In the 1960's, many burglar alarms measured disturbances in a high-pitched sound background to detect intrusion. The horrible screeching noise was on all the time. It drove me out of my church and left me reluctant even to step inside for funerals. (The custodian would turn it off for me, but only if asked.) When my kids were small, I could still hear the alarms, so I knew why they were howling in certain buildings -- and I would get them out as quickly as possible.

These screeches are real torture, they attack babies and toddlers even more than teen-agers, and they should be banned!