personal soundshield

Invented at the request of Shane Lawrence with Runework assistance from his gifted son, Jake, the soundshield was intended as a sensory deprivation device for use on prisoners who caught the Grand Navarch's personal attention. The small rounded rectangle would be affixed to the base of the skull, slightly behind and below the ear, enveloping the prisoner's head in an altered airflow which muddled soundwaves or even canceled them completely.   The soundshields were quickly deemed ineffective. Shane's typical methods of intimidation proved less intimidating without the ability to hear his movements, or note the complete lack of sound at his arrival and departure. Yet when the test articles were marked for destruction they disappeared from storage, scattering across the Grand Armada for use as sleep aids and concentration enhancers.   The current soundshield variants allow the user to alter settings and change the permitted volume of sound to enter the user's ear, with higher end models including the ability to also play preset sounds selected by the wearer. They have found additional use as hearing aids, recording devices, non-telepathic short range communicators, and Anemancy-training tools, particularly for young dracolings experiencing difficulty mastering their skills.   Pocket-sized tabletop variants have found popularity among the Mordena's Ambassadors, permitting private conversations even in crowded spaces. This use has led to many other groups and criminal organizations imitating the Mordena to invent their own variants of the versatile device.