Cuban, foreign experts deny 'acoustic attacks' on US diplomats

Cuban and foreign experts have offered scientific evidence denying the alleged "acoustic attacks" on the US diplomatic personnel in the island, an incident which has harmed the relations between the two former Cold War foes.

In an online forum promoted by a committee of experts created to investigate the incidents, several foreign and local scientists explained that it was impossible to execute such attacks upon selected individuals without being detected or affecting larger groups of people, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the US State Department, 24 diplomats on the island were harmed by the alleged acoustic attacks which caused hearing loss, dizziness, fatigue and cognitive issues.

"This type of selective attack has never been heard of... The appearance of sudden hearing loss without an audible source is very unusual," said Colleen LePrell, an audiologist and professor at the University of Texas, at the forum.

Washington provided Cuban investigators with 14 recordings of the sound that the victims heard during the attacks but the study concluded they did not contain anything that could damage human health.

The experts and the criminal investigation forensics team said the recordings provided by the US investigators were similar to the sounds of crickets and cicadas.

"Of the 14 recordings supplied by US authorities, none of them had enough intensity that could result in damage to human health and provoke the alleged symptoms," said Dr Jose Manuel Villar, head of the medical investigation team.

The foreign experts said it is impossible to link any of the symptoms to acoustic attacks and that the lack of evidence provided by Washington makes it harder to find a scientific explanation to the incidents.

The US has not formally accused Cuba of carrying out the attacks but President Donald Trump said last month he believed Havana was responsible.

In September, Washington withdrew more than half of its staff from its embassy in Cuba due to security reasons and also expelled 15 Cuban diplomats who worked at the island's embassy in the US capital.

The US State Department also issued a travel warning telling Americans not to visit the country as some of the attacks allegedly occurred in hotels.

--IANS

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