Did you Know? Hackers could listen to you through Light Bulbs in your House! Report

Technological advancements have improved the quality of life on one hand, whereas, on the other hand it has made us more vulnerable to hacking and digital extortion. Researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered that one can listen to conversations that happen in a room from a distance by simply staring at the lightbulb. 

A recent research called Lamphone: Real- Time Passive Sound Recovery from Light Bulb Vibrations revealed that one can listen to conversations in a room from up to 25 meters away by understanding the light bulb’s frequency and its response to sound in the respective room. 

“We show how fluctuations in the air pressure on the surface of the hanging bulb (in response to sound), which cause the bulb to vibrate very slightly (a millidegree vibration), can be exploited by eavesdroppers to recover speech and singing, passively, externally, and in real time. We analyze a hanging bulb's response to sound via an electro-optical sensor and learn how to isolate the audio signal from the optical signal,” say the researchers.

According to News 18’s report, the team includes Ben Nassi, Yaron Pirutin, Yuval Elovici and Boris Zadov of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

They’ve also developed an algorithm that could be used to recover sound from optical measurements of the lightbulb’s frequency and vibrations. They put this to test in an office building that had curtain walls and a 12-watt E27 hanging LED bulb. They were able to successfully obtain optical measurements and acoustical measurements which enabled them to create an equalizer. 

The researchers further added that with the help of audio discovery apps that help in detecting sounds, they were able to even identify the songs that were playing. 

People find the research to be intriguing and yet frightening.