise unpleasant, scary and possibly even painful. Is this completely untrue? Please, someone just lie to me if necessary… ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703/5 "2004-09-30T15:57:18Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **From the column** _ > bats make ultrasonic sounds (they navigate through a sort of natural radar) Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that bats navigate through a natural _sonar_? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ultrasonic-bug-repellers-work/266703/6 "2004-10-02T19:07:11Z")
Since they emulate the sounds emitted by bats, are bats attracted to such devices? If I put one outside at dusk, will I see more bats?